Birth Story

Barrett Nicholas was born at 12:24am on Friday, September 23, 2011 and weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces and was 21 inches long. He was born with a head of dark hair, apgars of 8 and 9, beautiful full lips, a strong cry and healthy.

So lets back up – to before he had a name, before we saw his beautiful hair and total perfection. Lets back up to September 22^nd.

As much as I didn’t want to induce and wanted to have my body go naturally, I also really wanted my doctor to deliver me. The practice he is a part of has a ton of great doctors and I don’t doubt that they would have done a good job…but I really love my OB. Like – really feel comfortable with him, really enjoy his presence, am like his biggest patient fans (if doctors can have fans) and recommend ALL of my friends to him. Seriously, this guy is amazing. He is a good listener, he is firm, he takes the time to get to know you, he treats your pregnancy like it is special, he smiles, shakes your hand, looks you in the eyes, apologized when things will hurt. He presents options and will never tell you to choose an option – he believes the patient should be in control of their care, he will only step in when medically necessary –I love that.

Anyway – back on topic. He was going to be in on Thursday, on call Thursday night, and post call Friday. If I went in on Thursday morning, I was guaranteed that he would deliver me. To me, that was more important than anything else – even going naturally. I like the guy that much. And ps. During the process, he proved to my mom, sister, mother in law that I wasn’t just raving about him, he really was that wonderful.

Nick and I arrived at the hospital at 7am on Thursday morning. I changed into my robe and they hooked me up to my IV. I had to be stuck 3 times to get it to work. Good thing my nurse Julie was so wonderful, otherwise I might not have tolerated being poked that much :) They started IV fluids, then Pitocin and then penicillin for group b strep (by the way, that stings when it goes in the veins).  My contractions started about an hour later and were very tolerable. At around noon, my OB came in and broke my water – the contractions were no longer tolerable. I asked for an epidural. Approximately 45 minutes later, the epidural was placed and not a moment too soon. I was almost ready to throw up and my pain level was pretty bad. Nick was a champ and stayed in the room with me and let me lean into him and rubbed me to make me feel better. My sister was in the room too and did great. My parents and brother arrived just before the epidural and got to witness me go through the painful part. Nick’s mom was also present during this time.

After the epidural was placed, I put on my headphones while the medication took effect and tried to grit it out. The pain subsided and I took a nap. My OB came back around 5 or 6 and checked me. I was fully dilated and ready but he said if I didn’t feel the urge to push, I could just get some more rest and let my body do the work of moving him down to the pelvis. At 8:30pm it was time to push.

I received some instruction on pushing from my wonderful nurse (with 40 years of experience) and we were off to the races. My OB was in the room almost the whole time (what OB stays in the room…mine) and counted each push. I pushed 3 times for each contraction and had no sense of time but apparently I was pushing every 2 or so minutes because my contractions were so close together. The nurse and doctor were sure that within the hour, we would have a baby. I was pushing well, they baby was visible. More pushing, more contractions, increased pain, complete loss of time.

The doc came back from some charting and had a talk with me. The baby wasn’t coming on his own. We were both tolerating pushing fine, I was ok, the baby was ok, but with increasing pain, it was becoming obvious that the baby might not be in the right position to come on his own. I asked how long I had been pushing and someone said 3 hours. The loss of time rushed back and suddenly, I was exhausted. I asked the nurse what she thought and she said that she was surprised things hadn’t progressed more and that I was pushing better than most people do and still, nothing was happening. No one made the decision for me, but I was tired, had been pushing really well and hard for 3 hours and nothing.

I made the decision, C-section. I was ok with this. I was at peace with the outcome. Nick put on his scrubs and my sister was allowed to come in and take pictures. I was so out of it. I kept falling asleep. It took a while for the drugs to take effect and I was afraid that I would be able to feel the procedure. He was definitely down in the pelvis. The nurse had to reach in and push his head back up. When the doctor pushed on my upper abdomen to push him out, I felt the push and it scared me and I said “oh my god!” really loudly. Then I heard the baby cry, which made me cry. Then I got distracted by the fact that I could feel some pain and they put me almost all the way under. My doctor sewed me up and Nick and my sister followed the baby out to the nursery to get weighed and washed up. I later found out that my doctor hand sutured my c-section (the usually use staples because they are faster) and does this from time to time for his favorite patients (it takes a lot longer to hand suture) and I was so honored that he felt the same way about me as I did about him.

