Two peas in a pod

Precisely

When you have a newborn at home, you have to adjust your goals for the day. Last week, my daily checklists included things like grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, making dinner, etc. This week my goals are a bit more basic, like getting everyone dressed for the day. Today that just didn't happen; the entire family spent the whole day in their pajamas. Lily took a bath this morning and switched one pair of pajamas for another. When going to bed, Carl told Lily that she didn't have to pick out new pajamas because she had actually been wearing pajamas all day. Lily looked at Carl and very seriously said, "Precisely, daddy. I've had them on all day." "Precisely" - really? This girl cracks me up.

Halloween fun at home

Lily loves to cook & bake, and she is really starting to master a lot of skills in the kitchen

The next Rachael Ray explaining her dipping technique

The finished product: Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies

The best part - enjoying all her hard work (with a hopeful Terra looking on)

William's job was to lay and look cute...

...but it proved to be just too exhausting.

Hooray for Halloween!

Halloween festivities started this Saturday with a kiddie Halloween Party sponsored by WUMCHA. Since William and I were still in the hospital, Carl took Lily to this event. Lily's cousins, Mary and Katie, were still in town so they got to come too. I think a good time was had by all.

Little Bo Peep takes a break from partying to enjoy a little lunch.

Entranced by the puppet show

Yesterday Lily and I went to a second Halloween Party at the Transportation Museum. Here, Lily puts on her own puppet show. There is no question that performing arts are "her thing".

Lily goes Martha Stewart with her crafty pumpkin.

One of fun activities they had was to find 4 monsters hanging up around the room and turn them in for prizes. Lily made sure to count hers twice to make sure she had exactly the right number.

Going home

Our family

Visitors

William's first visitor, Aunt Ingrid

After the rehearsal dinner, my family came by for a visit
Above, Courtney (Jeff's daughter) looks adoringly at her newest cousin


Cousin Nick (Jeff's son)

Aunt Suzanne (my sister)

Uncle Jeff (my brother)

Aunt Susie (Jeff's wife)

Papa and Grandma (my dad and mom)

It was fortunate that they came by when they did. About an hour later, William began his stay in the NICU. :(

Lily meets William

William's first few days

So now we know how the story ends or should I say begins? William decided to make his entrance into this world one day before my sister's wedding. I heard a lot of the details and saw some video footage from the ceremony and am waiting to see more pictures of the reception. All reports indicate that it was absolutely beautiful and besides being a bit chilly during the outdoor photo shoot, was about as perfect as a night can get. Congratulations to Angela and Zach! It is a rare occasion when you get to welcome two new members into the family within two days!

It turns out that William was chock full of surprises. The first of which was deciding to come without an induction. I started having contractions around 7:00 am on Thursday morning. I had had contractions about a week earlier so I wasn't sure what to think about these. The plan was for me to take Carl to work that day so that I could pick him up at the end of the day and go straight to the dress rehearsal. (It is a good thing that the contractions started so early, otherwise Carl would have been at work with no way to get home/to the hospital! Also, on any other given day Carl would have long since been at work.) We decided to take Lily to school and then return home to monitor the contractions. Completely to our surprise, the contractions became more powerful and closer together. By about 10:30, I was pretty sure that I was going into labor.

We picked Lily up from school at 11:30 and drove with her to the hospital (5 minutes from Lily's school) where my dad picked her up and took her back to my parents' house for a prescheduled mani/pedi session with the girls. Carl and I checked into the hospital at 11:45. They checked my progress and again to my surprise, I was 6 1/2 cm dilated. At that point, they asked me if I wanted an epidural. Since I was already in tears from the pain, I readily accepted their offer. I couldn't believe that I was actually going to have the baby that very day!

The picture below shows me with my mom and sisters after their mani/pedis and before the dress rehearsal. Clearly, this is also after my epidural and before delivery.

