Mary's Growth and First Month in California

Mary has had two doctor visits since discharging from the hospital.  We had an appointment two days after leaving the hospital when she was 4 days old to follow-up on her mild jaundice.  She had another appointment 2-weeks after discharge when she was 19 days old.  Here are her stats:

September 9, 2014:
Weight- 6 lbs., 10 oz.
Height- 19.5 inches

September 24, 2014:
Weight- 7 lbs., 13 oz.
Height- 20 inches
Head Circumference: 35 cm/13.78 inches

Mary's actual due date was September 23rd, so it's kind of interesting to see her stats a day after her due date.  They come right up to what Jack and Owen were, so our babies are all pretty consistently sized :).

Mary didn't get to spend too much time in California since we moved 5 days before she turned 1-month, but she looked good in some pretty cute summer newborn dresses and outfits while she was there.

 These are just some where she is all snuggly and cute:

 And here she is with the men in her life:

I took a picture of Owen on each of his monthly birthdays, but I didn't get a good tradition started with Mary.  Here is the only picture I got of her on her 1-month birthday:

So now that I'm pretty much caught up on Mary's first few weeks before our move, I am going to try to get caught up through our move to Tulsa, OK and Mary's first big milestone!

Oh, our little Owen

We had our first experience with an ER visit for one of our kids.  A day earlier I had made the comment that Owen would be the first one we would need to take to the ER, because he has no fear and is extremely clumsy.  He's the kid that will jump off the top of the staircase when you are 4-5 stairs down assuming that you will catch him.  

After an ambulance ride and about 5.5 hours in the ER he was back home.  He was so good just sitting in the bed not trying to remove the monitors.

We got some mommy/Owen alone time.

My friend Erin came to the rescue again just like when I needed her a few days before Mary was born. She drove Ann, Jackson, and Mary to the hospital so that I could feed Mary while Ann sat in the room with Owen. After dropping them back off at home when I was done feeding Mary, she came back to drive Owen and me home at 12:30am. 

Mary's Birth Story

My favorite blogs to write are the birth stories of our kids.  I look forward to them having the opportunity to read about the day they came into this world someday when they are older, and it's going to be fun to reminisce about 3 of the best days of my life when I look back at this blog.  5 1/2 weeks after Mary was born I am finally getting a chance to sit down and write about her birthday.  

The week leading up to Mary making her appearance was a little bit stressful since we knew we were moving to Oklahoma and doing everything that needed to be done to prepare for that.  We had decided that I would stay back in California with the kids while Jonathan moved to Tulsa since I could not find an OB that was willing to deliver a VBAC patient who was so late in their pregnancy.  I also had Intrahepatic Cholestasis and needed to go in twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) for non-stress tests and fluid level checks.  On Tuesday September 2nd (37 weeks pregnant) I went in for my usual tests, and my fluid levels were just above the point where they would begin to get concerned.  I then went to my non-stress test where they picked up on one definitive deceleration and two possible decelerations.  Due to the decelerations I was sent to a perinatologist for a full biophysical profile.  She scored an 8 out of 8, which was great, but I was still obviously a little bit scared from the two previous tests.  My OB wanted to wait to induce until 39 weeks, but everything I have ever read about Cholestasis says to induce between 37 and 38 weeks.  While at the biophysical profile, I asked the nurse doing the test to ask the perinatologist what his opinion was.  He agreed that 37 to 38 weeks was ideal and said he would contact my OB to pass on his opinion since I had already reached that point in my pregnancy.  Immediately following these tests I went to see my OB for my usual 37 week appointment.  We agreed to schedule the induction, and we were scheduled for September 5th at 7 a.m.

That same night after all of these appointments I had some substantial bleeding.  Jonathan had already moved to Oklahoma ahead of us, and my mother-in-law had not arrived yet, so I was all alone with the boys.  I am so grateful to my friend Erin who lived in our neighborhood for coming over right at the kids' bedtime, putting them to bed for me, and sitting at our house to babysit!!  My other friend Heather met me at Labor and Delivery to be with me in case Mary had to be delivered.  After being checked out and monitored, they sent me back home.  The day before the induction they gave me a foley catheter to try to dilate me to 4cm before actually giving me pitocin.  It's a gentler way to induce you since I was doing another VBAC, and inductions are not preferable with VBACs even if you've already had one successfully.  That night I was back in labor an delivery with contractions, bleeding, and the catheter had fallen out, but I was still only 2 cm just like at my appointment a few days earlier.  A little after getting back from the hospital Jonathan arrived back in town to be there for the induction the next day.  

