A Retrospective - Jacob's Birth Story...Part I

Since I never posted Jacob's birth story...correction, since I never WROTE Jacob's birth story when he was first born, I decided to do it now - one year later.

And, because it is going to be very long, I am breaking it up into several posts. Here's part one...

It was the afternoon of Friday, June 5^th and the UVA baseball team was playing in the NCAA Super Regionals. Even though there was plenty of work to be done, a few of my coworkers and I decided to spend the latter part of the afternoon sitting in our staff lounge watching the game on TV. As we were watching the game, I remember my supervisor saying, “We have a lot to go over before you go on maternity leave. We should really do it this afternoon, but you are going to be here next week, right?” Of course, since Jacob wasn’t due for three more weeks (and I had just been to my 36 week appointment on Wednesday and was only 50% effaced and not dilated at all!), I replied, “Of course I am!” Little did I know that Jacob had other plans...

Earlier that afternoon, I remember feeling a little “wetness” in my nether region. I even remember going to the bathroom to check and wondering if maybe I had just peed myself a bit (that happened at times later in my pregnancy whenever I would sneeze, cough, or laugh). Anyways, since it was just a little bit of wetness, I just assumed it was nothing and went on with my day. That evening, once I got home, I continued to have some “dribble” but didn’t really think it was anything to be worried about. I remember putting a maxi pad on just to be more comfortable.

By this time in my pregnancy, I was sleeping in the guest room due to many factors – I was very uncomfortable and moving around a lot (which was keeping Keith awake), I was snoring really loudly when I was able to fall asleep (which was keeping Keith awake) and my full body pregnancy pillow was taking up most of the bed (which was keeping Keith awake). All in all, neither of us was getting much rest, so I started sleeping in the guest room around 36 weeks. I remember waking up numerous times that night to pee, which was nothing new. The odd part was that the maxi pad that I had on had become really wet throughout the night, so I put a new one on. When I woke up around 6:30am to pee again and my pad was really wet & I even had to change my underwear, I knew something was not normal. [Honestly, I probably knew something was up around 3am but I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep and deal with it in the morning!]

I woke Keith up around 7am and told him I thought my water had maybe broken, but I wasn’t positive since it was like a “slow leak” instead of a “ big rush” like I had always pictured it would be. I was hesitant to call the doctor’s office for fear that I was jumping the gun, but I finally called around 7:30am. The on-call doctor, Dr. Montgomery, told me that I should come to the hospital if I thought something was going on. I remember saying, “If my water has indeed broken, I am going to be there for the long haul, right?” His reply, “Yes, you will be here until you return home with a baby. So, bring everything you will need.” I asked him if we had time to take showers and pack our things [I was going to be packing my hospital bag and finishing up organizing the nursery that weekend!]. He said that we could take our time, but should get to the hospital in a few hours. Needless to say, I was very anxious and a bit overwhelmed. I felt very unprepared and my mind seemed to go blank as to what I needed to bring with me. One of the funny things (that I can look back and laugh about now!) is that Keith took the carseat straight out of the box and put it in the car. We had just had three showers in the two weeks preceding and we hadn’t opened a lot of things! We really thought we had more time!

We got to the hospital around 10:15am and went straight to the Labor & Delivery floor. I remember thinking that this was very different than I had pictured it in my mind. I was feeling fine - no contractions, no heavy breathing, no “real” labor – I guess I pictured myself arriving in a different fashion! Once we checked in, the nurse took me to a labor & delivery room and started asking me a lot of questions. She asked me to change into a hospital gown and asked if I was still “leaking”. I said that I was but that I didn’t know if it was really my water that had broke or something else that was going on. When she looked at the soaked maxi pad (sorry for the gross details!) that I had just put on an hour before, she said “Oh yes, I am pretty sure that your water has broken. But we can test it to see if it is indeed amniotic fluid.” Well, you guessed it – the test came back positive. The nurse said, “Yes, your water has broken and chances are good that you will be having a baby sometime today.” I remember thinking OH MY GOSH! I am SO not ready for this!!

