Friday, June 8, 2012

JR's Birth

I had lots of anxiety leading up to JR's birth. I was worried about how Allison would handle having a little brother. How I would handle being a mom of two. How his birth would go. How I would recover. The list went on with no end!

Here is the birth story, with great detail!

I had a repeat c-section scheduled for April 26th at 38w3d because my OB didn't want to take a chance I'd go into labor. I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am for my 7:30 surgery. After registering, DH and I were taken to our room (a LDRP room- the only room we'd need besides the OR), I put on the wonderful hospital gown, and I was hooked up to the monitors. Our nurse came in and did all of the paperwork that is associated with a hospital visit and delivering a baby. Another nurse came in to start my IV (one of the only "problems" with my entire stay). I warned her I was hard to stick, she told me they had a 2 tries per nurse policy at the hospital, so not to worry! She tried twice on my right arm (so I could have my dominant hand free) and missed both times. So she switched with the nurse doing the paperwork. The second nurse got the IV in on the first try, sadly, it was in my left hand! After this, we were left alone for a while. Finally, at 6:45, the nurse came in and told DH to get his scrubs on, gave me the nasty acid reducer, and hung my antibiotics.

Then, shift change happened (7 am). I met my new nurse, my OB came in, and the anesthesiologist came in. Finally, it was time to go to the OR and have a baby! I have a great OB- my nurse was having a hard time pushing my bed down to the OR so she grabbed the foot of the bed and away we went! I was quickly moved into the freezing cold OR, where I got my spinal (easy as pie and nothing like my epi from DD's birth!) and was given a nice warm blanket! Meanwhile, my OB is on the phone, in the OR, trying to find an assistant for my surgery because the one she had requested over 12 weeks ago had been pulled to assist another doctor! By the time my spinal was finished, we had a good assistant scrubbing in (OB was picky because DS was a bit early and this is a small community hospital without a NICU or even a staffed nursery). DH was brought in, the drape was hung in front of my face, and surgery was started! All was going well until my doctor said holy cow about 10 minutes into surgery.

I had an AFI and growth check ultrasound on Tuesday, 2 days before my c-section. DS was estimated to be 8lbs 14oz and was head down, facing my back. As my OB was getting ready to deliver the baby she was expecting to grab his head/neck and pull him out, what she found was his butt! My monster baby had turned breech! After she recovered from the shock of this, she welcomed James Robert into our family at 7:54 am. He measured 8lbs 9oz and 21.5 in long Not bad for a baby that was almost 2 weeks early...

He was taken over to the baby warmer to be cleaned off and looked over. The ped was amazed at how big he was. Junior did not give the loud cry that we all wanted to hear (he's not big on crying at all!). DH went and cut the cord and sat next to me with Junior while they finished my tubal and sewing me up! We were taken back to our room together about 15 minutes later.

As soon as we were back in our room he was put on my chest to BF for the first time. He was given his first bath by Daddy and the nurse while I watched. This was so much better than him going to the nursery and me going to the Recovery Room like when his sister was born. Since Junior was so big, his nurse kept taking his blood sugar (6 times in total) to make sure he was maintaining his blood sugar. My nurse kept watch on my vitals while I kept a watch on my baby boy! After the immediate checking up on us we were left to enjoy our new not so little boy. I was up and walking by 2 pm, to the amazement of the nurses.

My recovery has been awesome- I was let out of the hospital at 10 am on Saturday (at my request- I wanted to get home to Allison) and I have been going places and doing whatever I want!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Cloth Diapers

I cloth diapered Allison using some awesome fitted diapers my mom made while I was pregnant. They were fine- kept her dry, clean, and happy until the laundry got to be too much with Mama's chemo and doctors appointments. We kept it up part time until Allison was over a year old and was outgrowing the fitteds. I never thought I'd go back to cloth diapering with JR.

I have a few friends in real life that are/were pregnant and due around the same time I was. Amanda is one such friend. She is a wonderful mom to a beautiful sparkle goddess, Ivy. Amanda is an earth momma and spent much of her pregnancy researching natural parenting. She and I talked cloth diapers, breastfeeding, babywearing, and what baby items are truely useful :) Last week, she was looking to sell off some of her cloth diapers that were not even used. She and her husband had fallen in love with prefolds and covers for Ivy. She had spent a good bit of time and money getting multiple types of cloth diapers but they didn't go beyond the first ones she tried. It was too good a deal to pass up, 41 one size pocket diapers for $160, less than $4 each! After a bit of research of my own, I found this was a terrific price. There were pockets that were $20 or more each! I decided to take a chance on them.

I got the diapers yesterday and spent the day getting them washed and organized (got to love Allison's sensitive skin!) Today, I decided to give cloth another try on both of the kids. I'm in love! These have snaps to hold them on, no pins like I was used to with the fitteds from Allison. They fit both kids wonderfully even though they are dramatically different sizes.

Here are some pictures of the kids in cloth.

First, Allison in her first fitted cloth (ignore the date my camera was acting weird).

JR in his first cloth diaper

Allison in her first pocket diaper