Tips and Tricks Tuesday from moms- LABOR!!! birth story part 3

Let's talk about getting the epidural. I knew there could be complications so I listened closely and did everything the anetheseologist and nurse said to do. Hubs tried to stand by me to help comfort me and the nurse said he had to sit down because other husbands have passed out. The nurse was great comforting me and talking me through everything. They tell you to curve your back and that you will feel a sting like a bee after they put the sterile stuff on you. The bee sting is numbing medicine I think and most people say that's the worst part. It's important you don't move during that part and I know a couple people that had contractions during that part which made it worse I think. I just focused on breathing and not moving and it only hurt for maybe 30 seconds and the rest was easy and I was all numb pretty quick!

The nurse checked me an hour later and I was 8-9cm, we thought the baby would be here by breakfast. But things slowed down. My water hadn't broke, so I layed on my left side to try to get it to break. Oh, I forgot, after the epidural you get a catheter. It didn't hurt but I swear I could kind of tell when I was peeing and it was so gross to listen to them empty the bag! You also can't control your farts. It was ok when I was on my back, no one could hear them but they had me lay on my left side to try and get my water to break and there was one embarrassing fart, but we all just laughed. The nurse said the farts were good that they are a result of the baby moving down.

Remember, I had only had a smoothie at 2am and you can't eat anything after you get an epidural so I was feeling pretty hungry around 7 or 8. I had seen on one born every minute that it is common for women to throw up during labor, so I asked for something just in case. Someone went and got hubs Starbucks and I thought I wouldn't be able to stand him eating in the room but it was ok.

I felt a trickle and thought it might be my water breaking. I was right. Around 11 I was at a 10 and could start pushing. The nurse called the dr pretty quickly to come in and deliver the baby. When he came in (my dr wasn't available on a Sunday but he delivered my friend's baby and my mom knew him) he said what the nurse was seeing wasn't the baby's head but more of my water bag. The dr and nurse were calling it a four bag I think. There isn't info on the Internet about it but I don't think it's uncommon. All of the bag of water didn't break so the dr had to break my water. After he did that they realized the baby was higher than they thought so he left and I pushed.

I probably pushed for an hour and a half or so. They keep the room warm for when the baby comes out but it was no good for hubs or I. We both were not feeling good. At one point I didn't hear hubby say anything,_ he just went to the bathroom and I started freaking out thinking I would have to push the baby out by myself! Luckily, he rallied and stayed with me. I threw up three times while pushing. Not sure if that's normal.

The dr finally came back in and I pushed several times and he felt like the baby was pushing against a brick wall. He didn't want to but he had to do an episiotomy. Didn't hurt, just felt a tugging and the noise was gross. Hubby had to sit down after that!

Oh, I wear contacts and thought I would want to wear them during labor. I didn't put them in when we went to the hospital because I thought I might sleep after getting the epidural. Things progressed so quickly that I never napped. When pushing I felt like I could have been able to look and see things but I kept my eyes closed. No mirror for me. I told hubs not to look but he did look once and I don't think he is scarred for life.

After the episiotomy, I didn't have to push much and they even said stop pushing so I didn't tear more. They told me to open my eyes and I'll be honest I'm a little scarred with that image but I guess people like to see their baby being born.

We were 99% sure we were going to name the baby Chase. We started calling him Chase right when he was born. I thought we might discuss it but he just looked like a Chase.

He was crying right when he was born which was great! They were shocked he was such a big boy! They put him on my chest and the tears just rolled down my face.

Link up your birth story or any advice you have! Next week I'm going to be talking about what baby stuff we actually use.

Chase is 4 weeks old!

*Isn't his Memorial Day outfit cute?!