I was wheeled to recovery where they brought the baby in to be nursed. I was so out of it and tired that a nurse had to hold him to me so that he could eat. They wheeled me back to the room and the rest of the night is a blur. I was so tired, I had my vitals taken, I was totally out of it.

The next day, they got me up to go to the bathroom. Have you ever peed after having a catheter? It’s like your body forgets how to pee. You use a warm squirt bottle to try to trick your body into releasing the pee. The first time I finally peed, I felt like I camel. I have never in my life peed that much or that long.

I continued to get up and around, bond with my baby, nurse and see visitors. Having never been through a c-section, I didn’t know what a normal recovery was, but apparently, I was up and moving and everything 4x faster than most people. Yeay for having a quick recovery!

We were asked constantly what his name was. We had a list. We eliminated names like crazy the first day and were left with Jacob, Kellen, Barrett, George and Gentry. By the last day, we were down to Kellen, Barrett and Gentry. An hour before release, we were down to Kellen and Barrett. We picked Kellen. I went to write it on the paper for his social security number and just hesitated. I wrote in the middle and last name. We sat there, Barrett in his car seat ready to go home – we wrote Barrett. We knew it was the right name when the nurse said “bye Barrett!” 

Birth Story Coming Soon

I will make an effort to do our birth story soon - In the mean time, this sleep deprived mom is going to try and get some z''s.

Barrett Nicholas - Born 9/23 at 12:24am - 9 lbs 2 oz 21 inches long. Happy and Healthy!

Going home - his hat looks like the pope's hat. 

Proud mommy and daddy with baby Barrett

So sleepy

Trooper, Nick Baby Barrett

On Parenting

I love Kozy Shack Tapioca Pudding. Just thought I would throw that out there.

Today - we are getting our gas furnace cleaned and maintenanced - We have lived in our house for 3.5 years and have never had it done. Nick replaced the burner or whatever it is ... ignitor maybe? But otherwise, not much has been done. The filters were filthy. It is nice to get maintenance type things done.

I am still on the fence. Last night, I had my mind made up that I would go in on Thursday. This morning, I am wavering. My sister is very much behind me going in. She said, relax and just do it. Gulp.

It is so strange to think, what do I need to do today to be ready. Grocery shop, get some food for Nick and the others who will be at the hospital with me, vacuum, maybe mop the floors...I just don't know. The idea that I will come back to my home with an infant, that will be with us at least until he heads off to college or whatever is so foreign and strange to me.

People keep asking if I am excited. Truthfully, I don't know how to respond. When you get married, you are with that person for a while, you build a bond and make a decision based on that bond that you want to spend the rest of your life with that person. A vacation happens for a set amount of time and then you come back, whether it was a great destination or a horrible one. You buy a house and could be there forever, or you can sell it and move.  A baby is forever. You never stop being a parent once you become one, no matter what. I am so many emotions - nervous, unsure, excited, happy, worried, terrified, anxious...name an emotion, I am probably feeling it in one way or another.

I wonder what this little person will be like. I wonder what he will look like (who he will look like). I wonder who he will become. I wonder if he will be an easy baby, if he will cry a lot, a little, be content, I wonder so many things - and yet, it seems so unreal that I am about to welcome this little person into our lives. It is exhilarating and terrifying, all at the same time.

So here we go - there is no going back - sooner rather than later, we will meet this little person that is guaranteed to change our lives forever.

Me 

 Nick and his Dad

Nick and his mom

MD appointment 40 weeks 2 days

As usual - here are the stats for my appointment - Dilated 3+, effaced 50% - exactly the same as last Wednesday.

Next steps - either get induced on Thursday - or continue to wait it out.

Pro's to induction:
-Having a certain end date
-Guaranteed to have my doctor deliver me because he works Thursday, on call Thursday night and works Friday
-My already large baby won't grow larger while I wait
-If I end up going all the way to October 2, they would induce me anyway
-Easier planning for family to come up from Eugene

Con's to induction:
-It's un-natural
-I have heard it hurts worse
-I don't know how I feel about picking a birthday

I had a long talk with my doctor about it today - I asked him, if you were advising your wife, what would your advice be.

