Welcome Sprout!

Induction was set for Tuesday June 14th.  Since I was to be at the hospital by 5:30 am, my parents came in the night before so that they could stay and watch Bean at our house while we were in the hospital.  I was induced with Bean and knew what the day/process would look like.  This time was a different experience in that Steve and I were at it all alone.  Last time, my parents were able to go to the hospital with us and provided distractions.  We had to come up with those on our own this time.

Ironically, I woke up a little after 4 having some contractions.  I'd been having them off and on all week, but never any that would wake me up.  The word for the whole day was "surreal". It was surreal to think about the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about going into labor or when baby would be coming -- she was coming today!

I woke Steve up just after 5 am, got everything pulled together, and made the 3 minute drive to the hospital (sorry Steve that I haven't let you fulfill your dream of a mad dash of driving to the hospital with a wife in labor).  Once we were there, we went to labor and delivery, checked in, and got the show on the road.

The first hour int he hospital is just spent going through paperwork (I had pre-registered, so really it was a nurse on a computer verifying everything), prepping the room, and starting an IV.  The nurse started me on pitocin a little after 7 and marked my beginning progress at 4cm & 80% effaced.  I could feel the contractions, but they were pretty similar to what I had been experiencing.  They weren't "painful", but did get annoying.  I had already "ordered" my epidural, but told the nurse I didn't want it until after the doctor came in and broke my water.

I watched the Today show while Steve read a book and nodded off and on.  The contractions picked up a little bit (nothing I couldn't handle), but the nurse did offer to get me that epidural sooner - I declined.  Our pastor came in and prayed with us right before the doctor came in.  Once the pastor left, it was time to get things really going.  My water was broken just before 9am and the anesthesiologist immediately followed with the epidural.  I did have a couple of strong contractions during that time.  Steve told me later he had concern for me and could tell I wasn't "just ok".  I felt the epidural go in and could tell it was more on the right side than the left.  That wasn't an issue. . . until later.

(Feeling much better after the epidural!)

(Steve on his "perch".  He would alternate between this window bench, a recliner, and my side -- he'd help in the changing positions and feeding me ice.)

The epidural kicked in and I was feeling much more comfortable.  Well, contractions were more comfortable, but laying in the bed was not so much comfortable.  I just continued to watch tv and doze off and on all morning.  The nurse did a good job of coming in every 45-60 min or so and helping me to change positions.  Each time she would have me change positions, she'd check me.  At the first check at 10:30, I was only at a 5.  My heart kind of sank at that number.  I had Bean by 1:20 and had a goal of a noon baby.  I wanted a baby by lunch time because I was STARVING.  I don't remember that with Bean.  The ice chips this time around weren't cutting it.

(Watching TV & playing on my phone -- I had plans of trying to blog, but with the IV in my left hand, I couldn't use it.)

At the 11:30 check, I was at 7cm.  Woohoo! Now that's better.  But again, my dream of a noon baby was dashed. I went back to whining about how hungry I was.  I got checked at noon and was still at 7, nurse commented on how she was going to come in more often to change the positions so that the baby would come down.  I turned on SVU to pass the next hour.  With Bean's labor, I didn't feel a single thing once I had the epidural.  This time around, if I was laying on my left side, I could feel more (remember that whole "the epidural was stronger on the right side comment"??) of the contractions.  They weren't painful, but present. My contractions also started to become a little inconsistent.  The nurse upped the pitocin to try to get the contractions to be closer together and consistent again.

At 12:55, I had been laying on my right side (and not feeling much).  The nurse came in and checked and said I was at 9! (I started to hope for a baby by 2pm!) She had me flip over to my left side and said she'd start to ready some things and come back shortly to check progress. By 1pm, I was starting to really feel uncomfortable.  I could feel immense pressure with the contractions and was starting to lose it.  I hit my button for an epidural boost and asked Steve if I was a crazy person to call the nurse right back in.  He said to do whatever I needed (however, he didn't confirm that I wasn't being crazy). I tried to tough it through another contraction, but hit the nurse call button.  She came right into the room as I did it.  There was a nurse on the intercom asking what was needed and my nurse responded with, "just hold on a second."  She then checked me and informed the other nurse that, "We need the doctor and delivery team NOW!" (Okay, she didn't yell "now", but her face kind of enforced that word.