Chase is 4 weeks old today! It's crazy how quickly the time goes. I'm about to be super honest here people. Hubby was off work the first two weeks. That went really fast! We spent the first few days getting the whole breast feeding thing figured out. It took a few days for my milk to come in. We had been keeping track of poop and pee diapers and he was behind so we called the advice nurse at our ped's office and she said to give him a couple ounces of formula. Luckily people had given us bottles and similac had sent us formula. I got pretty upset and freaked out because I didn't read about bottle feeding in the books. I didn't know what to do and thought if Chase tasted formula from a bottle he would never want breast milk again. The formula helped hydrate him and he went back to breast feeding. My milk still hadn't come in and we had what we refer to as the "bad night". He wouldn't sleep anywhere and was crying a lot! We saw the ped the next day and she reassured us that we were doing good and my milk came in later that day.

We've done ok with Hubby going back to work, at first I didn't know what I would do with Chase all day and then I was sad because hubby didn't want to be away from us. Broke my heart! Hubby helps out a ton when he is home and I love that he comes home every day and doesn't travel for work.

I have no idea where or how Chase slept those first few weeks. I guess sometimes he slept in his pack and play and sometimes in the bed with us. I think we were putting him in the pack and play when he was completely asleep.

This week I wanted to get him on a schedule. I got the book the secrets of the baby whisperer. Her secrets were not working when I tried to put him in the pack and play. I was exhausted after trying to get him to sleep for like two days. I was asking every parent I know what they do and found out a lot of people sleep with their kids and have no clue. During a desperate moment hubby put Chase in the crib in his room and he went to sleep! I got desperate again and did the same thing and it worked! My theory is he likes the sturdiness of the crib, the pack and play was wobbly and would move if he fussed. So Chase made that tough decision of when to move him to his crib for us. We are all sleeping much better now and it's wonderful!

Breast feeding was difficult in the hospital. Things got better after I got the my Brest friend pillow. After about two weeks I had a mild infection and was kind of over breast feeding. It's going better now but the breast I had an infection in still has a cracked sore nipple. Things would be really great if that would heal! He eats about every three hours during the day. We are flexible which is nice.

He is awake for about an hour every three hours. Sometimes we do tummy time, walk around, look at the fan, or watch reality tv. I love waking him up because I miss him when he is sleeping! He gets lots of kisses then.

We think he has gained about a pound. Our friend let us borrow their baby scale. He's probably grown an inch. We only had 1 pack of newborn diapers so he is in size 1s now. A couple of his newborn onesies are too small. His eyes are getting lighter blue and I think his hair is getting lighter.

I had no idea how much work having a baby was! We both really wanted to be parents and love kids. Everyone would tell us what great parents we would be. If you aren't so sure about having a newborn, I don't recommend it. I don't think it's for everyone. I'm lucky I have tons of support and know what a blessing having this little miracle is. When he looks at me with those big blue eyes it does melt my heart!

Sytycd

-White chocolate? Not going to be good.
-Kate Gosselin hair girl annoys me.
-Black barbie with the missing front tooth? I hope she is the stripper that gave hubs a lap dance at his bachelor party. Hot!
-Ryan Ramirez obviously is going to make top 20 since she was so close last season.

Boob Tube Babble!!!

This week was tough around here. Chase was having trouble sleeping in his pack and play in our room and we didn't want him getting in the habit of sleeping with us. Luckily we figured out that he LOVES his big boy crib and now my little man is back to being all smiles and I have gotten enough sleep! I did manage to watch a few shows.

Bachelorette- I'm not really a fan of Ashley's. I'm watching cause I don't have anything else to watch right now and want to know who the crazy people are in case they end up on my fave show, Bachelor Pad. Here are my thoughts on this week's Bachelorette: Good looking guys, lots of interesting stories. I love that someone warned Ashley about Bentley! Drama before the limo arrives makes me happy! The hairstylist guy has bad hair. Could they figure out a less awkward way to meet everyone? The awkwardness kills me! The mask guy is weird! Ashley thinks being picked up is sweet, I would be freaked out!

Friday night lights- I'm loving the story line about Julie and the married teacher!

The Voice- I'm over the battle rounds. What's next?