He told me the following: Your cervix is very favorable for induction and based on that, you don't run the risk of a c-section more than you would if you went naturally should you decide to induce. You also don't have any issues that would make me tell you you had to induce so if you decide to continue to be pregnant and wait to go naturally, that is fine too. You have until Wednesday night to make the decision at which point you can just give us a call and schedule a new appointment for next week to come and see me if you decide not to come in for an induction on Thursday. The last day we would let you go until is October 2.

Sweet. Looks like the decision is mine and mine alone. I don't really know what my final decision should be. I have a little over 24 hours to make a final decision. Gulp.

Due Date

Welp, today is the end of the countdown. When people ask me tomorrow when I am due do I say "negative one days ago?"

Looks like baby bear has decided to overstay his welcome. Clearly, there is something he likes about being in there.

I admit - I am very jealous that everyone else who was due around me, including some due in October, have delivered their babies.

I definitely want him to be healthy and happy - so if he needs a little more time, I suppose I will give it to him...but I am still bummed out that my countdown didn't work out. Darn.

I feel pretty comfortable. In fact, I don't really have a feeling he will come soon. I have not been having painful contractions (other than mini twinges) and I don't have that "any day now" feeling. I cleaned the house like crazy and stocked up on food a week ago. The food has been eaten and the perfection of the cleaning has kind of dwindled. But seriously, am I supposed to vacuum like a madwoman daily "just in case?" Let me tell you - being a neat freak to the max for over a week has been annoying.

So here we go - still pregnant...hopefully I will get to introduce you to baby bear soon!

Sweets!

In life, I have not been a huge sweets eater. Yes, there were the days that I was candy crazy but I think it was less about being actually crazy for the product and more about the fact that we were banned from sweets so it was like a forbidden thing.

If I partook in sweet eating, it would be things like berry or fruit pies or cobblers, pumpkin pie (mmmm, favorite!), fruit with whipped cream, custard, tapioca pudding, etc.

Cake - not thanks. Chocolate - double no thanks. Mousse, doughnuts, eclairs - nope.

I went through a small period in this pregnancy where sweets were pretty tasty. It was somewhere around week 16 or 17 I believe. It was short-lived.

The last few days - all. I. want. is. sweets. I don't give in - but seriously, it is ridiculous. We have marshmallows in the cupboard and I have debated squirting some whipped cream on them and enjoying a bowl full of marshmallow covered in whipped cream. Um gross! I didn't do it, but that is the degree to which sweets sound satisfying and oh so tempting.

I have even debated going to DQ alone and picking up a tasty treat. Again, I didn't do it - but seriously, this daydreaming about sweets has GOT to stop!

It is my hope that this horrible mouth watering and salivating at the mere thought of something containing copious amounts of sugar does not stick around after pregnancy because if it does, I have a long road to getting my pre-baby body back.

And just in case you aren't counting down to my next appointment right along with me, let me remind you that it is in 3 days - but who knows - maybe I will go into labor on my own before then? Perhaps this dude is a timely individual and will arrive on his due date? I guess I just have to wait and see!

MD appointment 39 weeks 3 days - 4 to go

Alrighty - I had an appointment today so I thought I would make a few updates.

I am 3+cm dilated and 50% effaced. The baby is at either a station -1 or +1, I can't remember which one he said but the key here is that he dropped again and is in a head down, ready to come out position. The doc swept my membranes again and this time it was pain free. Hurray!

Here's the scoop on when the little dude will come - I am to wait until 40 full weeks before being induced but if I had to be at this point, I have progressed far enough that I have a good chance for induction going well. I have an appointment on Tuesday September 20. I currently have a scheduled induction date of Thursday September 22 with check in to the hospital at 7:00am unless the baby comes earlier. I can also cancel the induction at any time if I should decide that I would rather continue to wait it out - however, at that point, I will be 40 weeks and 5 days along and my doc was perfectly comfortable with the idea of an induction on that day with my progress and everything. Plus, he is around so that is good too. He said that the chances are I would progress quickly once the process was started. Another great thing is that I can have an epidural whenever I want it based on how far into the process I already am, so that makes me feel much better as well! But anyway, with any luck, he will come on his own - and again, if I chicken out and want to continue waiting for him to come naturally, I am not stuck with my scheduled induction. There are several things at play that make me teeter on both sides of the argument.

1. I don't like the idea of induction because I have heard bad things about the unnatural nature of an induced birth. I have heard it hurts more. I have heard there is an increased chance of a C-section. I have heard all kinds of things.

