Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Introducing: Andrew Gary Nolden

I knew I wouldn't make it to my due date, I just did, and I was right.  So, I had mentioned our lil false labor scare a week ago on Nov 2.  Well it seems that lil Andrew was determined to come on a sunday since he tried again on the 9th and was victorious :)

The previous night we had gone to the Provo Beach Resort for a lil family fun before the baby came-who knows, maybe it was the mini croquet that did the trick.


Later once we were home I had what I was sure were gas/constipation pains.  Either way, it felt way different from the pains I was having the week before and I wasn't having contractions from what I could tell.  We went to bed and I woke up around midnight because of these pains.  I tried to go to the bathroom many times but it never helped.  Finally around 2 or 3 as I was laying in bed awake and unable to get back to sleep because of these stupid pains, I started to whimper to myself.  Well my whimpering got louder and Code woke up.  He, like myself, didn't think it was the real thing, and the last thing we wanted to do was go to the hospital only to be sent home again (our dr said they couldn't encourage labor unless it happened naturally til after 39 weeks, and by this point we were only 38 weeks.)  We were even contemplating inducing on Friday if we hadn't gone into labor by then.

Code tried to talk to me/distract me through the pains, finally around 5 I think?  I told him I couldn't take it anymore and that we needed to go to the hospital.  He quickly called our neighbors and Miriam came over to be with Jake.  I remember Code came up and I was laying on my side on the bed and he put my shoes on me without me getting up then helped me swing up so I was sitting on the edge of the bed when:
 *kersploosh*
It. was. so. weird.  For a split second I thought- did I just pee myself?? there's no way I could have that much pee in me.....OH......."my water just broke".  Needless to say Cody believed me at this point and I'm sure if I wasn't so distracted by my own dripping pants I would have seen a certain amount of panic.  We rushed downstairs-even Code was surprised at how fast I was moving- and into the car.  At some point Code grabbed a towel but we were so focused on getting in the car and going-didn't use it.
Once again the drive over there was awful and painful.  Code ran any light that was in the way and got us there in a record 9 min (luckily there weren't too many people out on the road around 5:30 in the morning.  We once again pullled up right to the doors and left the car parked there.  As we were going up in the elevator and came out to the floor where you have to call in on a phone for them to open, they just opened right away-apparently they heard me coming and didn't need us to tell them we were there to deliver :)
I don't remember much just Code saying "her water broke ten minutes ago" and someone saying, "she's a side-sitter" (apparently I wasn't sitting flat on the chair and it's common when you're close to popping a baby out).  They raced me back to a room and when they saw the puddle I had left in the wheelchair no longer doubted that my water had broken.  Getting changed/on the bed/an IV put in/and checked was all pretty much a blur all while they were shooting questions at Code about my medical history etc and telling me to breathe.  They checked me and I was at an 8.  We got there right ontop of a shift change so they were trying to find the next dr who was still getting changed etc.

I admit I was nervous that I was too far along to get an epidural, and Code told me later that they were worrying about the same thing since it usually takes 20-30 min to kick in and they weren't sure I had that.  They got the anesthesiologist in there (luckily it was pretty quiet around there so he wasn't busy), and he did a partial spinal tap or something-the same thing they do for c-sections so that it'd kick in faster.  Once that set in I was good.  The dr came in (Dr Rees (sp?) and we started pushing.  This time around, prolly cause we didn't have a ton of time for it to fully kick in, I could still feel/tell what was going on which was WAY better for pushing.  (With Jake I was so numb that I had no idea what I was doing and it took FOREVER to wear off).  This time I could kinda tell what I was doing and by the time they were moving me to recovery I was almost back to normal feeling.

I only pushed 4-5 times and then he was out.  There were some NICU nurses on hand cause they found meconium before he was born, but he didn't swallow any so he was all good.  He was born at 7:27 am.  It was kinda cool cause we got to watch the sun come up as we delivered (not that I was noticing that til after the fact).
Andrew was 7 lbs 13 oz, and 19 in long (J was 7 lbs 6-8 oz and 21 in).

They brought him over to have some skin to skin time.  All the nurses were just gushing over him and saying what a doll he was etc.






Everyone was so impressed with how fast/smoothly the delivery went and were shocked when they asked us when he had gotten there and we said 5:30- last night?  no, as in 2 hours ago haha.  My recovery was WAY faster this time too which I thought was interesting.  Like I said, it was so fast and the epidural wasn't a full one, and I only had an IV in for less then a day as opposed to Inducing with Jake where we were there the night before and didn't deliver til the next afternoon.  

The nurses came in to help me go to the bathroom for the first time later that day and were shocked when I swung my legs over, stood up, and headed over just fine.  "look at you!"  I didn't really have a lot of bloating with water either.  With Jake I had cankles and my face was all bloated with water weight etc, but this time I just sorta stayed normal.  After the first day I was pretty much good.  Not to be too gross or TMI, but even my bleeding afterwards was way lighter/not as big a deal as I remember Jake's being, but who knows, maybe it seemed bad with Jake cause it was the first time?
shrug, either way I feel WAY blessed and Great.  We checked out Monday night not wanting to stay another night in the hospital (code tweaked his back in their awful chair that became a "bed".  Plus we were antsy to get home to Jake- that was the one thing that set my hormones off,  I missed him so bad and it felt so weird to be in the hospital with a kid that wasn't Jake-like we had two separate families.  It feels much better now having everyone together :)










Uncle Eric, Aunt Sarah, and baby O came to visit us:




going for a walk:




Jake came to the hospital but was very nervous which didn't surprise me.  He didn't get to see Andrew tho since they were busy getting all the testing/circumcising etc done so we could leave that night.  Jake was really cute tho when he did see him for the first time, and after his nap the first day we were home when I went to get him up the first thing he asked for was "baby brother".  I guess he was making sure this wasn't a temporary thing, that he was still here :)  In general Jake is doing pretty good with the transition.  I think being shuffled back and forth between friends/family and having his schedule thrown off was tough on him, but now that we're home he's settling.  
Jake's going home outfit:  (I LOVE this lil knitted sweater on him and the knitted booties!)