Our last photo as a family of three

The epidural ended up actually stopping any progress that my body was making so we had to kick in some pictocin to keep things moving along. At 4:00 pm, the doctor came into to check me and asked if I felt pressure or the need to push. I was feeling pressure but not necessarily the need to push. When he examined me, he said that I was 10 cm dilated and ready to go. He and the nurse suited up to get the show on the road. He said that if I pushed for 20 minutes, it would be long. I didn't entirely believe him, but sure enough, 10 minutes and 3 contractions later, we welcomed William into the world at 4:15 pm. Here are a couple of his first pictures with mom and dad:

Unfortunately, William still had some surprises in store for us. When he was born, William's blood sugar was low, although still within normal limits (48). Forty is the cut-off for passing. The next test revealed a blood sugar level of 42. At about 11:00 pm, they took William for some tests including his third blood sugar test. They said that he would be back around 11:25 pm. Carl had left to walk Terra and pick up some things at the house. He returned at about 11:15. At 11:45, we were still waiting for William to return with the nurse when the Pediatrician walked in without him. I knew then that we were not going to receive good news. Due to his low blood sugar, William was admitted directly to the NICU. We would not get him back again for good until a couple of hours before he was discharged from the hospital on Sunday at 10:30 am.

William's blood sugar had dropped into the twenties. Basically, his body was making too much insulin. Best guesses are that I developed mild gestational diabetes during pregnancy. Those following our pregnancy journey will remember that I failed my glucose screening and then passed the three-hour test. For some reason, it seems that the screening was a more accurate indication of what was actually going on. So, William's body had trouble adjusting once he was born. This leaves me with a lot of guilt that I can't really address here, but knowing that I had a part to play in every heal prick, IV and dextrose drip, constant monitoring, and time away from his mom & dad in his precious first few days of life is a heavy burden to bear.

Luckily, William responded very well to the dextrose drip and recovered beautifully. The biggest after-effect of this journey is that we are actually more worried as new parents to William than we were as first-time parents of Lily. William was very lethargic at the hospital, and we often had to wake him up and basically force-feed him. He absolutely HAD to eat every three hours, and we absolutely HAD to supplement breastfeeding with formula to get his blood sugar up since the colostrum was not going to cut it. Now that my milk has come in, we are still breastfeeding and then supplementing with pumped breastmilk under his doctor's recommendation. This leaves me worrying that he is possibly eating too much, and we are breaking down his natural ability to self-regulate. As Carl so subtly put it, we are not looking to have a National Inquirer baby or turn our little football player into a sumo wrestler.

However, overfeeding would not be as detrimental as underfeeding at this point so we are going with the lesser of two evils for the moment. Last night, I know that William took in more fluids than any newborn should, but I also know that this will not land him a visit to the ER like not eating enough could. Still, it is a parent's prerogative to worry, right? And worry we do....About whether he is sleeping too much because he has no energy due to low blood sugar or is he just a normal newborn who sleeps 20+ hours per day? Is he jittery or is it just a normal startle reflex? With Lily, we just went with the flow, but we are unable to do this with William. Hopefully, it will get better and our fears will subside. William had his first doctor's appointment today, and everything seems okay. He is only down 2 oz. (9 lbs even) probably due to the dextrose drip and constant supplementing. His next doctor's appointment is next Thursday so we will be able to reevaluate then.

All in all, things did not necessarily go as planned or as one would desire, but in the end, we have a beautiful baby boy that seems to be happy, healthy, and thriving. What more could anyone ask for, really?

Welcome William

William Oscar arrived on Thursday, October 22nd at 4:15 pm.

He weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. and was 22.5 in.

We are absolutely in love with this baby boy.

Warm & snuggly

All cuddled up under the blanket, listening to an audiobook with her bear, Oscar, on a chilly fall day

Colors of the season

I truly love the colors of fall. I particularly like this time of year when both of our trees turn red around our red front door. Hopefully they will stay this way for at least the next week so that we can bring Baby Deetz home to this lovely color.

Also, happy birthday to Tori on this great fall day! In other big news, Molly and family welcomed their baby BOY, Patrick James, into the world this morning. Congratulations to them!! That makes the grand total for the "season of babies": 4 boys and 1 girl. We are now officially the last ones left; this should surprise no one, as I have always run a bit behind! :)

Lights, camera, action!