It was a flurry of activity for the next few minutes.  I had immense pressure and the urge to push, but the nurse just told me to wait for the doctor.  She got the bed ready and put the stirrups up - with the disclaimer of, "don't put your legs up until the doctor is in here!" The doctor came into the room and the nurse told him - "baby is right here!"

I put my legs up and was told that the next time I felt pressure to go ahead and push.  A contraction started and they both looked at me and said, "now might be a good time to try." I felt the pressure and pushed!  I could feel the relief in my stomach as the baby came out.  Doctor had me stop so he could clean out her mouth (she was immediately crying!).  He was going to have me push again to get the body out, but her hand came out and body just slid out after it all on its own.  Steve and I were sort of in shock since it just took 1 push (as opposed to the 45 min with Bean!).

Sprout came into this world at 1:15 pm (that's right, only 20 min from that 9 cm check to baby being born!) weighing a small 6 pounds, 7 ounces & a long 20"! She was immediately laid on my chest, which (not gonna lie) grossed me out a little.  With Bean, they put her on my gown, but then took her and weighed/cleaned her up and then brought her back to me to do skin-to-skin.  Not this time.  She was placed right on my skin under my gown right upon coming out.  I got slimed on my face and that was about enough for me. Haha!  Doctor knew not to ask Steve to cut the umbilical chord, so I did it (I did it with Bean, too!).

(Sprout)

(Daddy getting to hold Sprout for the first time.)

We got to stay in the delivery room for a little over an hour.  I was stitched up, the room was cleaned up, and it was just Steve, Me, and Sprout. Can I just say SURREAL, again?!  A nurse came in a little bit later to get Sprout's vitals and stats.  At that point, we had her sent to the nursery to get cleaned up and I was transferred to my recovery room.  All in all, the day went just about the same as it did with Bean's, only with a little more excitement in the end.

My parents brought Bean up to meet her new baby sister later in the afternoon.  Other visitors included our pastor and his wife and my friend Sara (and another pastor and his wife along with a church visitor the next day).  Days in the hospital seemed to run all together.  The hospital experience was much more streamlined this time around.  Sprout and I would share the same nurse, meaning 1 nurse would come in and check both of our vitals at the same time.  That eliminated a lot of in & out of staff!  Sprout slept most of the first day, and I would have to work to nurse her every 4 hours.  At night, she cried and needed much more attention.  During the day, Steve would head back to our house for a few hours and my mom would come and stay with me.

(First picture as a family of 4!  Bean LOVES baby sister -- although she still is convinced the baby's name is "Noah" after a baby from church.)

(This is how we usually find Bean.  In Sprout's face giving her kisses.  She LOVES her baby sister.)

(Sprout likes to keep her hands up to her face, whether sleeping or eating or chilling around.  Although right now, she mostly just eats and sleeps.)

(Check out that hair! They say that heartburn is an indication of a baby having hair.  It's been true for both of my kiddos so far! Her profile also shows off that she definitely has Steve's nose!)

(Sprout has ginormous feet -- and I say that completely out of love. She also has very long fingers.  I'm guessing she's going to get her daddy's height!)

(More sister cuddles.  Meeting Sprout has made Bean age waaaaayyy to fast.  Slow down girls!)

(It's hard to tell in the photo, but the bottom of the board in our room had a list of things that needed done before we could leave the hospital.  When you got that item checked off (i.e. "blood work"), you put a duck magnet above the item.  Once your "ducks were in a row" you got to leave.  We were discharged on Thursday and was home shortly after lunch.  My mom stayed a few extra days to help us acclimate to being home with TWO kids.)

Homestretch - LAST pregnancy update!

Last few weeks of my pregnancy were long, uncomfortable, and stressful (at times!).  I discovered that my doctor had a planned vacation the week before my due date.  I was pretty stressed over going into labor while he was gone, and of course I had a lot more time able contractions and a few nights of fearing a hospital run in the night.  We had a plan of what to do with Bean if something did happen in the night, but it still made me stressed at times.  I'm a planner and operate best when I know what to expect.  So once doctor offered me an induction date, I took it!  We knew by the end of June 14th, we'd be holding Sprout!

