Has it been two years already?

In our family we celebrate birthdays starting a week before your actually birthday. And for Luci this is great because she also gets to incorporate Valentine's Day into her celebration. This is her second Valentine's Day and her Second Birthday. As I was planning the week's festivities, I became very sentimental. My days are full of activity now and I didn't really have time to realize how fast time has gone by the last two years.

You can tell it's morning cause we got the crazy hair going on!

I just can't believe all the things that my two year old now does and what a great big sister she has become. She is the most loving little girl that I have ever met. She protects her brother whenever we go out and even from us sometimes. "No Take Jakey" is what I overheard her telling John today when they were hanging out in the living room watching Dora.

Speaking of Dora, she has become somewhat of a staple at our house. Before Jake was born, Luci couldn't have cared less about the TV, but once we introduced Dora into the mix, she was hooked. I try, on most days, to only let her watch Dora when Jake is eating but as we know sometimes Mommy needs a break from all the craziness and Dora does the trick. So an homage to Dora, she made her way into our hearts and our bellies at Luci's Party!

Yes, I'm well aware that I spelled Cumpleanos wrong. Oh well, she' two, she doesn't know any better.

What a difference a year makes because when all was said and done with the cake, all we had to do was wash off her hands and her mouth. Last year, she had to get a new outfit because it was a disaster. But that just shows me how much she has grown and what a little lady she is becoming.

We eventually had to help her blow out the candles because she was only making little puffs of air.

In just a little over 2 years, I remember the night that I went into labor with her like it was just yesterday because in my head it just happened yesterday. But she has grown so much and it makes me sad that life passes us by so quickly. I can't imagine how I am going to feel on her first day of school, or the first time she drives, or when she gets married, has babies and feels the same way I feel about her now with her own kids.

I am always in awe of what a little smart cookie she is. She is the happiest little girl in the world and as my mom always says, "Of course, she's happy, what does she have to be sad about?" I love that she sings to herself in the car, everything from The Wheels on the Bus to ABC's to Twinkle Twinkle. It makes my heart melt when she says Mommy, Daddy, "uci", Jakey, Shelly over and over again like she has to tell the world who her family is. And I know that I've done a good job being a Mommy when she consoles her babies when they are hurt with an "I know, It's ok" and then pats them on the back.

My little performer will always be on the look out for attention in every arena of her life. She commands an audience doing her famous "Pitty Pitty Dance" with her own rendition of "Jakey's Song" thrown into the mix. She will also be a phenomenal cook one day as she throws the best tea parties known to man with her own take on what noises are made in the kitchen.

Two years have gone by so fast and I just wish that it would slow down a little bit so that I have time to take it all in at a much slower pace. She was sad when her party guests left and I took down the decorations but that didn't stop my party animal from continuing her own party by walking around with the streamers attached to her legs, talking about her "Party" and how she TWO (picture her telling you this with each index finger pointing directly at you)

Luci at her 2nd birthday party!

Our Unforgettable Thanksgiving, Part II

7:45 AM: Here we come Triage. I couldn't even check myself cause the contractions were so bad. I just wanted to walk immediately into a labor and delivery room, but of course I needed be admitted into Triage first. Taking off my clothes to get on the gown proved to be a little more difficult than I had ever imagined because the arms holes have weird snaps and so I just stood naked in the room waiting for the nurse to come in and help John and I try to figure this contraption out. Finally, the nurse came in, fixed my gown and checked me and I was already 6-7cm and my water still had not broken. She said that I was ready to go and they called the anesthesiologist to perform my epidural so that it would be ready for me when they wheeled me down to my room. That's right, I didn't even walk down to L&D cause the contractions were coming so fast and strong.

Once I was in my room, the contractions were fast and furious and I really didn't want to answer any of the questions they were asking me. I also don't remember what any of them were except for when the nurse asked me If I had wooden teeth. After I said no and got through the contraction, I was really confused as to why the hospital has to ask us that kind of question. She said that it was protocol.

