Happy Transfersary!

1 year ago today, two little embies got tranferred into my cozy uterus and one of them got comfy enough to take up residence for 9 months! Happy transfersary to us:-)

Sorry, I kinda left you guys hangin' again. Things have been crazy busy! Back to where I left off. . .

The guys were here for a month after GB was born. They rented an apartment about 20 minutes from my house. I was able to pump and out-supply the demand:-) I think I was producing 50+ ounces per day at the height. GB had a little formula on day 2, before my milk came in, but was able to have all BM after that. They were able to take a big cooler full home on the plane:-) It took me about a week to completely wean after they left and about 3 more weeks to stop leaking. Because they were so close, we were doing milk exchange every 1-2 days, so we got some special time to hang. That month contains some of the most awesome memories for me of this journey. It was all about creating a family and I got to witness parts of their first month together and get some closure for this journey<3 I also got to meet some of their awesome family as it felt like their apartment had a revolving door of visitors, at times;-) So much love for such a little guy.

I had my 6 week check-up with my OB at the end of June and everything looks great. We then spent most of July in Arizona visiting my sister and family. It was a ton of fun but HOT! DD had 4 weeks of swim lessons in there and my sister was here last week for a visit. I am ready for a quiet few weeks.

And, remember that BIG test DH was studying for Jan-April? He PASSED! Only  about 10% of people pass all 3 parts the first time! I am sooooooo proud of him for his hard work and dedication to trying to balance his study time with work and family time and a pregnant (and sick for a whole month) wife. It was hard for all of us, but totally worth it:-D

GB is getting big and doing great. His daddies are both back at work and they are settling in to their new schedule. I have a pic that I will post if I get permission.

This transfersary gives me a chance to reflect on the awesome year that is in our rearview mirror. I feel so lucky to have been a part of something so amazing! I think we had the textbook journey and I am so thankful for that. I hope someday to do another journey, but we are planning to add to our family first and talk about that later:-)

Birth and Beyond

Sorry for the delay!

I left you at the getting ready to push part. It was fast! The new epidural was working well and I was super numb. I was a little worried that I would have trouble pushing, since I have heard several stories of women needing to have some feeling to push. I guess I am not one of those people;o) I pushed four times with the first contraction. She had me rest/let things stretch through the second. I pushed two or three times with the 3rd contraction and he was out! About 5 minutes! They laid GB on my stomach to clean him off a bit and let the blood in the cord stop pumping before R cut the cord. The look of amazement on the guys' faces as they watched their son being born and interacted with him for the first time was priceless and exactly the reason I did this<3 While GB got cleaned up and checked over, the midwife massaged the placenta out, cleaned me up and put in a couple of stitches.

There are no words to describe the happiness I felt as I laid there watching these two wonderful men achieve their dream. I think my favorite part was watching them watch their son get his first bath and check by the nurse. DH got some great pics of the guys in those first moments:o) It brought back memories of the day we met our sweet DD and all of the emotions involved in embarking on the journey of parenthood:o)

The guys did their skin to skin time with the little man and I got lunch. After about 2 hours, the nurse brought in this crazy contraption that she made me stand in to take me to the bathroom to get cleaned up and ready to move upstairs to our post-partum room. It was ridiculous! I totally could have walked, but I guess they want to cover their butts. Ugh! We went upstairs and got our rooms next to each other. They wanted to put me in that contraption again to get from the wheelchair to the bed, but I eventually convinced them I could stand up and turn around. They made me take a walker to the bathroom, which was also ridiculous, but, luckily, my stability convinced the nurse that I didn't need that either. Phewf!

We tried breastfeeding, but GB was too tired from his ordeal and just wanted to sleep, so we eventually went to pumping and feeding via syringe. The next morning, DH went home to take over DD watch, so my mom could go to work. He took her to the park and then to visit me. I didn't realize how much I missed her until I was left alone and had time to think about it. When they came, I took a shower, then the OB came in, talked to me for a few minutes and said she would discharge me. GB and I both did well and were discharged 25 hours after the birth.

Labor

Let me just start this part by saying that I never had a high blood pressure reading the whole time I was in the hospital. It stayed around 130/80 for the first part and 120ish/70-80 after I got the epidural. Insert raspberry to my stupid blood pressure here;o) Luckily, everything worked out well, but grrrrrr!

First up, was the boring and tedious process of admitting me. Then, pitocin was started and you can follow most of the progression through DH's real time posts starting here.  

I really love the way Kaiser and my particular hospital handle labor and delivery. We were all really happy with the way everything was handled. It was definitely slow going in the beginning, but we just chugged along. Getting those tiny changes after several hours was really discouraging, but we were reassured several times that progress was being made and we just needed to be patient. I knew once we got to the 5 cm mark and could break the bag of water, we would be home free, but getting to that point was looooooooong. 

At Kaiser, you never know who will deliver your baby. Each doctor has about one hospital shift per week, so whomever is on duty is who you get, which is a bummer when you love your doctor, but, in reality, it is really about the nurses and the doctor plays such a small role. With DD, my doctor recommended requesting the Certified Nurse/Midwife, which I really liked, so I did the same this time and we really liked all of them. They provide a much more relaxed and personal approach. They have fewer patients, so they can spend more time with you and it just seems that they have more laid back demeanors, which is comforting to me.

We all got some sleep throughout that long night. T found a fold out chair in one of the waiting rooms to sleep on, while R and DH took turns sleeping on the couch/padded window bench in the room.