Actually having a date made it more nerve wrecking (so much to get done!) and less stressful (I can actually make plans and be prepared).  But then there's the whole, I still could go at any minute.  I focused on the date on the calendar and tried to soak up as much time with Steve and Bean as our last week as a family of 3.  Bean could tell change was around the corner and definitely craved (and appreciated) the extra attention.

My last two weeks of pregnancy stats:

*Baby dropped, meaning my pelvis hurts more and I have a nice waddle.  Sleeping is a bigger issue due to the pelvis pain since I can only sleep on my sides. But with baby dropping, I don't get up to pee as much. So you win some, you lose some.

*Lots of tightenings/contractions happening. They usually occur at night, but have woken up with some in the morning a couple days.  

*Bending over is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, Bean requires me to bend over a lot. . . 

*Progress kind of stalled around 2.5 - 3cm

*Pretty emotional about another kid - more so about the adjustment Bean will be going through

*Eating LOTS of chocolate

*Pretty set on a 1st name, waffling on the middle name

*I finished up final projects for baby and random things that have been piling up around the house.

(This was the week that contractions/tightenings became pretty consistent AND the week that doctor was on vacation -- eeks!)

I tried to soak up lots of time with Bean -- story time at the library, intentional play time with her (which was mostly with a Mickey/Minnie doll and I got tired of acting out the same scenario all the time), lots of cuddles and snuggles in her bed and on the couch, and special treats (i.e. ice cream, suckers, and of course - chocolate!).

(We went on a donut date after storytime at the library.  Even though it was lunch time by the time we got out of the library and to the donut shop, but the sugar high was totally worth it.)

(My grandma has been working on making up some receiving blankets for Sprout and made a couple special blankets for Bean.  She's been using them to practice holding and playing baby with them.  And by playing baby, I mean she lays on my lap, puts the blanket over her, cries for milk, and makes me feed milk to her in her sippy cup like you would a baby with a bottle.)

(LAST pregnancy photo just a few days before induction day! Boy am I thankful it isn't a "41" on that board like I had with Bean!)

A Special Visit (with an unplanned dilemma)!

Bean had some special visitors come during Memorial Weekend -- Mommom & Poppop! She got some extra attention and got to bond deeper with her grandparents.  She's ready for them to come back after baby sister comes!

While Steve's parents were here, we packed a lot in -- 2 trips to our favorite ice cream spot (which makes the preggo happy!), lawn work, grilled out each day, a trip to a new nature park, Trisha headed up all meal preps giving me a break, and even Scott and Ashley came up to spend some time with us! 

(I think someone has her Poppop wrapped around her little finger.  Who can resist Bean's sweet little, "play with me??" request?!)

(Even though Mommom was the official story/bedtime manager, Bean was able to get Poppop to read her one story before nap.)

(No trip would be complete without some art time with Mommom!)

(I have no idea where this game came from, but Bean found my sewing measuring tape.  She would have 2 people hold it across the room.  We were then told to make the tape bounce while she jumped next to it saying, "Jump on the ceiling, doo doo doo!"  She was entertained this way for HOURS. Seriously HOURS. She still sings her little chant and jumps around the house, but the tape measure is no longer needed.)

(Sporting her glasses and of course a stick on our little nature walk at the new park!)

We had a great weekend and are thankful that Steve's parents are willing and able to make the trek out our way to spend time with us.  We also appreciated their flexibility when our fridge went totally caput! We've had lots of issues with it, but usually a simple defrost and resetting the fridge fixes it.  Not this time.  We could get the freezer compartment back up and running, but the fridge portion temp would never fall below "danger zone".  So while they were here, they watched Bean and let us run to a store and fridge shop.  The new fridge is ordered, but won't get here until AFTER sprout arrives - yikes! In a cool twist of fate, friends of my parents were visiting them in IN and were able/willing to detour on their trip back home to drop off my college fridge! So now we are using a tiny fridge, but making it work!

(Never a good sign. I am super thankful that we have a big freezer in our basement! It became a lifesaver!)

(The fridge was definitely the most stressful part of the weekend for me.  After working in a dining court in college, I have food safety drilled into me.  Seeing the thermometer in the danger zone everytime I opened the fridge sent me into a panic.  We did purge a bunch of food and have had to limit what's in our small fridge now.)

