Bath Time!

Four days

Oliver went to the doctor yesterday. Like George did, he had lost almost a pound. He was 7 lbs 1 ounce. This is due to my milk taking its sweet time. Now he's eating like a champ but he still hasn't had a normal poopy diaper. Come on, Ollie, poop! He shrunk half an inch... Sometimes I wonder about their measuring methods. They didn't say out loud how big his head was but after the nurse measured him, she said, "He is so tiny!" At which point I said my body was grateful for this. His little head had no problem making its way into the world. He sleeps all the time. I have to wake him up to eat and he falls asleep after about 15 minutes. I hope he is getting some good hind milk in that time. He wakes up twice at night around 2 am and 4 am. Glen only stirs during the 4 am feeding which is good.

George is obsessed. He wants to be sitting and looking at the baby at all times. He also likes to point out each body part; sometimes a little too rigorously. He takes Ollie's binky any time it's in his mouth. He doesn't want it to suck on but he likes to hold it and tease the baby with it. He puts it up to his mouth and then takes it away. Luckily, Grandma is here to take him on errands. I've been home alone with Ollie since about 7 am this morning. It's been awesome. I took a two-hour nap. Of course things will change in the coming weeks but I'm hoping George figures out how to be a little more gentle by then or at least loses interest.

I'm still a little shocked that I already had the baby. The pregnancy went by really fast and the birth wasn't scheduled like it was with George. It also took half as much time for him to get here once labor started. But he is here and I love him!

He's Here!

Oliver Lloyd Hicks was born at 4:12 pm on April 19th. He was 8 lbs even and 21 inches. This means he was the same length as George but over a pound lighter. He is a waif! He has skinny legs and arms and a little head. My contractions were on and off since Monday when I had my membranes stripped. On Thursday morning, I woke up with a strong contraction, as I had almost every night since Monday. I waited and had another one. After about an hour of this I went out on the couch and timed them. Then I went downstairs and did the dishes since I thought I might go to the hospital and I didn't want to leave them in the sink. Around four forty-five, I got in the shower. When I got out, Glen was awake and asked what was up. I told him I was having contractions and they were anywhere from 3 minutes to 7 minutes apart. I told him he may want to get in the shower. I sent my mom a text around six and told her I thought I might be going into the hospital that morning. I wanted to labor at home for as long as possible but after three days of false labor I was really curious as to whether or not I was really in labor. My mom and dad came over and we packed the car. George woke up just before they arrived. My dad stayed with George and we went to the hospital. We got there about 7 am. The hospital is about two minutes from our house. We checked into triage and I was at a four and a half. They told me to walk around for 30 minutes and they'd check me again. The nurse was definitely not convinced and thought she would be sending me home. I was having painful contractions but I knew better than to show pain since Glen and my mom don't handle my pain very well.

They checked me again and I was at a five so I was admitted. I labored well for a few hours and made it to a seven. I was having really painful contractions that were of course getting worse. But I knew I could handle them because the time between contractions was great! I was playing games and making jokes. However, I then realized that although I could definitely get through the whole labor without drugs, I didn't have to. It was a wonderful thought. I asked for an epidural and got one about twenty minutes later. Then the doctor broke my water. I labored in bed for another hour or so when I felt like I needed to pee and asked the nurse to do the catheter and empty my bladder. She wanted to check my cervix first. I was almost complete and she said the head was "right there". I had a lip on one side so she rolled me over. The feeling of needing to pee did not go away and it was really intense. They had called the doctor and she said to wait twenty minutes and then do a practice push. I said she had better hurry because the baby was coming and I wouldn't be able to stop one I started pushing. She showed up and he was here within 10 minutes and three contractions. It was awesome! They put him right on my chest and wiped him off and suctioned him. The ten seconds it took for him to start crying felt like an eternity. As soon as I heard those sweet cries, my eyes filled with tears. The whole process is miraculous!

When we first saw him, he looked like a smaller version of George with more hair and smaller ears. But now he looks nothing like George did. He looks like my side of the family for sure. And he is so freaking tiny! We came home from the hospital the next day and George has been in love since. He can't leave the baby alone so Grandma takes him to her house for most of the time. We love our baby brother Ollie! 

Easter

Easter was fun. I would post pictures but they are stuck on my mom's camera. This is really just to let people know I have not yet had a baby. I will really post about Easter when I have pictures. I am currently having some contractions but they just refuse to get stronger and closer together!

