Introducing Baby Harvey

Born April 29, 2011
4:54pm
8lbs. 12oz.
20 inches long

Thursday, April 20th : At my doctors visit I learn I'm 3 cm dilated & Doctor H says he'd be surprised if I last a week and that I definitely won't make it to my due date (May 1st).
Thursday, April 28th : At my appointment a week later. Doctor is surprised that I made it this far, still only dialated to a 3 - 3.5. He tells me we'll induce on Sunday, my due date, at 8am. Sweet.

Friday, April 29th:
6:15am Ryan gets up to get ready for work & to be up with Wendy so I can get a little extra sleep
7:30am Ryan leaves for work which means I wake up and waddle to the couch to be up with Wendy
7:35am Okay, something feels a little different. Maybe my water broke. If it did, it's a VERY slow trickle. I tell myself it probably didn't.
8:30am I start to have contractions that get steadily more and more uncomfortable.
10:30am Okay, maybe my water DID break. I mention it to my mom on the phone. She says I should go and get checked, but I don't want to spend the whole day at the hospital just to be sent home. She talks me into going anyway. "Okay, I'll drop off Wendy in about an hour. Then I'll go." I tell her. "In an hour? What do you have to do?" The laundry. Vacuum. Go to the bank to deposit a check so I can pay the bills. Pay the bills. Finish packing a bag for me. Pack a bag for Wendy. Get Wendy's old infant carseat out of the garage (just in case this is the real deal). "Heather, I will do your laundry and vacuum and go get clothes for Wendy if she needs them. Just go," she tells me. Adrenaline kicks in and I do everything on my todo list anyway. I start to get a little anxious, my hands start to shake as I scramble to get everything done. Wendy senses my anxiety and says, "Mommy, you're scaring me." I stop what I'm doing and I just hold her for a while. I get choked up thinking this is our last moment together with her as my baby.
11:30am I leave my house with a bag for me, a bag for Wendy, and an empty infant carseat in the car. After a quick stop at the bank, I go to my aunt Ruth's house to drop Wendy off with my mom there. I tell my mom & Ruth I haven't texted Ryan yet because, knowing him, he'd be too excited and leave work and drive all the way home for nothing. (I wanted to make sure my water broke before I told him) They convince me I need to text him.
12:00pm I drive myself to the hospital.
In the car alone, I think to myself, "What if I do actually have him today? Won't this be a funny birth story."
12:15pm I arrive at hospital, go up to the 3rd floor. My nurse, Liz, shows me to my nice room in the the new maternity ward and gives me a pink gown to put on.
12:30pm Ryan, on his lunch break, finally calls me back and I tell him where I am. I can hear his voice get excited. I tell him not to leave work until I find out if my water broke.
12:35pm I get checked and find out I'm dilated to a 5.5 - 6, but the test to see if my water broke comes out negative. They check again a couple minutes later and the paper turns blue= my water HAS broken. I KNEW it.
12:40pm I call Ryan and tell him the good news. I tell him not to rush, go home, take a shower, pack himself a bag and come on over to the hospital. The nurse laughs at me because she thinks I should have told him to rush.
1:00pm A nurse comes in and tells me how incredibly busy they are in the maternity ward today. The anesthesiologist has been running around from room to room, c-section to c-section, and he's almost to my room. If I want an epidural, I should have it now. I think, "This is CRAZY! I haven't even been here an hour. Ryan isn't here yet. My contractions don't even really hurt yet." But I want an epidural and if I have to get it now, that's what I'll do.
1:30pm The anesthesiologist walks in. "How are we doin' in here?" He asks. "Great!" I say with a smile. "Great?" He checks a clipboard, "You ready for an epidural?" My nurse answers for me, "She's dilated to a 6, she's in a lot of pain, she's ready for an epidural," then she whispers to me, "Honey, you're in a lot of pain." She had my back.
1:35pm As I'm getting the epidural it hits me that nobody is here. Not Ryan, not my mom. I get a little worried that I'll be alone when the baby is born. I stop feeling proud and independent that I've come this far by myself and start to feel a little lonely.
2:00pm Ryan walks in the door. I instantly feel relieved. We laugh about how fast this is going compared to the 13 hours we spent in the hospital before Wendy was born and watch the Royal Wedding (it's the only thing on every channel on this Friday afternoon).
2:45pm They break my water (the tear in my sac is up high & they need to break it down low). Nurse Liz says that's the most water she's ever seen. Awesome! I knew this was just a bunch of water weight. And the more water weight I lose the more weight I lose.
3:30pm My mom shows up. I'm dilated to an 8 but the baby hasn't dropped enough.
4:00pm My mother-in-law shows up. I get turned on my left side to help the baby drop.
4:40pm The nurse comes in and says the doctor has a c-section at 5pm. We all assume she's telling me this to let me know the doctor is coming to my room after the c-section. "So the doctor is going to come in here and we're going to have this baby by 5pm." WHAT? That's in 15 minutes. I pushed for almost 2 hours with Wendy.
4:45pm The doctor comes in. I get turned from my left side to my back. The nurse says, "Hey Doctor, look at this. She hasn't even pushed once yet." I hear the doctor say, "Oh wow, the head is almost out already." WHAT?!
4:50pm During my pushing the doctor tells me to stop. The mood in the room changes. Every0ne gets really quiet and the doctor starts making fast, jerky movements and calling out orders for the nurses to hand her things. I don't even have time to get nervous before things are okay again. Apparently the cord was wrapped pretty tight around my baby boys neck and she had to cut it off.
4:54pm After pushing for less than 10 minutes, my son enters this world and gets placed on my tummy. I feel like I'm dreaming. Everything is wonderful.