(My college fridge, haha.  It definitely makes me feel like we live in Europe -- tiny fridge to only store essentials and multiple trips to the store for the week.  It sounds worse than it is.  It's kind of nice to have a reason to get out of the house a few times a week and is helping to pass time before Sprout comes.  But boy will I be happy when that new fridge comes!)

Crisis Mode

After 5 kid-free days, I was worried what it would be like for Bean to return.  I feared many meltdowns and having to detox off of grandma for awhile.  I tried to plan a few days of errands and lots of activities to keep her occupied.  So with our first full day together, we had a girls morning out and went and got hair cuts!

Bean had never had a hair cut and I was being crazy about not wanting to cut her hair and mess it up.  But the back of her hair was longer than the front and it kept getting in her face, so I decided we just had to get it done.  Bean didn't want to go, but when I told her I'd get mine done, too, she got really excited.

I'm cheap and just get my hair done at Great clips.  It killed me that I didn't have any coupons to use, but we ventured out anyways.  We had to wait a little bit, but luckily there was a Panera right next door.  So we headed over for some lemonade and a cookie to pass the time (it helped immensely).  I went first and Bean just played on the chair next to the one I was in.  When it was her turn, she crawled right up in the chair and handled the cut like a champ. She had a hard time keeping her head still, but overall did great.

(Bean's hair before the haircut.  She used to love wearing a "princess bun", but more recently just wants her hair down.  It would get food and sticky candy in it and that was the tipping point for needing it done.)

(Such long hair! Hard to fathom that her hair was BLACK when she was a newborn.  It's never been cut, but she did lose most of that dark hair as a babe, and then the blonde hair grew in.)

(Killing time while eating a cookie)

(Unsure of what's going on, but intrigued by the Angry Birds cape.  Bean got introduced to Angry Birds while staying with Ahm thanks to the current McDonald's toys.)

(Sitting like a big girl.)

(There was a cup of suckers at the register and she eyed those babies from the moment we walked in.  Here's to shorter hair that hopefully won't get stuck in it!)

(This kid is a ham and hates to stand still.  I tried get a better picture of her shorter hair, but this was the best that could be managed.)

I titled this post crisis mode because in the same day that I cut my hair to be more manageable (aka, mom cut) I also had to go pickup my new glasses.  For anyone that knows me, I had LASIK done in 2012 and apparently I'm in need of it again.  I don't need to wear the glasses around the clock, just when I am going to be looking at far distances for a length of time and definitely while driving, haha).  I have a lifetime guarantee, can't get it done being pregnant and don't really know if it's best to hold off til after all kids are had.  I need to call the place and follow-up with the guarantee information to figure it out. And to top it off, I made the realization that in less than a month, I'll have TWO kids, totally look like a mom with the new cut and glasses, AND hit my last year in my twenties. YIKES.

(Bean loved the trips to the eye doctor.  She loved trying on all the glasses.)

(Now that I wear my glasses, Bean wants to have glasses, too.  So she's rekindled a love of her sunglasses. I didn't think to take a before shot of my hair before my cut, but this was it.  You just can't really tell the length of my hair.)

(AHHH, total mom look going on. Oh well.)

Easy Mode

Last weekend, we were able to arrange a nice little "vacation" for Bean.  I met my mom in a town along the way between our houses and passed Bean off to my mom for 5 days of kid-free bliss - ha! We didn't go anywhere while Bean was gone, we just caught up on a lot of things around the house, rested (and slept in!) a lot and just enjoyed some well needed Steve/me time to talk and prep for the new baby!  We took advantage of being able to go out to eat and not have to entertain her in the process; and watch long movies that we could start earlier because we didn't have to wait for bedtime.

Steve has taken on a big house project - remodeling a bathroom. He started about a month ago, and has been working on it any free weekend we have.  He's making good progress, it's just slow.  I'll do a full blog post on it when it's done (or at least partly done, ha).  I wouldn't admit this to him, but I'm guessing this will be a summer long project (sorry dear).

He was able to work on the bathroom around the clock on the weekend (usually he has to stop and take a break during Bean's nap time).  I was able to work on random things that needed done (and I didn't want to work on with Bean in tow).  While she was gone I was able to get the upstairs guest/storage room all organized and cleaned up.  It had become quite the catchall and a huge mess with the change over of baby items and clothes going on in the house.