Then the anesthesiologist came in, the nurse sat me up and I was ready to go. The numbing medicine, of course, hurt really bad but oddly enough the epidural hurt as well. There was a ton of pressure in my back and they had to redo the spot where they put it in. I just wanted the pain of the contractions to end because when I was breathing (i.e. groaning and moaning) I was actually bearing down and they really didn't want me to do that. So back to deep breaths that were incredibly uncomfortable but it was worth it cause in about 3-5 minutes the epidural kicked in and I was starting to feel much better. Then I had time to call my mom and let her know what was going on and check on Luci to see how she was doing since she didn't get to see us leave that morning.

Now at this point, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was on and I was starving. So the nurse gave me the option of ice chips or a popsicle. I was all over that popsicle because I hadn't eaten since the night before. Then about 9:00, the nurse came back in to check my cervix and said that I was almost completely dilated so she called in the resident doctor to break my water. Doing this caused me to be completely dilated and within 15 minutes my doctor was there and suiting up to deliver the baby. Typically, they let the nurses do a couple of the pushes without the doctor but since it was my second baby and I was progressing rather quickly I had to wait.

When I was delivering Luci, I had no clue that I was having contractions or knew about my need to push. But this time, it was a completely different story because I was feeling the pressure and knew that it was time. After 3 pushes, the baby's head was crowning and the doctor said I probably could have pushed in out but she wanted me to stretch out a little bit more so that I didn't have any tearing. During the 4th push, his head was coming out and she actually told me to slow down so that she could help him out. Of course, I heard everyone say that the baby was coming and even before his arms were out, silly me asked if it was a boy or girl? Then he was out and I looked at John and was like, WELL???? and he said it was a BOY! I, then asked what time he was born and it was 9:59 am. I can't believe that after only a little more than 2 hours, we had arrived and had a new baby. Totally and Completely different than my 11 hour labor for my first baby.

I still cannot believe how fast this delivery was and that he was healthy. Jacob's apgar scores were an 8, 9, so he looked great! Then after they checked him, I got to try and feed him. Go figure he's a Boob Man. He's a typical guy and latched on like a champ. I figure this is because he is my second baby so I'm a little more relax and that he is a man. Then by about 10:30 am, they took me down to my recovery room and I was already walking around and could pee on my own. So they told me that if I would like, I could go home the next day! That was some great news because I was missing my first baby and couldn't wait to have her meet him. Our family reunion was a little teary eyed (ok a lot teary eyed, from all of us) but now we are ready to take on the world as a family of four!

We'll Never Forget this Thanksgiving! Part 1

Our Thanksgiving this year was truly a blessing! Our Son, Jacob John was born at 9:59 am, Thanksgiving Morning. He weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and is 20 inches long.

I truly was completely surprised when my Thanksgiving plans were totally changed this year. Wednesday night, I was beginning to prep all the food that I could for our dinner on Friday. I made Coffee Cake for John so that we could have a nice relaxing breakfast, watch the parade and he could play his new Super Mario Bros. game for the Wii all day. My doctor thought that I was crazy for trying to tackle Thanksgiving at my house this year especially since she knew that I was already 4 cm dilated on Wednesday morning. I knew that it might be a little stressful but I love cooking and figured that would make for a semi-easy Turkey dinner. Little did I know that when I went to bed Wednesday night that chaos would ensue in the wee hours of the morning.

Let's fast forward to 2 am Thursday Morning: I'm sitting on the computer writing a status update about how pregnancy insomnia sucks and how I wish I could just fall back asleep. Knowing full well that sleep was very far off at this point, I decided to turn on the tv and watch my dvr'd Biggest Loser from the other night. After that was over, I figured that it was time to go back to bed and see if I could get some semblance of sleep before having to tackle more food prep the next day and juggle taking care of Luci at the same time.

