Monday, August 25, 2008

Breastfeeding....

Why do people try to make you feel as if you are molesting your child when you breastfeed them? Anyone who's ever breastfed could tell you that there is NOTHING sexual about it! Maybe they should feel bad that they DIDN'T breastfeed! I quit with Drew at about 3 1/2 months and I feel guilty... Give me a break. He isn't getting a bottle when I'm around. How do you think I make milk???

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Its a start!!

I cleaned the living room. Today, I would like to get the bedroom cleaned... I know - this is not in the same order that I had originally stated but its progress!

Monday, August 18, 2008

My big scare...

For the past few months, I've been counting on the fact that my moms bff would be taking care of Sam when I had to go back to work. Naturally, this gave me a lot of comfort just knowing that he wouldn't have to stay with strangers. This past Friday; my mom called to tell me that "Donna didn't know if she would be able to keep Sam". This DEVASTATED ME. I cried all weekend every time I even "thought" about taking him to a daycare full of strangers. Brandon tried so hard to provide comfort by saying things like, "people do it everyday" or "its not like we're taking him to some random persons house"... Well, I'm not those people and in my opinion... we may as well be leaving him at some random persons house as those places are state regulated but the state can't be in there all the time and to be quite honest, I feel like the state has failed so many children. I just think about the situation that happened at Kiddie Kampus (Drew's old daycare) right before my mom quit and I yanked Drew out of there! Thankfully, my mom did work there so I knew the truth!

So today, I called about 25 daycare facilities all of which were full. Tearfully, I would call and ask about openings and rates. It just felt like some were so outrageously expensive and the ones that I could afford were cheap for a reason. I called Sherri and cried to her that I didn't know what I was going to do and ranted about how things were going so well for me and that now I was on the verge of a freaking nervous breakdown. All of the sudden, a light bulb went off in my head!! Lisa Withrow babysits from her home! This is my aunt (my dads sister in law) who babysits for one of my cousins already! I called her... SHE SAID "YES"!!!

Now, my day is much better! My son is being cared for by family... Although its not the same; its the closest thing to being with me and that makes me happy!!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

EEEwwwwwEEEEE!!!! PUKE!

Poor Drew... My oldest baby boy woke up at 1:00am because he puked in his bed. We heard him scream for us on the monitor so Brandon went running. About that time, Sammy was waking up for his next feeding so things proceeded to sort of fly off the handle.

First of all, Brandon put Drew in bed with me wearing only his pullup (just for the record, pull ups are reserved ONLY for bed in this house)... I could smell vomit but Brandon assured me that it "wasn't that bad". After only a few short seconds, I knew; "Yes it was". We took Drew out of our bed only to realize that it was all in his hair. Slightly irritated that Brandon didn't check his hair considering that he first noticed the mess on his PILLOW; I proceeded to run bath water and clean him off.

Once he fell asleep, it was so nice to sleep next to my boys - all three of them! Even the bigger one!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Brothers....

Drew and Sam. I think it has a nice ring to it! I cannot believe how well my Drew has taken to his baby brother Sam. He kisses and loves him all the time. I can't help but wonder how it will be once Sammy is "mobile".

My sis and I were "rivals". I think that it might have something to do with being female but then again - who really knows. We (Brandon and I) are making our best effort to make Drew feel important and wanted. Over the past few days, Drew has wanted me to hold him more often and has even asked me to put Sammy in his swing. Of course I have held him as much as I can. Sometimes I can't hold him because I am nursing Sam but instead I will offer for him to sit with us. I've noticed that little things like asking him to rub Sammy's head or hold his had while he is nursing has helped Drew to bond.

My aunt told me that there is nothing like having boys (I'm sure the same goes with girls)... I'm sold on this! I love my boys!

Mamaw's Roses


My mamaw died in November after a short battle with Emphysema and probably lung cancer. Strangely enough, the day that she passed was the same day in which Sam was conceived. I can't help but think that there is some significance in these two events. Its almost like God knew that we needed something happy to help us to go on so he gave Sammy to us.

There were a lot of things that I could name that my grandma loved such as; Coca Cola, Thomas Kinkaid, kittens, puppies, babies and pretty flowers. I can still remember the rose bushes along the fence at her house on 2nd Street. She talked about how pretty they were each year when they would bloom. When she moved to Southland Blvd; she had pink rose bushes along the fence as well as on the side of the house that were over 1oo years old. Once again, she would always talk about how pretty they were as they would bloom.

This year, being the first year that she is gone, her roses had a hard time. For some reason, they didn't bloom very well. I think maybe her roses were mourning her too.

As I sat in my hospital room, Judy Nall came in with a vase that contained two pink roses. She said with tears in her eyes; "these roses are from mamaws house". Being that I had just delivered a baby the night before, I had a difficult time really feeling anything - it was strange really. I did have a hard time telling my mom where they came from just because I know how much she misses my mamaw.

Here we are, three weeks later and the roses are dead and are still in the vase in which they were given to me. I can't throw them out. Knowing me, I probably won't. They just remind me of her so much. I miss her and if I threw them away, I would be getting rid of a part of her. Hopefully, I'll find a place for my dried roses. Maybe I'll be able to preserve them enough for Sam to keep.

My mamaw may be gone but she will never be forgotten.

About the house....

So... I didn't do anything again! LOL~ I'm too busy enjoying my baby boy! When Drew comes home, I'm busy with him!!! That list will get done; just on a different timeline.

Oh... And guess what??? I don't feel guilty about it!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Kitchen Progress...

Well, I didn't make much progress on the kitchen today. I can't seem to put my baby in a swing, bouncy chair or his crib... Not even to nap!! Oh well, I still have a few more weeks! Hopefully I'll do more tomorrow!