Dr. Montgomery came in and did an internal exam. He said that unfortunately I was not dilated at all and was only about 50% effaced. He then explained to me the protocol for the next few hours and what they were going to do. Since I was having no contractions or pain, it was clear that my body was going to need some help progressing into labor. They hooked me up to a fetal monitor to keep track of Jacob’s heartbeat and they also put a monitor on me to measure my contractions. They started me on a pitocin drip around 11am and said that they would be increasing it as the day went on. I remember the nurses would come in throughout the day and ask “Are you feeling any contractions or pain?” and when I would say “No”, they seemed a little disappointed. Once the pain did start, they seemed more pleased. I guess there is no such thing as a painless labor!

Around 2:30pm, my friends Dee & Lisa came to visit me. I was not aware that they were coming from Richmond to visit, but I was glad to have a distraction and really enjoyed their company. While they were there, I wasn’t really feeling any pain and was able to sit up in a chair. I was continuously "leaking" though so I had to have a rolled up towel stuffed between my legs - fun! Dr. Montgomery came in around 5:30pm and did another internal exam. He said that I was about 1 ½ cm dilated and said that was good. I remember being really disappointed and was hoping for more, but he said that it was good progression. I still wasn’t feeling much pain at that point (which was both good and bad) but around 6:15pm, when Dee and Lisa left, I started to feel some discomfort.

The contractions started coming and feeling stronger around 7pm. It was at this point that an angel walked into my room. Her name was Liz and she was going to be my nurse from 7pm-7am. She was the sweetest, most kind and caring person that I think I have ever met. She was also very funny and personable and we hit it off from the very beginning. I was so glad to have a wonderful nurse by my side and I remember thanking God that He had given me Liz to help me through this journey. Unfortunately for her, about the time she arrived was the time that I started experiencing some pretty bad pain, so she never got to see me “at my best”.

Knowing that I was in a bit of discomfort, Liz asked me what my birth plan was – did I want a pain-medicine free experience? Was I going to have an epidural as soon as I could? Or was I just going to go with the flow and see what I could handle? I told her that I was not by any means going to go pain-med free! [I know there are women out there that do it – my two sisters included! – but I was not interested in trying that!] I told her I wasn’t ruling out an epidural, but I did want to see how long I could go without it. She suggested that I get a dose of fentanyl, which is a narcotic that is used to “take the edge off”. Liz explained that I could get a “full” dose of fentanyl (which would take away most of my pain but I would only be able to get it every hour and it would wear off before the hour was up) or I could get a “half” dose every 30 minutes. I opted, at first, for the half dose to see how it helped me manage the pain I was feeling. I remember feeling some relief for a short time, but the pain seemed to come back pretty quickly. That 30 minutes until the next dose seemed like forever!! At 7:30pm I got the second "half" dose and then at 8:30pm, Liz administered a “full” dose of the fentanyl and that seemed to help a little longer, but then the pain returned. At 8:45pm, Dr. Montgomery came in to do an internal exam and he said I was progressing nicely but I was only at 3 cm! I remember him saying that he thought it might be a long night!

To be continued…

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Today is Jacob's 1st birthday! Unfortunately, we were in the car for most of it, as we were traveling home from a weekend trip to visit Keith's family. Jake did remarkably well and even enjoyed playing some fun games and laughing with Daddy while Mommy was driving!

We had a joint birthday party yesterday for Jacob and his Grandma Marge (her birthday is tomorrow). Jacob had a great time and was spoiled rotten with a ton of presents! I will do a separate post telling all about it, but til I get to that, here is a picture of the beautiful birthday boy. He was loving everyone singing Happy Birthday to him!

Jacob, you are such a beautiful baby, um, I mean little boy. I am so proud of you and so blessed to be your Mommy. Happy Birthday sweet boy!!

Eleven Months Old

Since tomorrow is Jacob's first birthday, I guess it would be good if I got this post out! We have been so busy lately and actually right now I am finishing this post on Keith's iPhone while we are in PA visiting his family. I started this post about a month ago and have been adding notes as they come to mind. I was hoping to actually write out some things but since I am short on time, these cute pictures and bullet points will have to do. I guess it is better than not doing it at all.

Jacob really likes eating with a spoon and a fork now.

He isn't anywhere near being able to do it himself, but he likes to try!

Jake still LOVES bathtime!

He loves to pull up and look out the window!

Of course, of all the toys he has, he really just wants to play

with pots & pans and kitchen utensils!

He likes to "help" us take the dishes out of the dishwasher.

And, one day, he even decided to climb up and sit on it.

I think I am going to have a "monkey" on my hands!