4:45 (in my bed): Now to top off the pregnancy insomnia, I was getting Braxton Hicks (or what I thought) in the middle of the night as well. After about 15 minutes of braxton hicks coming every 5 minutes and getting strong, yes I was timing them because I couldn't sleep, I decided that I was going to really start watching the clock. 5:30 rolled around and I just had this hunch that maybe these contractions weren't stopping and they were getting more painful. I told John that I was going to call my mom and have her leave her house to come stay with Luci cause I just didn't think that I was going to make it. So after sobbing on the phone to my mom, she was on the road from Cincinnati to Columbus as fast as she could get here.

Well, I knew I had to pass about an hour and an half of time and I still didn't have my bag for the hospital fully pack and I really wanted to be fresh and clean when I went to the hospital. (At this point, I still hadn't called my doctor yet cause I was still timing contractions to make sure this was the real thing.) In the span of my 10-15 minute shower, I had gotten about 4 contractions that made me have to stop and hold onto the wall before I could progress on. After getting dressed and packed, I decided that maybe it was time to call the doctor. So at about 6:30 am, I called in and told her what was going on and she said why don't you head on in. Not was it till after Jacob was born that she told me that she was worried I wasn't going to make it cause I was waiting for my mom to come up from Cincinnati.

Then we were just playing a waiting game (where I had time to update my facebook status) for my mom to get here. I'm sure I called her every 10 minutes or so when I wasn't having excruciating contractions to find out where she was. Finally at 7:15 she showed up. I barely had time to say hi and give her Luci's instructions before we were out the door.

We decided to take the sports car so that my mom could have the car seat for Luci, to the hospital and boy was that the wrong choice of car. Not only could I feel every bump on the road, my contractions were now every 3 minutes apart and I was breathing very heavily. It felt like the longest ride ever. We got to the hospital and then started to make our way up to triage...

Stay Tuned for the Birth!

Finally, Some Progress!

Taken from Mommy's Blog: I’ve been anticipating this doctor’s appointment for quite some time now because once the internal exams start then I feel like I know where things are headed. Walking into the office, I was hoping for the best (i.e. head over to the hospital you are ready to go) but expecting the worst (i.e. less than 1cm and closed up tight as could be). Logically, I knew that I would be somewhere in the middle (at least that’s what I was hoping). After my bout with heartburn the past couple days, when asked how I was doing today, I firmly stated that I was done! And I could just tell that she knew it, too.

Got the lovely Strep B done today as well and for some reason that grosses me out more than having someone’s hand all the in my cervix. I think it’s the little stick that does it. Oh well, I’m sure that will all be fine. I was also forced into get the H1N1 vaccine after much deliberation and discussion, I caved and got it. #1: I hate shots and will go to any length not to have to get one. #2: I am just worried that I am going to get sick from the shot (hence today I’m ingesting 10 gallons of water so that I can flush out any lingering bugs in my system out) But on the flip side, I am glad that I didn’t have to wait in those massive 3 hour + lines for the public. And I outright told my doctor that if I come back next week with any sort of cold or flu like symptoms she is never going to hear the end of it. She just laughed and told me that she would take all the blame. Serves her right for wanting to stick me with two things today.

Anyways, the exam went better than expected. Even though I made my expectations really low, I truly thought I was going to be about two. So when I laid back, feet in stirups, ready to go, I told the doc “just please be more than one.” And I think she was surprised that I was 3cm and 50% effaced!!! And the baby’s head is down! We are in launch position! Now as happy as that makes me, I just think back to when I was pregnant with Luci and was at exactly the same spot as I was today and SHE WAS 2 DAYS LATE! So, with this being said, with this unusually nice weather we are having. We are going to walk everyday at least once outside unless it is too cold to handle then we are just to run around the house like crazy.Either way, I have a rambunctious toddler that can make this happen. Other home remedies will also be apply and I know one that will make John a very happy camper . I’m determined to not have too many more appointments and whatever I can to do help this along, I’m gonna do it (except drink weird things like castor oil, I really don’t want to upset my esophagus anymore than I already have ).

So less talking, more walking!