The past few nights, I have had Brandon bring Drew to our bed so that I can be close to him. I feel like my time has become limited. I really admire Drew for his patience with me. He has shown us such strength and he is only two! This weekend, I think I'm going to leave Sam with Brandon so that Drew and I can go shopping. We need some mommy/drew time. We will probably just go to Corydon so that Sammy doesn't have to take a bottle!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Maternity Leave....Projects and such! Diet!!!

My maternity leave will be cut short... Much shorter than I would like so that means that I have no choice but to start working on this house! I have a "longer" road ahead of me than I would like to admit but I will get there... Now that Brandon and I are parents of two - it is important that we are organized!! I can't wait to start all of these projects this week... Maybe I'll jumpstart something this evening!!!

Monday - Kitchen: clean out cabinets, pantry, fridge and freezer; scrub walls, windows, countertops, floors and appliances
Tuesday - Living Room: windows, doors, walls, trim; adjust the sofa cover, sort toys and clean out closet
Wednesday - Bathrooms, top to bottom.... even brandons! Master closet
Thursday - Sam's Room - have brandon take doors out, carpet, remove quilt rack and organize the closet. Hang pictures and other decorations.
Drews Room - carpet, closet, toys, books and have brandon hang curtains
Friday - Bedroom - Sort clothes for consignment, dust, windows and floor

In addition to these projects, I will start my diet... Yikes! I'm scared to see how much I weigh but its all good - I just have to keep going!

Now, I just have to convince Brandon to paint the kitchen and living room before I go back to work! I can't wait to post pics by the end of the week!!!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Sam's Birth Story


Sammy

On Monday, July 21st, my day was soooo hectic. Drew has asthma so the hot weather and ozone warning days were really starting to take a toll on him. We had him in the doctor’s office all weekend with a fever (most likely a virus) but he was wheezing and coughing and his O2 levels would drop from time to time. Needless to say, we spent the day curled up on the couch until he started to sound really bad. I called Dr. Corba and scheduled an apt for the afternoon. They gave him another albuterol/pulmacort cocktail and then sent us to Floyd for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia.

Fast forward to the evening…

My mom and dad came up to see Drew – to be honest, I don’t even remember why! I think just to check on him and make sure that he was okay. At around 6pm, my contractions started. My mom noticed that I was uncomfortable and told me that I needed to time them. I don’t remember how frequent but I was a vbac patient so my doctor (who I am very close to) asked me to call no matter what. I called and my doc happened to be on call – so he said to take a shower and come in. I packed a bag for Drew, wrote instructions for his meds and called his doc to try to get the results of his chest x-ray.
As we were heading to the hospital, my contractions seemed to pitter out but were still there. We checked into l&d and the nurse checked me and I was at 2…. At that point, I had some bloody show and she left to let the monitor do its job. Contractions were coming but they were slightly sporadic but then again regular – she checked me again, I progressed to 3 so she called my doc. He told her to give me a shot of terb. If the contractions stopped, they weren’t real, if they kept coming they were… Well, they kept coming so I was admitted.

Once I got in the room – we slept and I didn’t feel one contraction all night! The nurse came in the next morning and said that I was having contractions but…. They weren’t very strong and that if she had to guess, I might get to go home and wait it out as I was still at 3. I was pretty upset but at least it wasn’t a section! Dr. R came down at 7:55 am and thanked me for letting him get some sleep – and told me that Dr. Koontz was coming on and that “The good thing about Bill is; he has gray hair like me and isn’t scared of a vbac”. They decided to start a VERY SLOW pit drip and I was told that if I fall off and contractions stop – I would have to get a c-section… Although I wasn’t crazy about this intervention, something told me to do it. He was a very Pro-vbac doc and if I go home now, I could end up with someone less experienced later.

The day wore on and my contractions were nothing to write home about! At about 3pm, I still had not progressed so Dr. Koontz broke my water. At that point, all hell broke loose! I made it until around 6pm and had to have an epi…. I was at 5cm and I started to panic because I didn’t want that epi to slow my labor down. Well I had my epi (that only numbed the right side of my body and for some strange reason, I had full feeling in my pelvis) and Dr. Koontz called at 8pm and I was just at 6. He told the nurse to talk to me and ask if I wanted a section at 9pm. She said that in her opinion, we needed to see where I was at 10pm… and then we would reassess! Needless to say, I felt things change and asked her to check me again and I was at 9cm!!!

The pressure that I felt was totally different than the feeling that I had with Drew. By 10:45, my new nurse was coming on and I was in pain… At this point, I lost all track of time. I told her at some point (after 11pm more like 12:00am) that I felt like I was going to have to take the biggest “crap” ever. She checked me, I was complete and at “zero station”. She called Dr. Koontz to tell him that we were pushing. So I pushed and it was amazing! I started to feel the “ring of fire” and I begged for more pain meds so they called and I had my relief within minutes. Dr. Koontz came in and asked the nurse if he had a few minutes to walk upstairs and “do something”. She tried to tell him no but he kept saying, “Really, I’ll be right back” finally, I asked him just to watch me push and then he could make his decision. Once I pushed he realized that he could not go upstairs, I was having this baby! Two more pushes and he was out! Samuel Joseph was born at 12:29am on Wednesday, July 23rd. It was the most exhilarating experience in my life! I didn’t have to wait for the doctor to tell us the sex; I just looked over and screamed “OH MY GOD! ANOTHER BOY”!

I had my heart set on pushing my baby out and I did it! I was so proud that Brandon actually got to cut the cord. Sammy got to eat right there and he latched on immediately!

My recovery has been wonderful and I have truly been soaking in every minute… I love both of my boys so much and Sammy has just been such a wonderful addition to our family! We couldn’t be happier! I hope you all enjoy Sammy’s birth story! Its something that I will never forget!