Yesterday, Lily and I went to a playdate at Once Upon a Bash where they have princess dress-up clothes, among many other things. Lily spent most of her time on the kiddie stage performing for everyone and anyone willing to be a part of the audience. Her favorite performance of late is a cooking show.

Last doctor's appointment!

Today was it, folks. We are definitely down to the last week. My status right now is pretty much the same. He said that he wouldn't quite say that I am 4 cm dilated but "no doubt a solid 3". Effacement is at 30%. He said that effacement doesn't really matter quite as much after the first pregnancy, as effacement and dilation happen together in subsequent pregnancies. But, things seem to be right on track for delivery.

Before the exam, my doctor said that he could "encourage contractions" or not. He gave us the option. By now everyone is well aware of the impending wedding. So, encouraging the process could mean bringing on active labor today (and therefore being reassured that I will make the wedding) or could mean going into active labor on Wednesday which would not be desirable. Because of my current status, the doctor thought that this could potentially speed things up into the time frame that we want so we said to go ahead. I didn't really consider the pain involved before giving that green light, but that's another story.

So now more waiting. If nothing happens in the upcoming week, an induction has been scheduled for Monday, October 26th at 7:00 am. The doctor seemed to think that he would see me before Monday though. I'm trying my best to just think that Monday will be the day so that 1. I don't drive myself crazy wondering every day if today is the day and 2. I don't worry about missing the wedding.

I'm still feeling pretty well physically and emotionally. I had some painful Braxton-Hicks contractions Friday night which I never experienced with Lily. Let's just say that was not the most fun I've ever had from 11:30 - 5:30 at night. Then, of course, Lily woke up at 6:30. (And I thought that they would not tag team me until after he was born!) We also worried a bit because I felt less movement from the baby after that night of contractions, but everything was still within the normal range. The baby monitoring today confirmed that everything is just fine with him. In fact, he probably moved more today than any other day that we've monitored - go figure. Otherwise, I've had some mood swings and cravings, and I'm more hungry and tired pretty much all the time. It is just odd that I'm having these symptoms now as opposed to early on in the pregnancy. Oh well. It can't last more than a week, right?

So that's it! This will likely be the last baby-related post before he is here. Oh my!

Bittersweet

My doctor's appointment today was a mix of good and not-so-good news. The good news is that my bloodwork came back, and everything looks really good. In fact, it was too good. My doctor is no longer worried in the least about preeclampsia. When laying on my side, my blood pressure was 117/70 today. I'm almost sure that I've never had numbers that good. While I am certainly happy to be doing well, this virtually took early induction off the table. And while I certainly understand the doctor's decision, it is a bit disappointing.

At this point, he won't consider anything before 39 weeks. Wednesday, the 21st, was the very earliest that he would induce. However, because Angela's wedding is on Friday, the 23rd, I'm definitely not going to schedule an induction that would guarantee that I would be in the hospital for the wedding. Then we have to skip over the weekend, and that puts us at Monday, the 26th, a whopping one day before my due date. Now I know that I should be happy about being able to have the baby before my due date at all, especially in light of Lily's lengthened gestation time, but I kind of had my hopes up to go earlier. And such is life.

Of course, there is a small possibility that I could go on my own. I was surprised to find out today that I am now dilated 3 cm. However, this ultimately doesn't mean anything as I could be dilated 3 cm for 3 weeks without going into labor. While it would be exciting to actually go into labor on my own, it also means that I could go into labor next week and again end up being in the hospital for the wedding.

At this point, I think I have gone over every possibility in my head. No matter how you slice or dice it, it comes down to the fact that we do not have control over this process, and I have to deal with the fact that I can't plan out the details in advance. Above anything else, I am eternally grateful for this baby, and whenever he decides to make his entrance into the world will be one of the greatest days of my life - period.

Pumpkin carving

This was weekend #2 for the Pumpkin Patch. We went there last weekend for Lily's friend's birthday party, and this weekend we had a playgroup there that I had organized awhile ago. This time, we picked out our pumpkin for carving. Lily drew the face design on a piece of paper, and then Carl transferred it to the pumpkin and helped her carve it. I think it turned out really well, and Lily loves to light the candle in it at night and see how spooky it is!

