Odd Finding

Was over at Laura's playing cards. She went inside from the garage then came back to tell me Oliver was asleep on the stairs. This is how she found him.
Have you ever found your kids asleep in a bizzare place?

Also, I've decided that drinking Cheryl shouldn't play cards. It never ends well.

Reed's Birth Story

It's been 5 days already since Reed was born. I can hardly believe it's been that long already. It makes me sad to think time is going by so quickly. I wish I could freeze him at his cute little size. I can't believe I'm even saying that because normally I'm not a big fan of the infant stage. Maybe it's because I know it's going to be the last time I have a newborn to care for.
I had said I would write about our little birthing adventure so here it is.
Friday we decided to head up to Shawn's parents for the weekend. They live just north of Parry Sound. I figured I wasn't even 38 weeks pregnant so we should be fine. After the 38th week, I wouldn't travel anywhere. On our drive up I started to feel cramping. This wasn't any kind of surprise to me as I had been feeling this cramping from about 26-28 weeks. Braxton Hicks I was told. They just felt like menstrual cramps. They weren't any worse than normal. I didn't think anything of it until I woke up the next morning still feeling these cramps on and off. Never have I woken up in the morning feeling them. There was never a certain time of day I ever did but never when I first woke up in the morning.
Because we were so far away from my midwives and there wouldn't be anything they could do for me from there, I decided that maybe we should go into town and go to the hospital. Here they did a non stress test. The test showed that yes I was having some tightening but there was no regular pattern and when they checked my cervix I wasn't at all dilated. The doctor there suggested we pack up and return home because anything could happen at any time. This is what we did.
The drive home is about 3 hours. During our drive I continued to feel the cramping. I was writing down when they started and they were still very erratic in time, length and strength. When we returned to Durham I called the midwife (the Dr in Parry Sound had already talked to her). Because of the inconsistency of my cramping she thought I was just having Braxton Hicks contractions and suggested I go home and rest and keep myself hydrated. She said when the contractions begin to develop a pattern then to give her a call. This was probably between 630-700pm. When we got home, I had a nice warm bath. At around 7:44pm I decided to time the contractions again using a website (www.contractionmaster.com) After having 6 contractions spaced from 3-7 minutes apart and lasting 48 seconds to over a minute, I decided to call the midwife again. We decided to meet at the hospital. Before we left I went to the washroom. It was here that my water broke. This totally freaked me out. I remember how quickly I delivered Oliver after my water broke. Shawn and I were still waiting for Stephanie (bless her soul) to get here to watch Oliver. In the meantime, waiting downstairs by the van, I began to feel a lot of pressure in my bottom. Oh oh. Not good. This really had me in a panic. I was certain I was going to deliver my baby in my driveway. Shawn asked if I wanted him to call an ambulance. Without thinking twice about it, I said yes.
The original plan was to deliver in Oshawa. The ambulance brought us to the hospital here in Bowmanville. They don't deliver babies at this hospital anymore. I informed them the midwife was meeting us in Oshawa. He said there wasn't enough time to get to Oshawa unless I wanted to have my baby in the back of the ambulance. This I did not want. Shawn followed the ambulance to the hospital. Once we arrived, I don't think more than 5-10 minutes passed before I delivered our baby in a back room which appeared to be a room that housed supplies. I think maybe they did sutures and stuff back here. There was a baby warmer covered by a blanket that didn't look like it had been used in a while.
The delivery went smoothly. I felt bad for the Doctor and Nurses. Although they all remained calm, comforting, and supportive it was quite obvious this was not something they are accustomed to doing. The Doctor told me it had been 8 years since he had delivered a baby, the Nurse, her first. The other nurse told me she had 5 kids so she wasn't the least bit phased by the whole thing. Once the baby and I were quickly looked after, we were transported to the Oshawa Hospital where we met the midwife. From there, we did what needed to be done, spent the night and were released the following day. We were home by 1pm.
Reed is doing well. He had his 5 day check up with the midwife today. He weighs 7lbs 5oz and is sleeping and eating well. Aside from feeling a little tired, I am also doing well. It can get to be a little busy at times but the boys are adjusting well and being very patient and understanding. I love my boys.