Anyway, we finally got to the magic 5 cm mark where the midwife had said she would break my water, but no go. She said there was a lot of fluid in there and GB's head was "floating", instead of being firmly on the cervix. The problem with this is that, if she broke the bag, she was afraid something (like an arm or the cord) would end up stuck between the head and the cervix. The good news was that the bag was really taut and she was pretty sure it would rupture, naturally, very soon. She was right! Within half an hour, it did just that, and then the proverbial shit hit the fan!

I was starting to feel the contractions! At first, I thought maybe we were getting close to 10 cm. I pushed the happy button they give you with the epidural, but the contractions kept getting worse. We called the nurse, who called the anesthesiologist to put a booster dose in the epidural. He said to give it 10-15 minutes to work. 5 minutes later, the nurse came in and could tell by my pain level that something wasn't right. About this time the puking started. I don't know if it was the pain or the epidural booster medicine, but it sucked! The nurse called the anesthesiologist back, who started the fun of trying to figure out if the epidural was working at all. He did this by having me compare the coldness of ice on my face and tummy. It felt the same, which indicated it wasn't working. At some point, the midwife came in and was trying to help me. By this time the contractions were lasting about 90 seconds and were coming back to back. It was BAD! The midwife checked my cervix, just to make sure something crazy hadn't happened with the water break and because they won't do an epidural at 9 cm. I was at 6 cm. Eventually, it was determined that the epidural had come out of its place. The anesthesiologist said he could put in a new epidural, but I had to sit completely still for 5-10 minutes. Easier said than done when I was in so much pain:o( This is when DH came to the rescue and suggested doing a dose of the IV narcotic to help take the edge off of the pain, so I could sit for the epidural. Brilliant idea! The IV drug worked very quickly. I felt pretty dizzy and it felt like things were moving in slow motion, but I was totally OK with that. The anesthesiologist was able to get the epidural in quickly and he added a boost of whatever they had put in my IV and things were good:o)

We were able to rest a little more and about two hours later, I started feeling the tell-tale pressure with each contraction. I knew with DD that I had labored down a bit after I was complete and it felt like it hadn't been very long and I didn't want to cry wolf, so I tried to focus on what I was feeling and waited for 3 contractions with the pressure and then we called the nurse, who called the midwife. She checked me and said something to the effect of, "OH, babies head is right there, don't push, don't move." I don't know what everyone else was thinking, but I wanted to do a happy dance! And the nurse and midwife scurried to get ready for delivery. . . 

The Back Story

Back to where I left you hanging. Sorry about that!
After Tuesday's appointment and some discussion, R & T changed their flight to Saturday, since it looked like making it to the 15th (their original arrival date) was decreasingly likely. 

Thursday (the 9th) morning, I went to have my blood pressure checked again. Honestly, it was pretty much the same as my appointment Tuesday, except I didn't get weighed. The nurse took my BP twice, did the urine dip and asked me a thousand questions checking for symptoms of a bigger problem, but came up with nothing. The nurse then reported to the doctor, who came in, listened to GB's heartbeat and checked my cervix. The two BP readings were 128/90 and 127/87; still on the high side, but a little better than Tuesday's. My cervix was 1.5 cm dilated and 0% effaced. Dr. K wanted to keep an eye on my BP and I was instructed to come back Monday morning for another check.

After Thursday's results, we were even more convinced that the change of R & T's flight was a good idea.

R & T arrived Saturday night and we had some time to hang out Saturday night and they came over for Mother's Day dinner Sunday and met my parents. It was really great to get to spend some casual time with them before GB made his grand entrance:o)

Monday morning (the 13th), R and T accompanied me to my BP check appointment. The two readings were 142/98 and 137/95. Dr. K came in and we  listened to GB's heartbeat and my cervix was a tight 2, but 50% effaced (making progress!). She stripped my membranes, hoping to encourage my body to go into labor. At this point, Dr. K wanted GB out. We had made it past the 39 week mark and my BP seemed to be continuing to creep up. She called the hospital to check that they had room for us and they did, so she told us to mosey in that direction. Dr. K did a great job of answering the guys' questions and making us all feel comfortable that this was the right decision.

The 3 of us must have been a sight, as we were each on the phone the second we left the building. R and T alerting their families and me calling my mom to come watch DD and DH to let him know what was going on. Then, back to my house we headed. The guys had to go back and pack up their hotel room, as they would be moving into an apartment Tuesday, while we prepped to be away from home for a couple of days. DH and I grabbed some lunch and we got to the hospital around 12:30 pm and the guys got there about 1 pm. And here I will leave you hanging. . .;o)

The stats

I promise I will do a birth story soon, that includes more details and my feelings about that loooooong 24+ hours. For now, the stats and a pic.

Mr. Gummi Bear was born May 14th at 10:55 am after about 22 hours of labor and 5ish minutes of pushing. He was 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20-1/2 inches long. We were both released from the hospital after about 25 hours and are doing well. T & R are falling more in love every hour and I am feeling great! Below are some pics that were taken just minutes before our jail break;o)

Update: recovery

Andrea is doing well.  She is feeling much better than she did after we had Haley.  Second time around is easier.

At this point, I will sign off and let Andrea do a detailed post in the future with all the bells and whistles y'all are wanting to know. 

Thanks for following us on this journey and all of your support you sent our way.

David

Everyone is healthy

Everyone is happy and healthly.  All of the other details are for the proud parents to share first.