Here's one last picture the night before the induction at 37 weeks, 2 days:  

We arrived at the hospital on Friday September 5th at 7 a.m., and the nurses brought us back to our room to get the IV started and meet with my doctor.  My doctor was upset the catheter had fallen out prematurely since it was going to make labor longer, and she felt the doctor who did it had done it incorrectly.  By 8 a.m. they began small amounts of pitocin, and I began having actual contractions around 9 a.m.  I tried to last as long as I possibly could without the epidural since I wanted to be able to drink fluids and walk around for as long as possible.  Eventually in the early afternoon I reached the point where I wanted the epidural.  Pitocen-induced contractions are just way too painful when you're not even that far along.  After the epidural it was pretty much just us hanging out, watching tv, and relaxing.  They had this on the board waiting for her arrival:

Around 7 pm I had reached 8 cm, but I wanted Jonathan to go out and get me food for after she was born before all of the restaurants closed.  He asked the nurses if they thought he would get back in time, and they gave him the go ahead.  Shortly after he left the epidural started to lose it's effectiveness, and the nurses recommended not having the anesthesiologist come back since it would be better for pushing to feel the 'pressure.'  I was not totally on board with it, but I went with it :).  Jonathan made it back as I was telling them that I really felt like I needed to push.  They had me do a trial push before they called the doctor, and just as with Owen, they rushed the doctor in pretty quickly.  Both Owen and Mary have been "brachial," which is really high up, until around 8 cm.  However, around 9 cm they basically just dropped really quickly and are easy to push out quickly.  Once the doctor came in and they were all set up, it took a big push, two small ones for the shoulders, and one more big push and she was out.  I think I only pushed for maybe 5 minutes with Mary.  Mary Kate Nichols was born on September 5th, 2014 at 8:34pm.  She was 6 lbs., 15 oz. and 19.5 inches.  

She wasn't born very early, but I was still a little bit anxious that she would have breathing or feeding problems after she was born.  She didn't have any problems at all and scored a 9 on both Apgar tests that they completed after the birth.  She had no issues with nursing and didn't need any additional monitoring.

 

I have to say that my 2 days in the hospital were magical!  Jonathan slept at home and was home most of the day with the boys.  My MIL gave me the advice to put Mary in the nursery at night and just have them bring her back for feedings.  She said I have 2 other kids at home and can't come home completely sleep deprived.  This honestly was some of the best advice.  With both Jack and Owen I totally had the 'mommy-guilt' that it was selfish to put them in the nursery, but it was so great knowing that someone was watching her in the nursery while I got quality sleep between feedings every 3 hours.  They would just gently wake me up, let me feed her, and bring her back to the nursery.  I was a little bit bored during the day, but it was a wonderful, quiet type of boredom that home with two young boys does not offer :).  I missed my boys, but it was so wonderful having the chance to just hold Mary, stare at her peacefully, and enjoy the short amount of time we had for it to be just us.

Ann brought Jack and Owen to meet their little sister, and they were so excited!  Owen was a little bit hesitant at first, but he was excited once he saw how excited Jack was.  Both boys took their chance to hold her and give her kisses.  We had little gift bags ready for both boys from Mary, and they got there just in time for the hospital snack cart to go around and give them chocolate chip cookies.

 Ann got a little bit of grandma time with Mary as well:

 And we got a family photo:

A nurse in the nursery made a little bow hat for Mary while she was in there one night, which was super adorable.