* This is my "I love epidurals" face.

asft

*i LOVE the genuine happiness on Ryan's face in this picture.

* proud parents.

Thank you to my aunt Ruth who took these priceless pictures so my mom could be there for me instead of trying to experience the birth of her grandchild from behind a camera. I love them.

Ruth, you (and your camera) are invited to the births of all my future children.

34 weeks

Sunday, March 20th 2011 - 34 WEEKS!

And so the countdown begins. THIS was the week I really started to feel it. My belly is officially uncomfortable. It's no longer soft either, but firm and full to the brim of baby boy. Putting on my own shoes takes a lot of effort and leaves me breathing heavy. I have to raise my arms and put my hands behind my head to make room for my lungs to get a good, deep breath. I can see the pregnancy in the swelling of my face, bleh. But I'm feeling proud of myself, because all of these symptoms came on a lot earlier in my pregnancy with Wendy, due to the fact that I didn't take any steps (no pun intended) to monitor my weight gain the first time around. I'm still walking every day, but I think I'm done with things like Disneyland trips until after the baby. I'm down to weekly visits to the doctor instead :)

Pregnancy #2 - Fun Facts:
RE-OCCURRING NIGHTMARES

• Harvey is born a 6 month old girl
• Ryan is cheating on me
• I can stretch the skin on my belly & see my baby's face as clearly as if a balloon has been stretched over it. Everyone around me is grossed out, but I love it.
• I end up giving birth to SIX boys, but get sent home with 6 plastic baby dolls to take care of while they get bigger in the NICU

Strollin' with the hommies...

I have waddled my sciatic nerve ALL OVER Babies R Us, Sports Chalet, Bergstroms, you name it, trying to test out double strollers to see how well they glide, fold, lay back, ect. NONE of them had the strollers I was looking for (even though they claimed they did online). Then I took Wendy to Disneyland last week... WHY didn't I think of this sooner? Disneyland is a stroller shopper's DREAM! I worked up the guts to interrogate strangers on why they love/hate these three strollers, but I was too chicken to ask if I could actually pushthem around for a second. I wish I would have inherited some of my mom's gusto and just gone for it.

P.S. I have to apologize. This is a selfish blog post. It's solely for me to organize my thoughts and maybe get some good advice. I feel like I'm buying a new car. I need this thing to last. I've narrowed my double-stroller hunt down to 3:

1. Baby Jogger City Select

2. Phil & Teds Inline Buggie

3. Baby Jogger City Mini Double 2011

These are the features I'm looking for:

Large Sun Shade Canopy

Smooth ride (not too heavy to push)
Easy to push through doorways (not too wide)
Separated seating (difficult for the kids to mess with/reach each other)
Relatively easy (for a double stroller) to fold up and throw in the trunk

Ability to lay both seats ALL the way back (for a newborn & in case both kids are asleep)

Decent storage space

Any advice?

This is pretty amazing.

I usually just skip to 1:13 minutes in when it becomes a double.

30 Weeks

Sunday, February 20, 2011 - 30 WEEKS!

Nesting

*image courtesy of flickr.com

I am currently deep in the throngs of nesting. My "Nesting To Do" list is filled with small to large home projects I would like to get done before this baby gets here. Many of them are somewhat unnecessary, but for some reason I feel like I HAVE to get them done NOW (i.e. re-paint my bedroom a better color). But, apparently I am not the only one nesting in this house. See for yourself...

