We took Maribel to the doctor for her 2 week check-up on Wednesday. I am happy to report we have a healthy beautiful little girl! She weighed in at 7 pounds 4 ounces (25%), length was 20 3/4 inches (70%), and head was 36.5 cm (60%). Everything the doctor checked was great. Maribel is drinking about 3 ounces every 3 hours right now. I think she's hitting her 2 week growth spurt though because last night and once today she actually drank 4 ounces. She still sleeps most of the time but usually has a good awake spell at least once during the day and then for awhile at night. And in other Maribel news, her umbilical stump finally came off this evening! Yay!! Now she has a cute little belly button.
Lily loves helping to take care of Maribel- it's so sweet to watch! She's a great big sister! Lily has definitely started to learn sassiness now. We've been having to crack down on her tone of voice now and how she says things to us. We've been talking with her about the word disrespect and what that means. She seems to understand and will correct how she says things when we tell her that it is disrespectful. Lily has also been using these big words that I'm sure she's heard us say - like the word "apparently." It's so funny to hear my 2 year old use such complex words!
And a cute conversation between Lily and her daddy at dinner the other night:
Lily - "Ewww, there's a mushroom right there!"
Daddy - "You don't even know what a mushroom is."
Lily - "Haha. What's a mushroom?"
Matt is an incredible father and husband. I just have to say that he has been so supportive and helpful during this time of adjustment for us. He's been right by my side and I even awoke the other morning to the smell of bacon! He had made a big breakfast for us, including my coffee! What an amazing husband and daddy!
I am so incredibly blessed with this wonderful family of mine! I love my husband and my two sweet girls!
Thursday, July 29
Tuesday, July 20
Maribel Jane Bruns is here!
So before I forget Maribel's birth story, I want to write it down (although this one might be hard to forget!).
I called in early Wednesday morning for my scheduled induction as I was 5 days past due. The hospital said they didn't have room yet and would call me when I could come in. It was nice because I could spend some time with Lily before heading off to the hospital. They called about 10:30 and said to make my way in. So we dropped Lily of at Nana's house to play/spend the night there, said goodbye very tearfully, and headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital about 11:30, got registered and all hooked up in the room.
Dr. Wilkes (my OB) came in at 12:30 and broke my water. During that process the baby's heartrate dropped so I had to lay on my side, have oxygen, get extra iv fluids to bring it back up. Then I waited for about an hour to make sure the heartrate was good and after that they let me get up to walk to try and get contractions going.
By 3:30 I hadn't had many so we made the call to go ahead and start pitocin. I started having contractions at that point and at 6:00pm I knew I needed an epidural. I was in unbearable extreme pain. At that point I was 6 cm dilated. And of course the anesthesiologist was in the OR at the moment so it took a half hour before he got there. They were getting me all set up on the side of the bed to do the epidural but right before he gave it to me the baby's heartrate dropped drastically again and it wasn't coming back up with just laying on my side. At that point there was a bunch of people in the room and it was chaotic and scary! A nurse had me get on all 4's in the bed (while in extreme pain!), was stimulating the baby's head with her hand, oxygen, and more fluids. Then I was already at 8cm. They finally got the heartrate up but because my blood pressure runs so low and was even lower at that point they were concerned about doing an epidural. So the doctor checked me again and I was already 10cm and ready to push - AHH! I just kept saying/screaming "I can't do this without an epidural!" The anesthesiologist was able to quickly give me a shot in the spinal fluid for the pain (I think it's called a spinal block) but because I immediately started having to push the pain medicine really didn't have that much time to kick in. Thankfully it only took about 4 contractions of pushing and she was out at 7:09pm! I still can't even believe I did childbirth with no epidural. And let me tell you if we have another one at some point, I will be asking sooner for the epidural.
They told me after the birth that Maribel's heartrate dropped so much at the end because I probably had a rapid descent. That meant that the baby came down really quickly and I dilated really quickly (thus the quick jump from 6cm to 10cm). No one can describe that awful pain that you have near the end of labor. I didn't think I was going to be able to push - the pain and extreme pressure seemed unbearable.
When they laid her up on my chest after she came out it felt so incredibly wonderful. That feeling of seeing your new little baby for the first time is so beautiful. And knowing that I had just pushed her out with no epidural made it even more incredible I guess because of the relief I felt!
Maribel Jane Bruns weighed in at 6 pounds 13 ounces on July 14th at 7:09 pm. She was 20 inches long and so beautiful with wonderful dark hair just like her sister's. We're so happy that she is a part of our family!