My Night in Triage

Yesterday was a fun day. My mom came over about 4pm to pick George and I up to go to my nephew's baseball game. George was asleep and did not appreciate being woken up from his nap. He screamed the whole way to the game and continued to scream for another 20 minutes or so. I needed to go to the bathroom but George wouldn't let me put him down so I carried him over to the bathroom area. I was walking on the sidewalk when I stepped in a puddle created by the drinking fountains. I immediately slipped, George hit his head on the drinking fountain and I landed hard on my legs/butt. Not only did this hurt and pull some muscles, but it was embarrassing and I hit my little boys head which made him start crying again. But I still had to pee. So I walked to the bathroom with my wet pants (from the water on the ground and a little bit of leakage, if you know what I mean). There was no toilet paper. For Heaven's sake. After doing my best with what I had in the bathroom, I waddled George over to the park and thankfully found one of his wonderful cousins there that took his hand and let George take him where ever he wanted. Thank goodness for Tayen! I could not have gotten off the park bench to follow George around even if I wanted to. I was holding it all together until I saw my sweet brother walking over to me and he asked me what was up. Of course I started crying. I'm such a boob.

I collected myself again and then my mom came over. Geeze. I started crying again and we sat for a while and I told her what happened and where it hurt and everything. We decided to go home. I had experienced a fall when I was pregnant with George so I knew I needed to call the doctor and see if she wanted me to go to the hospital to get check out. Also, I wasn't sure my water hadn't broken since my pants were wet and didn't seem to be drying in the pelvic region like they were everywhere else. The on-call triage nurse said to head on in to the hospital. I wanted to go home first and tell Glen and change my pants. Glen and I got in one car and my mom took George in her car. Thank you Grandma! We had to go through the ER and they finally got me all hooked up to the machines around 6:40pm and said I would have to be there for about four hours. Luckily my mom didn't have anything she needed to do so she was able to take George home and stay with him until we got home. Glen had a Young Women activity he was to teach for so I had some time to myself. I would have gone to sleep but there was nothing suitable on tv and people kept coming in to check things. I had a pelvic check and I hadn't progressed since my last appointment and there wasn't any amniotic fluid.

I was having regular contractions but they didn't hurt. They were coming every two minutes. They figured I was probably dehydrated so my doctor told the nurses to give me a liter of fluids and take a vial or two of blood to see if the baby was bleeding into my blood. They didn't think he was because everything looked great on the monitors. Because I was dehydrated, the first nurse tried getting a vein twice, once on each wrist. These were painful. It hurts worse when the needle is coming out I think. Then another nurse came in and tried on the top of my hand. She couldn't get it either. It was decided that instead of the IV, they would just make me drink lots of water and have a phlebotomist take some blood from a vein in my arm. The phlebotomist came in and didn't say a word before stabbing me and digging around until I couldn't take it anymore. She then asked, "Would you rather I tell you when I am going to prick you?" Um... yes please. So she went to the other side and found a better vein and there was no pain with this one. I started having painful contractions, which in a way was really exciting. I've never started labor on my own so it was almost fun.

Then the ultrasound tech came in and did a biophysical profile on the baby. Everything looked great. My doctor said I could go home. I was still having contractions until I laid down in bed and then they only lasted another ten minutes or so. I was feeling fine. Then I woke up about an hour later needing to go to the bathroom (I drank about 60 ounces of water at the hospital). I couldn't move. It took me two minutes to get out of bed and it was the most excruciating pain ever. I had to do this four times in the night until I finally moved into the family room and onto the couch. I didn't get much sleep after that but it didn't hurt as bad to get up off the couch. I am still in lots of pain but not if I don't move. Thankfully it's a half-day for Glen so I will probably end my work day when he gets home and do my best to fall asleep sitting on the couch. I'm exhausted. After a sleepless night with George and then a sleepless night last night I just need a few hours of rest. Anyway, hopefully you made it through all of that!

Guess who's two!

George turned two this past Sunday. I could say the cliche, "I can't believe I have a two year-old" but to be honest, I have had to remind myself he wasn't quite two for the past several months. He is a bright kid and he knows what he wants. I especially had to remind myself of his age when I wanted him to be able to do things he couldn't. I just expected him to be able to because I'm his mom and I think he's a genius.

Anyway, recently we have been working on colors. He has blue, green, brown and pink down. Red and yellow get a little confusing for him but he can at least say them. He has started singing which is my favorite! I was singing "I am a Child of God" to him one night and he started singing along. He loves it when he knows a word.


Last night, or rather this morning, he woke up around 2:30am. I went into his room and just sat by his crib and held his hand. After about an hour of this, I was able to move to the rocking chair without him freaking out. I sat there for 30 minutes before I decided I needed to get back to bed. I stood up and then he stood up. I thought for sure he was asleep. But then he said, "Potty!" I knew this was just a way to get me to get him out of bed. I asked him multiple times, "Do you need to go potty?" He didn't respond. So I took him to the bathroom and stripped him down. He actually went. I'm still not sure it wasn't just a way to get me to get him out but at least he went potty and told me he needed to. He ended up in our bed which doesn't usually work out well because he thinks it's time to play but he did finally fall asleep around 5 am and slept until 8:20. Too bad the mommy doesn't have the luxury of waking up when her eyes open.

George is the best kid in the world to this momma. I couldn't have asked for a cuter, smarter little stink. He gives good loves and thinks Glen and I are awesome. He really wants me to sit on the floor and play with him but it's getting harder as I get closer to the due date. But I'll do anything for my little prince!