34 Weeks

Time is going to so quickly. I can hardly believe that in 6 weeks we will be having our third child.
This pregnancy has had it's ups and downs. Nobody ever told me that each pregnancy becomes more physically draining then the last. I just feel so tired all the time. I get many aches and pains. I feel so whiny and like I complain a lot. I mentioned this to Shawn the other day and he just laughed. He neglected to comment. Good man he is.
On the other hand, this little guy moves a lot. It's nice to feel him moving so much except when he decides to tuck his little foot right under my ribcage and I can hardly breathe.
I'm excited most to see how the boys are once he is born. Jack talks about his being born in June. He knows it is around Daddy's birthday but that we don't know the exact date. I asked him what he thought of my big belly the other day. He replied "It's perfect". Such a sweet boy.
I have no idea what to expect from Oliver. He is either going to be a doting, loving, overbearing brother or he won't bother with him at all. I'm leaning toward the first. I could of course, be in for a surprise. I hate surprises.
Shawn and I are going to try putting bunk beds together tomorrow. We managed today to put together a dresser from Ikea without killing each other (we didn't once argue/disagree on anything), so we shall see how it goes tomorrow. I honestly think it was the first time we put something together and didn't once shout at one another or become frustrated.
I have a prenatal visit this week. I really hate the weight part. Whatever, I know I'm pregnant and all that stuff but it's still depressing seeing the number every couple of weeks. It doesn't help that I never weigh myself normally so to have to do it all the time just kind of sucks. I'm doing well though. I haven't gained a crazy amount of weight. I'm right within what is normal. I just know it wasn't easy to lose all of the weight the last time (I could never lose that last 5 lbs) and I'm going to have far less time to myself. I'm grateful it's going to be the summer so we will be out for lots of walks and trips to the park/zoo.

28 Weeks

I am, as the title says, 28 weeks pregnant. I can hardly believe that in only 12 weeks I will be giving birth. My weight gain as gotten out of control. I was doing so good too. It's those damn cookies and ice cream. I have absolutely no self control around either of them. According to any pregnancy weight gain calculator I'm actually right on target but having gained 7lbs (yes 7!) over the last 4 weeks completely shocked me. Well maybe not shocked because I guess I was expecting it but there is always that glimmer of hope it won't be so much when I step on the scale. I don't own a scale so it's always a surprise when I go to an appointment. Whatever, I'm having a baby and I know weight gain is normal but 7 pounds in 4 week?!? It's not going to be much fun having to lose this weight after it's all said and done.

I've been planning on having a home birth. Because they found a fibroid at my 19 week ultrasound I am going for a follow up ultrasound next week to check on it's growth. At 19 weeks, it was 5cm. Unless it has shrunk to 3cm or less, a home birth isn't going to be an option. I'm hoping it has gotten smaller and not bigger or even stayed the same size. I guess I should be checking out my two choices of hospitals and going to tour them. Although I gave birth to Jack at one of these hospitals, their facilities have changed and I would like to check it out. The midwife is being pretty optimistic. My biggest fear is having to have my care transferred and to an OB/GYN who is going to push for a c-section. It would devastate me to have to go from planning a home birth to having a c-section. I of course am thinking worse case scenario. Damn fibroid. Who invited you anyway?

Here's a picture I took of myself today. Don't mind the dust and fingerprints on the mirror.

There Is Really A Market For These?

Okay so Shawn and I were talking about baby proofing earlier today. I think the extent of our baby proofing has been to put outlet covers on the electrical outlets and locks on the kitchen/bathroom cabinet doors and not much more than that. Of course, if we had stairs we would have installed baby gates at the top and bottom of them but we don't have any stairs. We of course keep medications out of reach and although they can still be toxic, I use mostly green products and as I just said, we've put locks on the cabinet doors.
I came across a Kijiji ad for this today and could hardly believe my eyes.

It's called a Thudguard. It is a foam hat that is designed to help absorb and reduce the impact of falls from a child’s own height and lessen the chance of head injury when infants are learning to walk.
Do people really buy these things? Obviously they do. I'm just in total shock. I mean, really? Ya I know kids fall when they are learning to walk and yes I know they could hit their head on like say the side of a table or whatever but to buy a helmet and make them wear one? Why not have kids wear a helmet all the time whether they are learning to walk or not? Isn't a head injury always possible?
I don't know about you but, I just find this to be a little extreme.

Happy 5th Birthday Jack

I can't believe my little guy is 5 today. It seems like just yesterday Shawn was driving me to the hospital half if the bag after watching the Super Bowl. These past 5 years have been filled with great joy, and a lot of learning but I wouldn't change a darn thing about it for anything. Happy birthday Jack. Mommy couldn't be any more proud of you!

It's A Boy!!

Holy shit! I had my 2nd ultrasound today. I can't believe we are having another boy. I have to admit, I was maybe just a teensy, wee bit disappointed with the news. It would have been nice to have a little girl. I didn't think I was going to feel that way and it actually surprised me.
I could also tell that Jack was a little disappointed. He really wanted to have a little sister because "I already have a little brother. One is enough." Shawn too was hoping to have a little girl. He was all like "well, I guess we will just have to have a 4th kid". Ha ha. Crazy fool for thinking that is ever going to happen.
Oh well. I'm just happy that the baby is developing well and appears to be healthy. It's all I can really ask for.