I called in early Wednesday morning for my scheduled induction as I was 5 days past due. The hospital said they didn't have room yet and would call me when I could come in. It was nice because I could spend some time with Lily before heading off to the hospital. They called about 10:30 and said to make my way in. So we dropped Lily of at Nana's house to play/spend the night there, said goodbye very tearfully, and headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital about 11:30, got registered and all hooked up in the room.
Dr. Wilkes (my OB) came in at 12:30 and broke my water. During that process the baby's heartrate dropped so I had to lay on my side, have oxygen, get extra iv fluids to bring it back up. Then I waited for about an hour to make sure the heartrate was good and after that they let me get up to walk to try and get contractions going.
By 3:30 I hadn't had many so we made the call to go ahead and start pitocin. I started having contractions at that point and at 6:00pm I knew I needed an epidural. I was in unbearable extreme pain. At that point I was 6 cm dilated. And of course the anesthesiologist was in the OR at the moment so it took a half hour before he got there. They were getting me all set up on the side of the bed to do the epidural but right before he gave it to me the baby's heartrate dropped drastically again and it wasn't coming back up with just laying on my side. At that point there was a bunch of people in the room and it was chaotic and scary! A nurse had me get on all 4's in the bed (while in extreme pain!), was stimulating the baby's head with her hand, oxygen, and more fluids. Then I was already at 8cm. They finally got the heartrate up but because my blood pressure runs so low and was even lower at that point they were concerned about doing an epidural. So the doctor checked me again and I was already 10cm and ready to push - AHH! I just kept saying/screaming "I can't do this without an epidural!" The anesthesiologist was able to quickly give me a shot in the spinal fluid for the pain (I think it's called a spinal block) but because I immediately started having to push the pain medicine really didn't have that much time to kick in. Thankfully it only took about 4 contractions of pushing and she was out at 7:09pm! I still can't even believe I did childbirth with no epidural. And let me tell you if we have another one at some point, I will be asking sooner for the epidural.
They told me after the birth that Maribel's heartrate dropped so much at the end because I probably had a rapid descent. That meant that the baby came down really quickly and I dilated really quickly (thus the quick jump from 6cm to 10cm). No one can describe that awful pain that you have near the end of labor. I didn't think I was going to be able to push - the pain and extreme pressure seemed unbearable.
When they laid her up on my chest after she came out it felt so incredibly wonderful. That feeling of seeing your new little baby for the first time is so beautiful. And knowing that I had just pushed her out with no epidural made it even more incredible I guess because of the relief I felt!
Maribel Jane Bruns weighed in at 6 pounds 13 ounces on July 14th at 7:09 pm. She was 20 inches long and so beautiful with wonderful dark hair just like her sister's. We're so happy that she is a part of our family!
Thursday, July 8
crazy 4th of July and 40 weeks
Let's just say that Sunday, 4th of July, was a chaotic stressful day for our little family. Matt's side has been bothering him and he had been to the doctor about it before. They said it was something he probably pulled possibly playing golf. Sunday morning at church one of the teens basically threw his whole body in to Matt right where it had been hurting. It sent Matt into having severe pain there, especially when he breathed. So off he went to Patient First. They took an x-ray and everything came back good so it was just a reaggravation of the initial injury. He's been taking prescription ibuprofen which has helped.
We headed off to Matt's parents for a pool/bbq party that afternoon. Matt drove to the NC border to get a whole bunch of fireworks for us. Lily and Aaron were playing in the backyard around the corner and all of a sudden I hear a blood curdling scream. I run around to the side and after getting Aaron to try and explain to us what happened we figured out that Lily had gotten stung by a wasp. I saw the place on her face. There was an air vent coming out of the house and I'm guessing Lily looked up in to there and got stung. Matt's dad found a small nest starting with them up in there. Poor little girl was SOOO upset and acted like she was in so much pain - it was pitiful. :( I called the ped's after hours nurse line and they told me what to do for it and a baking powder paste initially helped the pain subside. It's looking much better now and all you can see is just the place where she got stung.
Then that evening I started feeling AWFUL! The day before my throat had started to feel scratchy. Well the sickness hit and I ached all over and had the chills really bad. I was a mess because in my mind I was thinking, I can't go in to labor right now I'll never make it! We came home, I got some tylenol in me, and then went straight to bed. I slept for 12 hours that night and the next day was feeling better. Now I just have cold stuff - stuffy nose/drainage. Hoping it goes away completely before this baby gets here!