2. I am afraid to wait it out for too long knowing that I already have a big baby - I personally know 3 people who waited it out and their babies ended up being too big to come out on their own and they ended up with C-sections due to size. One has to wonder if the baby would have been induced, would they have been able to deliver a more small sized infant naturally? Who knows.


The end of pregnancy is a cruel joke - In the last week, I feel like my body is just falling apart. I am still walking great, I am spry and happy, I am in a good mood and I definitely still have a sense of humor about everything - but my body is totally falling apart. TMI alert.

In the past week, I have gotten worsening stretch marks, my abs have separated and have a hole between them that even Nick can see, I am not sleeping well, I have the worst gas EVER - like, my dog can't even be around me it is so awful, which is pretty much really embarrassing and strange given the fact that I can barely eat these days and have actually lost 5 lbs because fitting food in my squeezed to the max belly is impossible so I cannot figure out what the culprit would be. Back to the gas thing though - because of the pressure that the baby is putting on me, it is hard to make it come out...so, I ended up with a hemorrhoid - seriously?? Up until about a week ago, my body was virtually stretch mark free and I really thought I was going to make it through this un-scathed - with no hemorrhoids or anything - nope. I found myself laughing in bed this morning all by myself because at a certain point, you just have to find humor in this whole process. Embarrassing, horrifying - pure comedy.

Alright, that's all for now - I am going to try to take a nap - acid reflux and all :)

Guest Bath & Master Bath Update

If you haven't checked out the house tour tab at the top of our page, I have added some new pictures including some before pictures for fun. Again - that tab is a work in progress and I will update it from time to time so check back often. I still need to add pictures of the guest bedroom, our bathroom, the nursery, the laundry room and the guest bathroom. In addition, I should add some pictures of the outside and grounds.

Here is continued progress of the bathroom. With Nick working so many hours and then doing other side jobs in his free time, there hasn't been much in the way of time for completing the project. I looked back through the blog and noted that we started tearing this apart April 10 - we had hoped to get it finished before the baby joined us, but alas, it is still in a state of unfinished-ness. Here are some pics of the progress. They are out of order.

Part of the Greenboard sheetrock up. 

Putting a piece of the Greenboard sheet rock up (greenboard is mold resistant sheetrock and it is a good idea to use in bathrooms). 

George (Nick's dad) measuring out a board for something. 

Working together, Nick and George.  The lighting makes it look like Nick is balding in this picture - happily, there is no balding going on with my dear husband and he would probably appreciate me pointing out that it is the lighting. :-)

Nick - I believe he was a touch frustrated here. 

Cutting the board. I have learned how to use this saw! Yeay me!

And now, some pictures of our bathroom as it comes together!

From our bedroom looking in. For now, the baby will be changed in our bathroom, later on, he will be changed and have his stuff in the other bathroom. 

Standing in the closet looking toward the bathtub. 

The baby's drawer in our bathroom. Washcloths, butt cream, diapers, clippers, towels, etc. 

The mirror and the changing pad on the counter. 

Less than 24 hours before my next appointment and it can't come soon enough - that is, unless it is anti-climactic and I find out that I still haven't dilated more or something. With any luck, my doc will tell me that I am wrong about the baby having turned sideways. Stay tuned for updates!

Me, Packed, No bump and Schooled in Photography

This is me today - and my new camera. Smile - you're almost done!

This is my stuff that is ready to go to the hospital!

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This is for all my girlfriends who are whining about not having a bump yet in pregnancy. Allow me to introduce you to some of my long lost friends, whom I have not seen since March and won't get to be re-introduced to until - oh, who knows when. The sooner the better! And in the mean time, to you "no bumpers" who are hoping to have a bump soon, enjoy your friends to the max, because you will miss them when they get put away and you forget that you had so many!

Hudson, Dylan George, Peoples Liberation, Citizens, Fidelity, Rock and Republic. 

Dark wash! Light wash! Skinny! Boot Cut! Button pocket! Flap Pocket! So many options!!

Oh they are so beautiful! Oh my gorgeous long lost friends!

And if you are a cheapskate like me - and refuse to spend a fortune on jeans that you will wear for a grand total of 6 months, maybe 9 - this is what your bump having future holds. Don't they look lonely? Don't they look sad? 

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And for fun. Amanda, came over and saw my new camera. She is a great photographer and pretty much showed me just how good. She did a photo shoot with my little Trooper and I love them!! Here are some of my favorites!

Jackson - Amanda's dog. 

Best Friends!