Update

Today we had a very long doctor's appointment thanks to baby monitoring, internal examining and having bloodwork done. The baby still looks very good. I forgot to mention that at my last appointment I was actually dilated 2 cm and had a very soft cervix. It just amazes me that my body seems to be doing some work toward delivery as this certainly was not the case with Lily, even past her due date. My blood pressure was similar to last time (140/70). This, combined with other test results, seems to indicate that we are probably dealing with high blood pressure alone rather than preeclampsia. Still, my doctor wants to be cautious. So we are talking about inducing before 39 weeks (which is fine by me)! My next appointment is Tuesday, the 13th. As the doc said, he may tell me to go downstairs that day, depending upon the results of the exam. Otherwise, we are talking about inducing on Thursday (6 days from today!) or maybe Sunday the 18th. I really wanted the 16th so that Lily's birthday would be November 16th and the baby's would be October 16th, but my doctor is going to be out of town from the 16th to early morning on the 18th. Any later than the 18th would be getting a bit close to Angela's wedding so we are trying to avoid the 19th - 23rd if possible. Even though it is after the beginning of the 39th week, I also really wouldn't mind waiting to Saturday the 24th (the day after Angela's wedding) because it would be fun to have everyone in town for the big event. So unless by some twist of fate the baby decides to come on his own, I think we are looking at the following dates: 15th, 18th, or 24th.

A few Lily quotes

In the last few days, Lily has made the following comments:

• When Carl was playing with her the other night, Lily said, "Daddy, you almost scared Aunt Angela's wedding right out of me".
• Last night, when cooking at her pretend kitchen (Lily's absolute favorite activity), she asked if I would like to try some of her legendary cookies.
• As we were getting ready for bed last night, I said that I just didn't know what books to pick for reading. She came over and said, "I can help you in your time of need".

Such a character!

Lily's first day at her new school

The lighting in our kitchen is terrible so this is not a great picture AND it is late in the coming, but here is Lily on her first day of school (last Monday).

37 Weeks

Today I had my first full-term doctor's appointment. Yay!!! Completely unsurprisingly, my blood pressure is up. Even when laying on my side, I had a reading of 142/84. My doctor decided to monitor the baby to make sure that everything is okay with him. In his words, the results of the monitoring were "literally perfect". The heart rate was right where it was supposed to be, fluctuated with movements, and indicated no signs of distress. All good news.

As for me, I now have to go to the doctor twice per week to make sure that this high blood pressure does not lead to true preeclampsia. If the blood pressure continues to rise, he will induce. I completely expected this which is why, as of this very appointment, I had my hospital bag packed and in the trunk. If you recall, I was sent directly to the hospital (on Halloween) with Lily when I was about 38 weeks due to high blood pressure. I didn't have her then because my blood pressure came down, but my doctor now is more cautious, and I think he would go ahead induce anyway. Also, my doctor's office is just one floor above the labor and delivery unit of the hospital which would not allow a lot of time for my blood pressure to come down!

If my blood pressure remains the same, he said that he will induce anytime between 39-40 weeks. He said that we'll just look at our schedules and see what date looks good! This makes me laugh, like we're going to pencil in the baby's delivery around other activities in my daily planner. Although, it is actually going to be tricky. Due to Angela's wedding, there really aren't many days between weeks 39-40 that would work while still being able to be at the wedding. Luckily, my doctor is very flexible so I don't think that it will be a problem.

The great news is that he will not let me go beyond my due date which means that this baby is definitely coming this month....and in time for Halloween festivities! It is really nice to know absolutely that three weeks is the maximum time until delivery day.