Tomorrow I will be 40 weeks - yes 40 weeks! I can't believe it's already here even though it's been one of the longest weeks ever! I had an appointment today. Everything was good. Measured 38 weeks and weight was still the same, 136. Cervix was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Baby's head was at 0 station now so she's all ready to come down the birth canal when it's time! Dr. Wilkes gave me his personal cell phone number to call when I go in to labor. If he feels like he won't step on the doc-on-call's toes, then he said he would come in to do labor/delivery for me! And even if he can't, he said he can at least stop by and check on me. The next day he is on call is next Wednesday, the 14th. So if I haven't had the baby by then, he has scheduled me for an induction that day. I go for an appointment on Tuesday to see how I'm progressing. Here's hoping baby decides to come on her own before then!
We headed off to Matt's parents for a pool/bbq party that afternoon. Matt drove to the NC border to get a whole bunch of fireworks for us. Lily and Aaron were playing in the backyard around the corner and all of a sudden I hear a blood curdling scream. I run around to the side and after getting Aaron to try and explain to us what happened we figured out that Lily had gotten stung by a wasp. I saw the place on her face. There was an air vent coming out of the house and I'm guessing Lily looked up in to there and got stung. Matt's dad found a small nest starting with them up in there. Poor little girl was SOOO upset and acted like she was in so much pain - it was pitiful. :( I called the ped's after hours nurse line and they told me what to do for it and a baking powder paste initially helped the pain subside. It's looking much better now and all you can see is just the place where she got stung.
Then that evening I started feeling AWFUL! The day before my throat had started to feel scratchy. Well the sickness hit and I ached all over and had the chills really bad. I was a mess because in my mind I was thinking, I can't go in to labor right now I'll never make it! We came home, I got some tylenol in me, and then went straight to bed. I slept for 12 hours that night and the next day was feeling better. Now I just have cold stuff - stuffy nose/drainage. Hoping it goes away completely before this baby gets here!
Tomorrow I will be 40 weeks - yes 40 weeks! I can't believe it's already here even though it's been one of the longest weeks ever! I had an appointment today. Everything was good. Measured 38 weeks and weight was still the same, 136. Cervix was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. Baby's head was at 0 station now so she's all ready to come down the birth canal when it's time! Dr. Wilkes gave me his personal cell phone number to call when I go in to labor. If he feels like he won't step on the doc-on-call's toes, then he said he would come in to do labor/delivery for me! And even if he can't, he said he can at least stop by and check on me. The next day he is on call is next Wednesday, the 14th. So if I haven't had the baby by then, he has scheduled me for an induction that day. I go for an appointment on Tuesday to see how I'm progressing. Here's hoping baby decides to come on her own before then!
Thursday, July 1
Book Recommendation
I love to read but find that it's hard for me to fit reading in to my life now a days. Lately I've been reading a chapter or so before I go to bed of a book. Matt is gradually building a good library of stuff that I find really interesting. I just finished up "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" by Donald Miller. It was a good interesting read and I would highly recommend it.
After finishing this up though, I moved on to a book by Mark Driscoll called "Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions." One of the first chapters or "answers" that I read from him was about the emerging church movement. VERY INTERESTING! If you are at all familiar (or not) with the missional or emerging church concepts than I highly recommend this. I knew of the "emergent church" and I had also heard of the missional church movement but I found out I didn't know much and what I did know was incorrect. It brought in to light a very interesting perspective on the "emergent liberal church" and some of its main leaders. I knew that there was faults with this movement/belief system but I didn't know what they were and to what extent they were until I read this chapter. I'm grateful for a better perspective on this now and also the un-Biblical traps they are falling in to.
Well.. that's my rant on my reading as of late. If you have any good book recommendations, pass them on!
After finishing this up though, I moved on to a book by Mark Driscoll called "Religion Saves: And Nine Other Misconceptions." One of the first chapters or "answers" that I read from him was about the emerging church movement. VERY INTERESTING! If you are at all familiar (or not) with the missional or emerging church concepts than I highly recommend this. I knew of the "emergent church" and I had also heard of the missional church movement but I found out I didn't know much and what I did know was incorrect. It brought in to light a very interesting perspective on the "emergent liberal church" and some of its main leaders. I knew that there was faults with this movement/belief system but I didn't know what they were and to what extent they were until I read this chapter. I'm grateful for a better perspective on this now and also the un-Biblical traps they are falling in to.
Well.. that's my rant on my reading as of late. If you have any good book recommendations, pass them on!
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