Pregnant in Heels- The Dad that had no clue was so cute! I love how he fell in love with that little girl! Also love that Rosie was able to get pregnant again. Did not love what they named their baby!

16 and pregnant- Why was it 90 mins long? Because the girl was anorexic and went to the hospital for being light headed?

Real housewives of oc- I'm behind on this show. I was waiting for hubs to watch with me but I ran out of shows to watch. We don't get to watch tv in the evenings anymore! I guess I'll save my comments from the show from three weeks ago, no one can remember that long ago.

American Idol- I didn't watch this season because of the new judges. I'm kind of bummed that I didn't watch. I love country music and feel like I would have loved Scotty and Lauren. The View talked about the finale this morning and I saw all your tweets. I wish they talked about the kiss on the view!

What did you watch this week? Link up with Neely and me!

Mom questions

Ok I have a few questions but I thought I'll blog them instead of tweet.

Thank you to everyone that tried giving us advice about getting Chase to sleep. We finally got him to sleep by putting him in his crib in his room. I think the pack and play wiggling when he moved around was freaking him out. I think he likes the sturdiness of his crib. Anyone else's baby not like sleeping in the pack and play? Don't know what we are going to do when we travel. Do hotels have regular cribs? I was stressing about when we would move him to his room but he made that decision for us. Where do you nurse if your baby doesn't sleep in your room? I went in the guest room and I guess if we have guests I'll go in our room. I hope hubs felt rested!

I fed Chase from 8-9 and finally got him to sleep in his crib at 10. He didn't wake up until 2am to eat! Is that ok? He has been waking up gassy at like 5am. I don't know what happened this morning since he was in his room and wasn't crying. I went and got him at 6:15 and he was grunting with gas. I fed him at 6:30 and he's still doing occasional grunts now and just pooped at 7:30. Do any of you have babies that wake up a ball of gas? Should I use gripe water? When? Where do you buy it? I feel like he is so gassy he forgets he is hungry.

Is cabbage for sore nipples or engorgement? I bought some thinking it was for sore nipples, I don't want it to affect my supply.

Chase has a diaper rash. We've been putting desitin on it and I think it's getting better. Do any of you let your boys hang out with no diaper to heal a diaper rash? Seems too risky!!!

I think that's it! Gotta go change him!

Tips and Tricks Tuesday from moms birth story part 2

Last time we left off at the nurse I called at the hospital saying, “see you when you get here”.

We packed up the car and drove to the hospital. While we were driving I was still timing my contractions because I was still nervous this wasn’t the real thing. We got to the hospital at 4am, when I got out of the car I was having a contraction and couldn’t walk. Hubby didn’t know what to do. He said, “Do you want me to carry you?” The contraction passed and I walked into the hospital. We left most of our stuff in the car in case we weren’t admitted. We were surprised that they still had us fill out paperwork even though I had pre registered online. That was kind of amusing/annoying.

Then they took me to triage and I put on a hospital gown. A nurse came and hooked me up to monitors. She checked me and called a dr and told him I needed to stay. I was 6-7 cm with contractions 2 mins apart. I thought they were 4 mins apart I guess I couldn’t feel the beginning and end. She asked me 100 questions about my medical history and pain management; I told her I wanted an epidural. I should mention that I had wanted to try and not get an epidural. My mom is a nurse and talked to other labor and delivery nurses and thought I shouldn’t get one. Hubs saw Theresa on rhonj get one and didn’t want me to get one. After being in labor for weeks I was leaning towards getting one.

Then the nurse took us to a labor and delivery room. She asked when I wanted my epidural. She and hubs thought I was doing really well managing my pain. Hubby asked her at what point I could no longer get the epidural. She said I could get one up until I was pushing. I told them get the epidural process going because I know it can take awhile.