I also cleaned the entire house - and it stayed that way for 4 days! It was marvelous.  We didn't have to dodge toys around the clock, no food and crumbs to sweep up daily, and let me tell you how QUIET the house was.  It was strange, but quite the blessing. I was able to go out and mow the yard at my own pace (and not have to try to cram it all into a short nap window). And yes -- at 36 weeks pregnant, I'm STILL mowing.  My choice!

I felt so productive while she was gone.  It's amazing how much physical rest I need when she's here because of all the mental energy I exert on her.  Maybe I didn't need as much rest because I could do things at my pace and not cramming it into nap time.  I even took some time to clean out the car and get it ready for 2 kids! So weird to think that we'll be a family of 4 in less than a month.  We can now count the time in WEEKS.

Bean's vacation consisted of a a weekend of cousin sleepovers, going bowling, being the constant center of attention, making new friends at my parents' church, and lots and lots of family love.  I'm thankful for the opportunity for Bean to go and spend some quality time with her cousins, aunts/uncles, and grandparents.  Now the big question is, when can she go back?!

Pregnancy Update - 36 weeks!

I went to write down today's date and nearly had a heart attack.  Sprout is due to make her debut in exactly 1 month! But then, will we have to wait a full month??  Or will she follow in her sister's footsteps and take her sweet time and make it more like 6 weeks?!  Ahhhhh!!

I forgot all about this phase of pregnancy.  The realization (okay, really it should be the word FEAR) that I could literally go into labor at any moment.  You'd think that with this being baby #2, I'd be a pro; but reality is you can't go by last pregnancy timeline because each babe makes their own debut decisions!  My experience with labor/delivery was AWESOME with Bean.  I was induced at 10 days over, all pain went away with the epidural, and she was out in just over 6 hours of labor.  Can I hit the labor/delivery lottery twice?!  I am completely terrified of going into labor naturally (like water breaking, logistics of what to do with Bean, how much time from that happening to getting to the hospital is needed, etc).  I'm trying to just focus on the day to day and not let my mental thoughts get too crazy.

I went through a really rough week about a month ago.  My heartburn flared back up and I had to spend a few nights "sleeping" on the couch in a sitting position.  Those were a couple of miserable days, but things have seemed to have changed.  Maybe she's dropped or just found a better position, but heartburn is back to being managed with medicine -- whew! Sleeping is OK - still have to get up a lot at night to pee and switch positions, but I'm able to fall back to sleep quickly.  

I guess I've entered the "nesting" phase.  I simply call it - WE HAVE A MONTH TO GET STUFF DONE! Nursery is all ready to go, baby clothes and items are all cleaned and ready to be used, and all I really have left is to pack our own hospital bag.  But since the hospital is 3 min from our house, I'm not too stressed with that task.  

I remember with Bean, thinking that I'd go early; but then she was 10 days late.  I keep reminding myself that any signs I see/experience now that could point to labor doesn't mean anything.  I currently have lots of contractions throughout the day and have had a couple of evenings with them spacing out and being time able.  I even had some in the middle of the night that woke me up and I couldn't sleep due to them.  I timed them and they were 5-6 min apart and lasted a couple hours.  But then they just went away.  Doctor said next time that happens, at the hour mark, I just need to go to the hospital -- yikes!  

I had another night this week where they were timing 5 min apart, around the hour mark they started to space out more towards 7 min -- whew!  When they are time able, they are more just tightening (Braxton Hicks), but I've been having some more random ones that get to be more intense than just tightening.  I"ll have to freeze in my spot and just focus until the feeling passes.  Poor Steve is beginning to freak out.  When he finds me frozen in spot he immediately jumps into, "ANOTHER ONE?!" 

I had my first progress check this week.  Those contractions are doing something because progress is being made! I again remind myself that progress doesn't mean much.  With Bean, I was 2 cm at 39 weeks.  With this baby, I am currently at 2 cm and just hitting week 36.  Does that mean anything?!  Probably not.  Only thing is that my body is remembering to do it's job and prepping for baby expulsion - ha! From here on out, I'll have weekly appointments to check progress and make sure everything is still looking good!