I was discharged late Sunday morning after Mary had passed all of her tests.  She initially failed her hearing test in one ear, but once they massaged the ear she passed.  That just meant she had residual fluid in her ears.  Here's Mary ready to leave:

Here's Mary resting comfortably on her first day back home:

Mary has been such a blessing in this chaotic time of moving, because she is about as easy as a newborn could be.  She doesn't cry often, and when she does it is easy to tell what she needs.  She initially slept about 22-23 hours a day, and she occasionally would go a 4 hour stretch at night in the first 2-3 weeks.  She is seriously the loudest baby ever when she sleeps!  She is always moaning and kind of growling in her sleep which makes it hard to have her next to our bed sometimes.  She has crazy loud gas like an adult, but I'm glad she gets it out instead of it all building up inside of her :).   We are so in love with our little girl!

Home Stretch of Pregnancy and A lot Happening

Today I am 36 weeks, 5 days pregnant, and I seriously cannot believe how close we are coming to meeting her.  People keep asking me how much longer, and I barely believe the words that are coming out of my mouth when I say about 3 weeks.  Last weekend I went to Labor and Delivery, because I had been itching on my hands and feet so badly for about 3-4 days that I was only sleeping around 3-4 hours a night.  I had Cholestasis with Jackson at the very, very end so I was pretty sure I had it again.  In the hospital they drew blood, did some fetal monitoring, checked fluid levels, and prescribed me the appropriate medication with the assumption that the blood work would come back positive.  On Tuesday the blood work confirmed the Cholestasis, so I will continue with the medication, I have fetal non-stress tests and amniotic fluid checks twice per week, and the baby will be delivered no later than 39 weeks…possibly 38 weeks.  So, that date is creeping up very quickly!  Instead of explaining what it is, if anyone's curious just google Intrahepatic Cholestasis.

Sorry for the bathroom picture, but I went in to wash the hospital off my hands after my appointment and found a full-length mirror :).  This is 36 weeks, 4 days:

How far along: 36 weeks, 5 days

Sleep: Overall, I've been sleeping really well.  I had a week of TERRIBLE sleep because of the extremely itchy hands and feet.  Now that the medication is helping dull the itch, I have been sleeping well.  I haven't really been particularly uncomfortable or sore trying to sleep this pregnancy.
Movement:  She continues to be extremely busy.  At this point it is mostly jabs and watching my stomach sway getting bigger on one side as she switches sides.
Cravings: In the past few days I've been craving chocolate pudding with smashed up graham crackers and whip cream…I indulged that craving finally yesterday :).  I also just want water all the time, so I've been buying a lot of La Croix since I love mineral water.
Gender:  Girl…we finally have a name picked out, but we will announce it when she is born!
Labor Signs: Not much going on.
What I miss:  Sleeping on my stomach, deli meat, and general agility.
What I'm looking forward to: I'm still in a little bit of denial that we're actually having a baby so soon.  I'm looking forward to getting the hospital bag packed up and having everything ready for her so that it feels more real :).

I truly enjoy being pregnant, because it is just really amazing to feel the baby move and know that you are growing a tiny person inside of you.  It has been especially fun sharing this pregnancy with Jackson now that he's a bit older and has a little bit better understanding of what is going on.  Jackson will ask if he can hug her, and he will hug and kiss my stomach.  Owen will also join in when he sees Jackson doing it.  When we got the car seat in the mail the other day I told Jackson it was for the baby and he said, "When you stomach empty, the baby be here."  He also tries to figure out how she'll get out of my stomach, and he's decided that it must be through my belly button…haha.  Owen obviously does not have as great an understanding, but now that we talk about the baby all the time he always points out babies when we're out and in pictures saying "babe."  I'm just trying to put my focus on all the positives and our blessings instead of focusing on how uncomfortable the Cholestasis can be knowing that we are so close to her birthday.

In addition to our soon to be new addition to the family, we are moving to Tulsa, OK!  Jonathan was offered a position with his company in Claremore, OK just outside of Tulsa, and we decided it would be a great move for our family.  It is all happening very quickly, and we are just trying to roll with it even with it's timing around the baby.  Jonathan will be moving down to Tulsa this Monday to start work there, and he will come back here for the baby to be born.  I am definitely not thankful for a health issue that requires induction, but one positive is that it helps us plan his trip home so he doesn't miss the birth (unless I went into labor early of course).  Jonathan and I went down to Tulsa a couple of weekends ago and found a house that we expect to close on around the last week of September or first week of October.  Ann, my mother-in-law, will be here next week to help me with the boys and in case of surprise labor while Jonathan is gone.  Once the baby is born, I will move down with the boys about two weeks or so after the birth.  It's all a bit crazy and stressful at times, but we are really excited for what Tulsa will offer our family.