I now feel I can say I have a high tolerance for pain and I might have been able to not have an epidural if I had a smaller baby. I’m glad I had the epidural though since I pushed for two hours and had to have an episiotomy. Ashley at Kiwis and Cocktails had a natural birth and she said the worst part was getting stitched up. I had a lot of stitches so I’m thankful for the epidural. My mom was surprised how good I was doing with the epidural. She couldn’t believe I couldn’t even feel my contractions.

What was your check in to the hospital like? What was your pain management choice? Got any tips for me on how I can get my baby to sleep? Write a post and link up!

My 50/50 list

Bekah is doing the me project where you come up with a list of 50 goals. You work on one goal for three weeks and then move on. It's ok if you don't achieve the goal but it's the trying. I'm gonna try and get a few done this weekend. I have 51 cause I'm a dork. I know some are lame and off my to do list but maybe I'll actually get them done!
1. Organize desk
2. Organize guest room
3. Wedding scrapbook for mil
4. Wedding scrapbook for me
5. Baby book
6. Get a good paying job
7. Make cookies
8. Get chase on feeding/sleeping schedule
9. Decorate nursery
10. Decorate living room
11. Decorate bedroom
12. Family vacation summer 2011
13. San Diego trip spring 2012
14. Cut Chase's fingernails
15. Cut blue's nails
16. Go to Europe
17. Go to NYC
18. Get abs again
19. Go on an overnight date with hubby
20. Take chase to meet his great grandpa
21. Take chase to chico
22. Take chase to my parents house
23. Start college fund for chase
24. Take chase to Disneyland
25. Help dad edit wedding video
26. Go to Yosemite
27. Go to MLB spring training
28. Go to high school reunion
29. Go to Texas and visit aunt and Neely, amber, Tara, and ashley
30. Go to a rivercats game
31. Go to Tahoe
32. Go to Disney world
33. Go camping
34. Go to Christmas eve service at bayside church
35. Stay at four seasons biltmore again
36. See movie bridesmaids
37. See movie bad teacher
38. Watch princess bride with mil
39. Go on Mother's day garden tour
40. Volunteer in Chase's classroom
41. Buy a new pair of jeans
42. Finish 40 day love dare
43. Finish What I love about you
44. Get a children's bible
45. Get a Froggie book
46. Take parents and in laws wine tasting
47. Go with dad to Hawaii again
48. Make mouth guard
49. Put pictures in coasters
50. Buy new coasters
51. Watch something borrowed
52. Go to Seattle

Boob Tube Babble

Chase and I have gotten a lot of tv watching done while I've been feeding him or doing chores.

Glee: I watched the Rumors, Prom, and Funeral episodes. Loved the Rumors episode! Prom was not what I expected. I was so crying during the Charlie song.

OTH- I am all caught up. I don't know what the point of havin Brooke fall was if everything was going to be ok. Loved how Jamie was like Lucas at the end. It got picked up for 13 more episodes, what will they do??

The Voice- I watched two battle rounds and loved it! Love that Reba is on the show too. This is my new favorite show!

Army Wives- Adopting a child with HIV is a huge responsibility for Roland and his wife! I'm glad Trevor and Roxy are ok. I wonder who gets hurt next week!

Survivor- What a boring season! I'm glad Rob won but the producers should have shaken things up somehow!

Tips and Tricks Tuesdays from moms birth story part 1

Don't be distracted by that cute little bundle of joy in the picture. Look at that poor lady in the background! That is what someone who went into labor at 2am and had an 8lb 14oz baby with a head circumference of 36cms looks like. People thought it was weird that I was eating right away. Are you kidding me? I was starving!!!

*TIPS AND TRICKS ARE IN CAPS IN CASE YOU DON’T WANT TO READ EVERY DETAIL

But, let’s start at the beginning. THE FIRST THING YOU NEED TO DO, IF YOU HAVEN’T DONE IT ALREADY IS WATCH THE VIDEO, “HAPPIEST BABY ON THE BLOCK”. It has 5 ways to calm a crying baby. When you watch it you might think it’s a little wacky but that first night in the hospital you will be using every single way. We would have had a more miserable first night if we hadn’t watched that movie. I really think sending the baby to the nursery will make breast feeding more difficult. If your baby is there with you in the room you can keep working on it.