(I am sucking at keeping up with these belly shots.  My last picture was at week 29 -- oops! I'll *try* to do weekly photos for these last few weeks. I mean, how hard is it to take 4 more belly photos, right??) 

(Bean wanted to be in the picture, too.)

(This photo makes me laugh.  Because of my thyroid condition, I had to have an additional ultrasound at week 32.  Everything checked out fine, and it was nice to see baby girl again - and yes I confirmed that it is still a girl.  The tech kept commenting on how much hair the baby had.  She finally took a screen shot and labeled the photo with "Hair" on it.  I've talked to several friends and even other nurses about this picture and no one has ever heard of a tech documenting hair on an ultrasound.  I say it's because she wants to document the human about to birth an ape!  There's an old wive's tale that the hairier the baby, the worse the mom has heartburn. I'm a believer in that tale!)

A Very Happy Mother's Day (Week)

With Sprout due in just a little over a month (at the time of mother's day), my own mom was willing to come out and spend a few days with us and give me some much needed help!  She claims she didn't do much, but just having an extra set of hands around the house and someone to give Bean some extra attention does wonders for this tired momma ;-).  

She came the week leading up to Mother's Day.  Between having her here for a few days and Steve taking over most of the parental responsibilities for my Mother's Day Weekend, I got nearly a week "break" of being a mom.  I obviously just can't turn that off and desire to still spend time and give attention to Bean, but it was nice to not feel the weight of "motherhood responsibility" for that week!

While my mom was here, we had a library trip, special lunch outing, ran other errands, and mom babysat 2 nights in a row! It worked out that she was able to watch not only Bean, but also Bean's friend James one evening while I attended an awards ceremony for James's mom (which she won the Lima Chamber of Commerce award for emerging business! Go Sara's Sweets!) and Steve was at AWANA.  

(Congrats Sara!!  The awards ceremony was on Star Wars Day - May 4th and they had a Star Wars themed Gala.  How could I pass up on that?!)

(Mom documented her portion of the evening with the 2 kids.  Bean being her typical crazy and James losing it over Bean being crazy. Haha, okay, usually it's not this bad.  He didn't nap and just wanted to cuddle and NOT play in a block castle with Bean.)

(I stole some light saber/glow stick decorations to take home to Bean.  Ahm had to show her the proper way to fight with light sabers.)

(Soaking up all the attention)

(Kisses for Bean!)

(Love back to Ahm!)

My mom returned back to IN on Friday.  In the Ackerman house, Mother's/Father's Days are just enjoyed on the Sunday, but the entire weekend.  Steve stepped up parental duties and did all the story times/ tucking in at night (and dealt the multiple bathroom trips or crying because a toy fell out of bed) and even let me sleep in one day (usually I let him sleep in on the weekends since he wakes up so much earlier during the week).  He also made sure to make my duties easier by getting dinner 2 nights AND lunch one afternoon.  I only had to cook once the whole weekend, and it was glorious.  But the best part of my weekend, was soaking up time with my precious little family.  Hard to believe there will be one more added into this crazy soon! 

(I tried to get a decent shot of Bean with some flowers to send out to our mom's and such, but she was very uncooperative.  She didn't care for the sun being in her eyes, or for sitting still.  She just wanted to go and play on the neighbor's swing set.)

(I was surprised on Saturday morning with breakfast in bed! I was blown away.  I actually was thinking of asking the others if they wanted to go out and get breakfast once I was up, but Steve and been secretly slaving away in the kitchen.)

(Steve is not a cook.  He will be the first to admit that.  Good thing he had a cute sous chef who knew what she was doing to help him out!  I was very impressed with his cooking! I'm not a fan of french toast or eggs for that matter, but his were very good! He had researched the recipes and did a great job!)

(We all piled on the bed and ate a delicious breakfast together.  I'm not sure what Bean thought of eating on the bed.  I really thought we'd hear about it and her want to eat up there for meals later on, but she hasn't asked about it.)

(We ended our weekend by making some special red velvet brownies.  Bean LOVES to help in the kitchen.  She always gets disappointed when she can't help me with something -- like making dinner with raw meat.  I can tell you one thing, if there's chocolate involved -- she's right there to help in the process and earn her chocolate chips or licking the spatula.)

(A chocolate mustache is always the best kind of mess to clean up.)

I am one blessed Momma!