Needless to say, we do not have a nursery set up, and any form of nesting like meal prep can't really happen.  However, the newborn days are definitely when the baby is her most flexible to our transitional living situation.  It'll be fun to set up rooms for Jackson, Owen, and new baby in our new house.  Jackson and Owen were going to have to share a room, but now they get to have their own space!  I'm definitely not opposed to room sharing, but they have very, very different sleep habits, so it will be good for them.

I'll try to do one more update before she's born, but the next post may hold an introduction and birth story…exciting!

Photo Dump of Brother Fun

I wanted to do a bit of a photo dump of my phone to catch-up as we near the end of this pregnancy.  We have a lot going on lately, which I'll get to in my next post, but day-to-day life is pretty relaxed.  It has been so fun watching Jack and Owen together as Owen gets a little bit older and is able to participate in activities with Jack.  Jack is a hat lover, and Owen gets into it occasionally too in order to be more like his big brother. 

The times that the boys have had suckers or icees, they love showing off their colored tongues.  Owen always cracks me up, because he's such a ham.

 Both boys love being helpers.  They were so cute with their rags and spraying the car.

Jack and Owen also find cleaning to be a form of entertainment, and our kids cleaning the house is definitely what I signed up for when we decided to have them…jk :).  Jack did a great job gently loading the dishwasher.  

 

They are also amazing dusters.  They are a huge help getting into the lower shelves so that I don't have to bend over as much!

As always, they love the outdoors.  They both love the park and could basically live there.

Jonathan took them on a hike at the trail near our house.  They both brought their bounce sticks with them for whatever reason makes sense to them :).  I could just squeeze them in their cute little hiking boots!

We've also made some evening pool trips when Jonathan gets home from work.  After the pool, they both love standing in the heated shower for a while before heading home.

They've had two recent bounce house trips.  Owen always says, "bounce! bounce!" and Jack talks about the trip for days afterwards.

These pictures are from a birthday party at a bounce house.  It was so cute seeing them sit together and eat at the table.  They both loved the cake pops!

 

We've also had a good trip or two to the Santa Ana Zoo.  Jack and Owen love the spinning bird's nest on the carousel, but Owen gets pretty dizzy.  We have the funniest video of him with his head tipping side to side all dizzy.

Other than the trips out, we spend time at home just relaxing and watching a lot of Curious George.  They're both super snuggly.

Now I can move on to current developments and the newest addition to our family coming soon... 

These Boys are Busy

I'm way overdue in posting, and a lot has happened in the 8 weeks since my last post!  Jonathan and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary on May 24th.  We were able to get a babysitter so we could go out for dinner and dessert.  Earlier in the day we made our first soon to be family of 5 major purchase…our new minivan!  Now we join the minivan fleet that drives around Irvine :)

The summer has been filled with a lot of time outdoors.  These two are like caged animals clawing at the front gate if you don't run them around a park or engage them in some sort of high energy activity.

There has been a lot of time spent with sidewalk chalk.  It's pretty much their activity of choice, and they carry their bucket of chalk with them anytime we go outside just in case the desire to draw a shape or line strikes.  There is chalk evidence of them all over our neighborhood.  Here is a self-portrait Jack drew one day that I thought was so cute:

 

When we're not outside they enjoy drawing in the house as well.  We've come to realize that we're probably going to need to find Jack an art class soon.  He's extremely interested in drawing.  He can draw all sorts of faces/emotions, people, most of the alphabet, and all of his numbers.  He'll look up at a tree or something else in his view and try to draw it on the sidewalk.  The other day someone had thrown a dog poop bag in a tree so Jack drew the tree with a dog poop bag hanging in the branches.

Jack also enjoys reading stories to Owen and showing him pictures in books.

Both boys are little foodies, and they basically eat continuously throughout the majority of the day.  We used our Zoku to make orange creamsicle popsicles the other day, and both boys (Owen in particular) are obsessed with Pirates Booty.