A few other things Jake enjoys right now:

-He loves to pick out books off of his bookshelf. Some of his favorites right now are "Tails", "Freight Train", "Goodnight Moon" and the Touch-and-Feel books

-He is becoming more vocal. Most of it is unrecognizable, but I think he is going to be saying some "real" words soon.

-We have tried some signing, but I haven't been very diligent with it. I believe Jake understands what I am saying when I sign "More", "Milk" and "Eat".

-He is still standing on his own, even in the middle of the room, but he hasn't taken any steps on his own yet.

-His favorite thing to play with is still shoes! Some of his other favorite things are remote controls and food (or anything else) that he can pull out of cupboards or drawers.

-He really enjoys helping me "fold" clothes - this really means he just pulls everything out of the laundry basket!

-He seems to find string or fuzz anywhere! He find pieces of it in his crib or on the floor almost everyday!

-He currently has five teeth (three on top and two on the bottom) although he is constantly drooling so I am sure there are more that are coming in!

- He is still an excellent sleeper (on most days). He still takes two naps. He usually wakes up between 7-7:30am, goes back down for his first nap around 9:30-10am, sleeps 1-2 hours, eats lunch, goes back down for his second nap around 2:30-3pm, usually sleeps around 2 hours, eats a snack and then dinner and then goes to bed between 7:30 & 8pm.

-He is pretty much eating everything that we eat! These days his breakfast consists of oatmeal and sometimes applesauce. He still also loves yogurt and goldfish!

-He is learning to throw and has started throwing everything he can.

-He still sucks the last two fingers on his left hand when he is tired or to comfort himself.

-He enjoys closing & opening doors. He has already gotten his fingers caught a few times but that doesn't seem to deter him from doing it over and over again.

-On a somewhat sad note, I stopped nursing on May 24th. At that time, Jake was only nursing once per day (in the morning) and he sometimes would only do it for a few minutes. He was easily distracted and didn't seem super interested in it a lot of the time. I decided to try giving him whole milk and he took to it pretty quickly. Right now, I give him a cup of milk in the morning when he wakes up and then in the afternoon when he gets up from his nap. Sometimes he drinks the entire cup right away and then sometimes it takes him an hour or so to drink it. He doesn't seem to miss nursing and I must say that even though I was sad at first, it's nice not to have to worry about it especially now that we have been traveling so much lately.

-He is a super happy baby and fusses infrequently. Lots of people comment about how happy he is and how is smiling all the time. He especially smiles when a camera is set in front of his face. He is a real ham!!

Jacob "walking" for the first time

Jacob's development amazes me! It seems like just yesterday he was learning to crawl and now he is taking his first steps (with assistance). Knowing that he is changing so much everyday, I keep the camera and the video camera at an arm's length at all times. Lucky for me, today was a good day to have the video camera rolling!

I know that I am going to be eating my words soon when I keep saying that I can't wait until Jake can walk on his own. I witnessed this today at the playground when my friend Amy was literally running after her 18 month old son! Still, I am so proud of what my little man is doing. These days, life around here is never boring!

Our little tornado

When we first bought our house, I wasn't sure that I was going to like living in a ranch-style home (since I had only lived in houses with two levels before). But, now that we have Jacob, I am glad that there are no stairs to maneuver and he can crawl around and explore without me having to watch his every move. He doesn't usually wander too far away from me these days, but when he does, I know that he isn't going too far.

He is full of energy and he loves to crawl around the house and get into everything! It's so much fun to watch him try to figure things out or to find joy in the simplest things. I am happy to let him explore pretty much whatever he wants, with a few exceptions of course. If it's something that he could break or that could hurt him, it is off limits (and he has quickly learned what those things are and does a good job of not going near them). But, pretty much everything else he is free to look at, touch or play with.

Some days, he seems to make a mess in every room he enters. Unfortunately, he is a little too young to understand how to "clean up" so Mommy ends up having to do it all (although I have started to sing the "Clean Up" song in the past few days and have tried to get him to help). Most of the time, I just leave the mess until he is in bed for the night so that I don't have to do it ten times a day.

These are some pictures that I took one night last week after I put him to bed. As you can tell, he is like a little tornado wherever he goes!

He loves to open drawers and see what he can find!

(As you can see, I've emptied some drawers that are easily accessible!)

He goes into his room daily and pulls all the books he can reach

off of the book shelf. I am trying to break him of this

habit, but so far, I haven't had much luck!