Most of you that read this blog or follow me on twitter know that Chase was due April 27th. At my 38 week appointment I was 1-2 cm dilated. We were all so excited! We thought he would for sure be here in a week. I started having contractions that night and people get even more excited. A week went by and still no baby. I lost my mucous plug at some point but knew that didn’t really mean anything. I was 2-3 cm dilated at my 39 week appointment. I had contractions like 5 minutes apart but they weren’t intense to the point I couldn’t talk on the phone or walk around. WE TRIED EVERYTHING TO GET THE BABY OUT, NOTHING WORKED. IF YOUR DOCTOR TELLS YOU THAT YOU ARE DILATED, DON’T GET EXCITED. EVEN IF YOU HAVE CONTRACTIONS, DON’T GET EXCITED.

I made it to my due date and had an appointment that day and I was 3-4 cm 70% effaced. The doctor jokingly said, “See you tonight!” That was Wednesday, April 27th. On Saturday, April 30th we did a lot of walking! We ran a bunch of errands and then went on a walk to my cousins’ house and then walked with them and back to our house. WALKING ABOUT 5 MILES PUT ME INTO LABOR. At 2am on May 1st I woke up with contractions. I had a couple false alarms already so I didn’t get too excited.

The contractions were pretty intense and kind of close together and I started to pay attention. I was timing them and had a contraction so painful I had to get out of bed because I felt like there was nothing I could do. At that point we were thinking we might need to go to the hospital. We started getting ready and Hubby made me a smoothie.

IF YOU ARE GETTING READY TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL A SMOOTHIE IS NOT ENOUGH FOOD. HAVE A CLIFF BAR OR SOME CARBS AND PROTEIN. WHEN I WAS WALKING AROUND THE HOUSE I WOULD HAVE TO STOP WHATEVER I WAS DOING DURING A CONTRACTION. YOU REALLY CAN’T WALK DURING LABOR CONTRACTIONS. I called the hospital because the books say they will talk to you during a contraction and tell you if you should come in. My hospital asked us to call and let them know we were coming and when I called she just said see you when you get here.

Let’s talk about what to pack for the hospital. BUY TRAVEL SIZE TOILETRIES SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO PACK THEM BEFORE YOU LEAVE. BRING PILLOWS WITH BRIGHT PILLOW CASES AND TOWELS FOR YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND IF HE IS STAYING. The hospital bed, pillows, and towels suck. YOU NEED A COUPLE PAIRS OF SOCKS, CLOTHES FOR HUSBAND AND BABY. My husband wished he had slippers. The baby wore one going home outfit and used one blanket. I brought a nursing nightgown but stayed in my hospital gowns the whole stay. CAMERA, VIDEO CAMERA, AND LAPTOP WERE USED. We never turned on the tv or the ipod. YOU CAN A BRING DIAPER BAG JUST IN CASE THE HOSPITAL RUNS OUT OF DIAPERS, I’VE HEARD IT HAPPENS, AND THEN IT’S READY FOR APPOINTMENTS A COUPLE DAYS LATER.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BREAST FEED THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU BRING WITH YOU TO THE HOSPITAL IS MY BREST FRIEND . I was given a boppy and thought that would be fine and never got around to asking if I should bring it to the hospital. I don't know why I didn't think I would need it. The boppy was too soft. My Brest friend is hard and keeps him in the right position which is so important when you are both figuring things out. My little guy is such a squirmer it was so hard to just use hospital pillows the first couple days. I came home and tried the boppy but it was still difficult. My Brest friend is amazing!

Saturday Morning Scene

Big bed, little baby

Boob Tube Babble

Shows we were able to watch this week:

SPOUSE VS HOUSE!!!! Do any of you watch Flipping Out on Bravo? Remember Ryan Brown from that show? He's a family member and we are so excited that he got his own show!!! You have to watch it! It is on TLC, add it to your dvr asap!