I was just commenting to Carl how weird it is that I felt so anxious and overly ready for the baby to come in August and September (when the baby wasn't ready). Then October arrived, and I just completely relaxed. I feel really good physically and emotionally, and I know that the due date is around the corner so I'm not overly anxious for it to happen right now. Don't get me wrong, I am ready whenever he is, but the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. I feel strangely calm. Maybe because this is number 2, and I completely expected all these latest developments because it was the same with Lily, but I'm just in a good place right now. Plus, an induction would be nice. It is so great for planning. You just don't have to worry about having to scramble to get all the pieces in place, like getting Lily squared away, figuring out how to get to the hospital, and having to track down Carl at work. So, while having high blood pressure is by no means a good thing, there are at least benefits that could result from it. I'll definitely update again on Friday with any developments (or non-developments).

Changes, changes

As if we didn't have enough changes going on right now, we had to add just a couple more. As I mentioned in the last post, Lily began a new school on Monday. This came about rather suddenly, but we are all so, so happy with this development. Lily's friend's mom (from our playgroup) mentioned a program that her daughter attends that piqued my interest. Basically, the program is in a nearby school district that has a very good reputation. The school district has inclusion classes that have children with mild disabilities in classes with "model" (or typically developing) children. The idea is that the typically developing children will model positive language/social/cognitive/motor skills while the children with special needs will provide an opportunity for the typically developing children to gain an acceptance and appreciation for differences. It really is a win-win situation. Best of all, this is a free program through the district. Lily attends the school 3 hours during the morning, 4 days per week. This has been an absolute dream for us so far. Lily really enjoys the school, and I have enjoyed being able to get things done like grocery shopping, running errands, etc without having to drag her along. I'm just so grateful for this situation. I also couldn't be happier about the timing because this will keep Lily in a routine and give her an outlet and her own special time when the baby comes.

The other change is that I will be starting a part-time job in January. I have signed up as an adjunct faculty member at our local community college. I taught a Psychology course at a community college when we first arrived in Baltimore (8 years ago), and I haven't taught college-level courses since, but I am really excited to get back into it. I will probably end up teaching about 5 hours per week. This is my ideal set-up. I really do want to use my degree and work but still be able to devote the majority of my time to being a mom.

I really feel like I was floundering a bit for the first year that we moved back to St. Louis. I just couldn't find the right school situation for Lily with the right work situation for me. Finally, I feel like it is coming together. This, combined with a successful pregnancy after trying for a year and half, makes me happy and content beyond what I conceived possible.

Birthday party

Yesterday we went to the Pumpkin Farm to celebrate Lily's friend's birthday. The girls had a great time together.

Girlfriends

How appropriate...a school bus shot for school friends. Yes, Lily is back in school as of last week. When I have time, I'll update more about that.

Riding the caboose on the adorable kiddie train

Enjoying a birthday cupcake. Lily's friend's mom made a really cute fish birthday cake with blue mini-cupcake "bubbles".

I know that this is a bad shot. But, this horse caused one of my scariest mommy moments to date. We had just arrived at the birthday party when the girls decided that they would like to ride the horses. Just as the horses started up, the guy walking next to Lily adjusted his hat and spooked her horse. The horse reared ALL the way up on his hind legs until he was practically vertical with my daughter holding on for dear life. Luckily, they regained control of the horse, and Lily recovered beautifully. Her expression after the incident revealed the she was a little shaken, but she continued to ride the horse and never shed a tear. Even the adults nearby commented that they would not have handled it as well as she did. She definitely earned her cowgirl badge that day.

Make Room for Baby

In anticipation of the baby's arrival, we've pulled out all the baby gear. Lily thinks this is the best thing ever as her dolls and stuffed animals have been enjoying some new, fun toys and accommodations.

Baby Elmo in the bouncy seat

Lily in the swing

The pack 'n play

We've decided to put the pack 'n play downstairs for now in order to have a changing station and napping area on the main level. With Lily, we kept this in our bedroom to have her close at night. Since the nursery is attached to our master bedroom in this house, it didn't make much sense to have another sleeping area only steps closer. Maybe this will help in keeping this baby in the crib from the get-go! We'll see.

We also moved Lily's carseat from the middle of the backseat to the side to make room for baby's infant carrier. Lily wasn't psyched about this at first, but she is adjusting to her new "big girl" position in the car.

Slowly our environment is changing to reflect the little addition coming to our household. It is amazing how a someone so small requires so much stuff!