When he is in the living room, he seems to pull out every toy he can find. The "fun" part is when all of the musical ones start making noise at the same time.

His favorite place to play these days is our "mudroom". He'll play in there for 30 minutes at a time! He loves to play with the shoes on the shoe rack and with the food on the shelves. And now that he is pulling up, I have had to move all of the glass items up to higher shelving.

When he is in the kitchen, this is his favorite cupboard to play in.

It houses our cereal and all of my baking items.

The other day, I watched him figure out how to

"open" the box of Cheerios.

And, enjoy a little snack. What a smart little devil he is!

Even though the clean up can get tedious and annoying sometimes, I love to see the joy he gets when he is playing with all of these different things. I try to remember that the days of him being small and wanting to play "under foot" and with simple things like shoes or boxes of food are going to be gone all too soon. For now, I'll continue to clean up after him and allow him to have fun with whatever his little heart desires!

Standing Tall

Our little guy did something really awesome today!

It started a month or so ago when he started pulling up while holding on to something:

Then, just a few weeks ago, he started getting into a "semi standing" position in the middle of the floor (without holding on to anything):

and standing up, almost hands free:

Sometimes, in recent days, he would even try to let go, but he didn't have the balance and he would fall back onto his bottom. Then, today.....

While he was in the kitchen eating a snack (see the empty bowl and the puffs all over the floor?!), he saw his snack cup in the diaper bag so he leaned down to get it and then started to stand up. I saw him and thought "Oh my gosh...he is going to stand up without holding on to anything!" I grabbed the camera (I keep it pretty close to me these days for exactly this reason!) and I was super excited to get a picture of him standing up straight and tall without holding on!!! When I called his name, he turned and looked at me and knew that he was doing something really cool!

Way to go, Jacob! Mommy & Daddy are SO proud of you!! I'm sure more exciting times like this are sure to come soon!

Celebrating my first Mother's Day

Anyone that knows me well knows that I have longed for many years to be a Mom. It has been one of my life-long goals for as long as I can remember. And, I have always hoped to be able to stay home with my child(ren) as my Mom did when we were growing up. She was (and still is!) such a wonderful example to me and I can never thank her enough for all the time, energy & love she has given me over the years. I always wanted to be able to be a great Mom just like she is!

Over the last ten years or so, whenever I was interviewing for a job, I would always have to stop for a moment when the interviewer would ask the popular question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" Obviously the answer he or she was looking for goes something like this: "I am a hard worker and I will use my determination and skills to better myself and this company every day. I can see myself working for this company for many, many years in whatever capacity it needs me to."

In my head, I knew that was the "correct" answer, but it my heart I would always want to say: "Frankly I am just working in this job until the day that I am blessed to find a wonderful man to marry. Then we'll have a child and I will quit this job so that I can be a Stay At Home Mom and have the job I have dreamed about my entire life." Of course, I never said that since back then I needed a paying job!

But then, one day back in October 2004, I did meet a wonderful man. In November 2006, we got married. And, almost a year ago, on June 7th, 2009, we welcomed Jacob into this world and I became a Mom! And these days, I am thoroughly enjoying my job as a SAHM! I am very fortunate to have a husband who sees the value in me not working outside the home and we have been blessed with a beautiful & healthy little boy.

Celebrating my first Mother's Day this past weekend was great! I was able to spend quality time with Keith and Jacob the entire weekend and also had some time to myself for a few hours. On Saturday, I went to the Sycamore Day Spa and had a one-hour full body massage and a spa pedicure. It was awesome - so relaxing and rejuvenating!

I also received these beautiful flowers that were delivered on Friday

and enjoyed a yummy frozen strawberry margarita with dinner at the local Mexican restaurant last night.

After our dinner, the three of us took a walk around the neighborhood. The weather was beautiful and it was nice to enjoy the outdoors with my favorite little guy.

Then, this morning when I woke up, there were two envelopes waiting for me on Jacob's high chair. Inside were a card from him & a gift certificate to the nail salon for me to get two predicures in the coming months! (He must like it when Mommy has pretty toenails!)

I also got a beautiful card from Keith hidden in a box of my favorite Dunkin Donuts.

Wow, was I spoiled this year or what?! I'd have to say that I am one lucky girl and my first Mother's Day was definitely a day that I will never forget!