On the first episode the husband decorates/remodels the house with no help from the wife. She designs a dollhouse and he gets to see what she had in mind for the house. I like that the show gives the couple a budget and the husband has to figure out the budget. He ends up selling a big screen tv to stay on budget. Obviously the whole time the you are worried cause the husband spends a lot of time drinking with his buddies. You gotta turn in to find out how he did!

The Office- Love Will Ferrel!!! Is he staying? The best part was the juggling without the balls! Amazing!

Happy Endings- We are really starting to like this show!

SNL- SNL was so funny this week! Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph's monologue song to their babies in their bellies was hilarious! Michael Bolton's captain jack sparrow song was comical! The best part was the pregnant in heels skit! They all did a great job imitating the people on the show!

Real World- Wow! Uh, that's never happened on the real world before! This season is crazy!!!

Amazing Race- Not happy with who won. I would have wanted either other team to win.

OTH- (2 weeks ago) No way Lydia is a couple weeks old! Wow river water boarding scene was intense! Prof Kellerman talking about his wife had me in tears :( OMG!!! BROOKE IS PREGNANT!!! SO HAPPY FOR HER!! Tears for that one too! (This week) What's with the sexual tension between Quinn and that model? Neely and I both thought there was going to be a lesbian moment between them. Nothing else exciting happened. Neely and I think next week looks like it flashes forward and Brooke is like way pregnant. We are excited about this!

Who does Chase look like?

Picture of Chase

Picture of me

Picture of Hubs

Hubs and his grandpa. His grandpa looks the same as he did 28 years ago. I have to get a picture of Chase with him like this! You will be amazed how alike they look!

Mommy

The nose is definitely Hubby's. Maybe Chase has my cheeks? I think he has Hubby's eyes. Might be Daddy's chin.

One Week!

Today is Chase's one week birthday! It was a great Mother's Day and one week birthday! Hubs made me waffles with strawberries on top like I requested. I also got lovely roses from Hubs and Chase. Hubs was on diaper duty most of the day too which was nice because twice Chase went poop right after we changed him. We need to wait awhile after I feed him to change him I guess!

My mom, aunt, and cousins went on the annual Mother's Day Garden Tour. My mom and aunt have been going for 15 years. They used to go with my Nana. They brought us lunch afterwards and got to visit with Chase, Hubs, and I.

Then we took Chase for his first walk around the neighborhood.

Chase is doing amazing so far. He sleeps a lot! He is starting to spend some more time awake with his eyes open. He's eating a lot! He is such a joy.

I'm doing pretty good with recovery. Motrin is my friend! My pre pregnancy weight was 144 lbs. At my last appointment I was 173 lbs. Currently I weigh 151.5. 7.5 lbs to go.

I had one night of exhaustion and was crying because I don't want hubs to go back to work. My aunt and cousin said I might be teary next week when he's at work.

Saturday Morning Scene!!!

So excited to participate in Saturday Morning Scene this week! I know it's 5:30pm on the west coast but I was busy! My first Saturday with Chase was full of snuggling and I loved every second of it!!!

Boob Tube Babble week 2

So I bet some of you are surprised I found the time to post this. Well, my house is a disaster and people are on their way over and I have sweats on and no bra. I'm that dedicated to this link up! I've managed to watch some shows this week. I just realized today is Thursday and I'm probably not going to have time to write my thoughts on the shows. I'm a brand new mom. I get a free pass this week! I will totally try to catch up at some point on everyone else's stuff though so write your posts and link up!!!

He's here!!!!

If you aren't my friend on facebook and don't follow me on twitter you might not know that...

Chase Curtis

arrived May 1st at 1:01pm

he shocked the nurses and doctors by weighing in at a whooping 8lbs 14 ozs (just like his Dad)

he was 21 inches long just like Mom and Dad!

These are some pics from facebook.