More to come!






Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Close but no cigar....

As we're getting closer and closer to our due date (the 21st) the more nervous I get.  Not for the actual having the baby/baby coming part, but more the recognizing the signs of when to go to the hospital.  With Jake we induced and even then, I never really felt the contractions.  They told me I was having them, but I never really felt them.  I mean, my back was killing me the WHOLE time but I never felt when my stomach tightened etc.  so I feel like a first time mom in that regard.

Well, over the past few weeks I've had what I thought were gas pains.  I'd wake up in the night and have to change my position etc and then I'd be able to go back to sleep after a lil while.  Well Sunday morning around 4 am I woke up with these sharp pains in my left side and I assumed it was gas since I heard that so many women mistake labor for gas pains.  These lasted a lil longer than normal even after I tried to go a bunch of times.  I managed to fall asleep again around 6 and woke up again at 7:30 with sharp pains in my other side.  After awhile I could feel my stomach tightening along with the pains and after consistently dealing with these contractions and an increasing amount of discomfort for a few hours, we decided to go to the hospital.

Megan and Liz came over to hang out/watch Jake and we were off.  Let's just say the drive over was VERY uncomfortable, I had NO idea how bad the roads are around here.  Every lil bump was agony.  Very different from our surreal drive to the hospital the night we checked in to be induced with Jake.  We were so calm and talking about how weird it felt etc.  This time we screeched to the labor and delivery entrance leaving the car and hobbled inside.  There was what looked like a dad and his other kids in the lobby coming to meet a new sibling who instantly pointed out the wheel chairs and said good luck.  We got up to the 5th floor and it felt like forever before someone showed up at the desk but maybe that was just the pain talking.  Anywho, we got back to a room and got hooked up etc.  I was having contractions every 4 minutes or so though I pretty much felt lil jabs of pain constantly-so much for having a rest between contractions.  I was at a 3.5 so they said we'd wait an hour and see if I progressed at all etc.  It was good practice tho and by the end with Code's help (I basically needed him to ramble the whole time about anything to distract me/give me something to focus on- that required 0 feedback/comments from me) I was able to relax pretty well through some of them.

They came back later and I hadn't progressed.  They said we could either walk around to see if that would help get things going or take some meds to stop the contractions/control the pain and see if it comes back-then it'd be true labor.  The dr. decided on the latter since we're only barely full term.  So I got a shot in the ol' backside and got sent home.  I was still in a lot of pain and was pretty annoyed that I had to go home and leave the place with all the pretty pain-controlling meds.  Once we were there I kinda just wanted to get on with it- I hate all the back and forth of it.  While I was waiting with the nurse in the wheelchair for Code to pull around the car, the nurse pointed out Elder Holland who was leaving just then.   I admit at the time I wasn't really interested, still gasping in pain etc but I guess that's cool.

The drive home was also awful but once I got up into bed and after a lil while the meds kicked in and I zonked out.  Morphine is great.  Eventually I ate a delicious dinner (I love having a hubby who cooks) but pretty much stayed in bed the rest of the evening and we both went to bed early that night.  Code was pretty strained/tired after the crazy day.

Here we are, Tuesday evening, and all is quiet still.  I guess it really was false labor but I guess it's good to see my body is gearing up for it and at least now I know what to feel for when it comes to contractions- I DEF felt these.  I have to admit tho, I was fine waiting til' the due date etc but now after our lil dress rehearsal I want it to happen already!  All in good time I guess :)

Today I tried to distract myself and actually made some effort with Jake-we made cookies and he helped!  We went for a lil walk (we're the perfect walking buddies now, our speed is the same ;)  I'm trying to soak up these last few days/weeks of just me and Jake.  He'll always be my first guinea pig!

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Halloween Night 2014

We had Uncle Eric, Aunt Sarah, and cousin Olivia come over for dinner and trick or treating.  We also had aunt Megan with us who was celebrating her 20th birthday!  Despite the warmer temperatures we had the traditional Halloween chili, fritos,  rootbeer, and cornbread (sorry mom, ghosty rolls are cute but not very appetizing ;)  We barely got out in time to keep the light while we trick or treated.  We just went around our lil block, but Jake was pretty brave once he saw adults offering him bowls full of candy ;)  Olivia was a cute little princess and managed to get her parents some candy too :)




The kids warmed up to trick or treating:








our first door:
(we were laughing cause Jake apparently thought it took too long for them to open the door and said "nope!" and turned to leave.  It was done in a very Gpa Gary-esque fashion. 





We came home and then answered the door.  Olivia especially enjoyed the fog machine and would play with the button when we'd open the door :)



Here's Olivia dancing to our spooky music:

Once the kiddos were down we sang Happy Birthday to Megan and had some cake and watched the 6th sense: (we didn't have a 0 candle so Megan turned 2- which, J will tell anyone is a great age)


It was a great day/night and hope you had a fun and happy Halloween too!