Ugly little things aren't they? Ugly in a kinda cute way. Something interesting my bird nerd husband told me - the momma bird lays an egg every other day, then after sitting for 22 days, a baby hatches once every other day (in the order they were laid). Wouldn't it be nice only being pregnant for only 22 days? Then again, maybe not. If that were the case, I wouldn't have time to get everything done.

Pregnancy #2 - fun facts:

UNNECESSARY MUST DO NESTING PROJECTS:

Deep clean the grout in my shower - DONE

Deep clean the carpets

Organize all the closets - DONE

Install recessed lighting in living room & kitchen - DONE

Paint outside of patio door with chalkboard paint - DONE

Paint my bedroom

Move computer/office space into the living room - DONE

Re-upholster & paint vintage chair

Convert current office into "Wendy's Big Girl Princess Room" - working on it

Convert Wendy's current room into baby boy nursery - working on itGet Wendy to sleep in her big girl bedroom - DONE
Get Wendy off the pacifier

Potty train Wendy - DONE

Plan New Beginnings - DONE

Decide on a double stroller - DONE

Sell/just get rid of some of these stinkin' birds (really, they kinda smell) - DONE

Sell single jogging stroller, RockBand, & microphone on craigslist

Get new dinning chairs for kitchen table

Complete enough CE Units to renew my RDH license - DONE

Throw my husband a big 30th birthday party - DONE

Throw my daughter a little princess birthday party - DONE

Have Innocencia deep clean my house

26 weeks

Sunday, January 23, 2011 - 26 weeks!

So we're in the 3rd trimester now. It's official - I'm bumping people in the face with my belly as I clean their teeth (that's embarrassing). Trying hard to commit to a name. I've been noticing that baby #2 moves A WHOLE LOT more than Wendy did. He never stops in there. They say it will be the same after he's born. I'm just slightly terrified to have a boy. I don't know if I can keep up with all that energy. Maybe it seems scarier because I'm SO tired right now (being pregnant and all). Good thing I have a pretty okay sized backyard for him to play in and get all of that energy out.

Pregnancy #2 - fun facts:

NAMING

Today, the front runners are:

Harvey (a family name and our favorite... I think)

Milo

August (Gus for short)

Felix

Dexter

Any suggestions?

GUESS WHAT?

*told ya she's been clingy.

she's also got her pacifier in her mouth & her "white blankie" in her hand - just like I said

It's a... BOY!

We are SO excited! We just aren't so sure what to name the little guy.
Any suggestions?

Where have I been all your life?

...Or, should I say, the last couple weeks. I've been sick. And tired. REALLY tired. Creating a human will suck the energy right out of you. Throw a 2 year old into the mix and there you have it, I'm gone. Luckily I'm into the good phase now (2nd trimester = no longer nauseous + not TOO uncomfortably fat... yet).

*how I told Ryan

I love telling Ryan, "I'm Pregnant." His face lights up so instantly and so genuinely that I know he feels the same excitement as I do. Maybe even more so. It makes me feel so close to him to know how much he loves our kids, even when they're not born yet.

*how we told our families

I'm trying to mentally prepare Wendy for what's going on, but I'm not quite sure how much of it she absorbs. I'd love to have her potty trained and off the pacifier before this baby comes, but I'm not sure it's gonna happen. She tells me she has a baby in her tummy too, a girl she is going to name "Princess Tinkerbell." When the waves of nausea hit me pretty bad, I sit down and close my eyes and take deep breaths. I've seen her do it once or twice and I wonder what she thinks is going on. She's very concerned. She'll put her hand on my shoulder and ask, "You got tummy hurts mom? You need some medicine?" She's been EXTRA clingy to me, her blanket, and her pacifier. Once or twice, out of nowhere, she's put her mouth to my stomach and talked to the baby. So I think she understands a little. If she treats this kid anything like she treats her dolls, she's going to be a great big sister.

Pregnancy #2 fun facts:

CRAVINGS

broccoli cheese soup

cottage cheese

chef boy-r-dee beef ravioli (nasty, I know)

homemade fruit smoothies

1 cup simply orange juice

1/2 cup silk vanilla soy milk

1 cup fat free vanilla frozenyogurt

1 over heaping cup of frozen fruit- usually strawberry, pineapple and mango chunks

Sometimes, if I crave this smoothie late at night after Wendy's asleep, I'll take the blender in the garage and plug it in there so I don't wake her up. To be honest, I'm probably out in the garage blending smoothies most nights of the week. That's how much I love them.