Father's Day has also come and gone since my last post.  I made sure to grab Jack before he entered our room to wake Jonathan up and got Owen out of his room immediately so that Jonathan could sleep in.  We used our chalk skills to make him this little picture that I texted to his phone to wake up to:

 

My mom came out to visit for a week in mid-June, and we had a lot of fun with her.  Both boys love having her around, and they love being able to go to the park with her instead of running errands with me throughout the week :).  We had a fun trip to the zoo where the boys got to feed goats, we rode the train that tours the zoo, and the boys rode the carousel.

We also spent a good portion of one afternoon following the garbage trucks from street to street.  

Owen had his 18-month appointment on June 19th (which is a month late), so he was actually a day away from being 19-months.  Since my mom was in town I got to take him to the doctor alone.  It's fun having the rare chance to be alone with Owen, because he's just much more relaxed and not always in competition mode from fighting over things with Jack.  He loved the individual attention and being able to play freely with whatever he wanted.  Owen's stats were:

Weight: 25 lbs.

Height: 33 inches

Head: 50.5 cm/19.88 inches

Each time we go he jumps up to another growth curve, so all of his eating is paying off!  His food intake is sometimes shocking for such a small person, and he's really willing to eat just about anything.  For the past 2 weeks he's been on a bit of a rare for him hunger strike, particularly when it comes to eating meat, but I'm sure it's just a short phase.  I think he might be getting his second molars since he chews on his fingers quite a bit recently.

Here's a picture of Owen at his appointment.  We also had a short breakfast date together after the appointment.

Auntie Amy came to visit over the 4th of July weekend.  We had some great outings with the boys and got a lot of vitamin D.  We spent one day at the Newport Beach Back Bay swimming and playing in the sand.  I spent most of my time under the umbrella 'supervising,' but everyone else got a chance with the paddle board.  We also went to see a fireworks show in our previous neighborhood.  Owen kept saying "wow!" over and over.  Jack was all smiles, jumping around during the show.  

Here's me on the 4th of July at 28 weeks, 3 days:

 

We've also made two kid museum trips in the past two weeks.  The top two pictures are at Pretend City.  It's a museum that is like a mini town where you can go to the grocery store, doctor, dentist, gas station, fire station, a farm, the beach, etc.  The boys had a great time building with Jonathan and playing at the Marina water tables.  They also loved the little pretend farm area where you can plow the soil and pick fake apples from a tree and put them in a wheel barrel.  Today we went to a new indoor playground that recently opened called We Play Loud.  They had obstacle courses, ball pits, little mechanical rides, etc.  It was nearly impossible and a bit of a tantrum moment for Jack getting them to leave both places.  They are little explorers and players.

I just had to share these last pictures, because Jack is quite a stylish little guy.  He is an accessory lover, particularly hats, and he cracks me up with what he chooses to wear sometimes.

Last, but not least, I'll do a little pregnancy survey to round out this post.  I've been terrible about pregnancy updates, and I want our little girl to be able to read about my time with her in the belly.

How far along: 29 weeks, 3 days

Sleep:  I sleep great still.  I wake up to flip from side to side throughout the night but nothing to complain about really.

Best Moment:  Jack likes to put his ear up to my stomach and listen to her.  She kicked him in the ear yesterday, and he thought it was hilarious.  I've gotten quite a few chances for him to feel her move around and watch my stomach twitch.  Also, Jack has been saying for a few months now that he is pregnant as well.  According to him he's pregnant with a boy.  The other day we were just walking along and he said, "ooh, the baby kick me and it tickle!!" while holding onto his stomach lol.

Movement:  She is quite the mover, and I love watching my stomach move around while I'm sitting on the couch.  She's already up in my rib cage kicking some bone, and she's extremely active at night.  She pretty much moves all day long.

Cravings: Nothing in particular.  I'm just loving watermelon season!

What I Miss:  Mostly just deli meat.  I'm a sandwich lover, and I don't like to eat microwaved deli meat like the tell you you're supposed to do.

What I'm looking forward to:  The girls from my book club are throwing me a baby shower on July 27th, so I'm pretty excited about celebrating our baby girl and getting some cute girl stuff!