Thursday, May 30, 2013

Welcome James Robinson!

On Friday, May 24th we welcomed our sweet baby boy James!  He was born at 11:39pm and weighed 5 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 inches long! If you are interested in the full birth story, you can find that below:
Beginning Thursday night around 11pm, I started to have some small contractions.  They progressed throughout the night and became more uncomfortable and more frequent.  They kept me up all night and I almost went in to the hospital!  I called labor and delivery at about 4:30am and they said if they kept up their frequency for another hour to come in, and of course, they moved further apart rather than closer together! 
Friday I continued to have contractions but they were about every 20 minutes and nothing too bad.  I had a doctors appointment that afternoon.  I got Elise put down for her nap and passed my monitor up to my upstairs neighbor, Sarah, to listen to her while I was gone.  At the appointment I had really high blood pressure and my doctor checked me and I was at a 3!  He was slightly worried I might have pre-eclampsia so he thought I should get some blood work done over at labor and delivery since it would be a faster process over there.  After thinking on that for a few more minutes, he decided he would just induce me instead!  Next thing I know I'm getting dressed in a hospital gown and calling Zack, my mom and Sarah to let them know in our change of plans! 
After getting in my gown, and hooked up to all the monitors they started me on pitocin at about 4:30pm.  I started to feel my contractions about every 10 minutes and they increased in pain so I ordered my epidural.  I was numb on one leg but not the other and it seemed to do nothing for my pain.  So we called in the anesthesiologist not one but three times to make me fully numb.  And let me tell you, I was numb!  Nurses and doctors would come in to check me and say you're going to feel some pressure and I kept thinking, no, no I won't!  Which was great and exactly what I wanted! 
Elise meeting baby brother for the first time!
 
They checked me at about 10:45pm and I was dilated to a 10!  They had me do a trial push and said that I did a great job!  This made me feel good because since I was so numb I was worried I wouldn't be able to push well since I couldn't feel anything.  I started to push around 11pm and, of course, as soon as it was pushing time my contractions went from every 2 minutes to every 5 minutes so we had to wait a little longer  between pushes.  After about a half hour he was born!  He arrived at 11:39pm and was absolutely perfect! 
Fred and Kathy visiting baby James
  
It was a whole new experience for me to have done a vbac because Elise was an emergency c-section.  It was very cool to get to hold him immediately after birth and be able to watch them clean him off and weigh him, etc.  It was also nice to be able to nurse him not too long after. With Elise it had been a good 3 hours or more before I held her or nursed her. 
Katie, Emily and Sarah came to meet James!
 
Recovery has been going great so far! My mom flew into town on Saturday night and came straight to the hospital to meet her newest Grandson.  She and Zack were great taking care of Elise while I stayed at the hospital.  It was nice to just have the quiet moments in the hospital with just me and James.  I was discharged Sunday evening and have been doing great at home, with help from my mom! 
Picture time with mom
 
Elise has been doing really well with having James home.  She really loves her little brother- perhaps a little too much!  I keep saying to my mom, I don't know how anyone survived an older sibling.  She constantly wants to hold him and kiss him.  I definitely have to keep my eye on her at all times!  James is doing really well.  I took him to his first doctors appointment today and he already weighs 6 lbs. 2 oz!!  Way to go buddy!!  Having two kids is certainly a challenge and I know it will only be harder when my mom leaves next week, but we couldn't be happier to have this sweet little boy in our lives! 
 Farewell dinner from the hospital- it was yummy!!
 Always wanting to hold baby brother!  She loves him so much!
 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Date Night!


Last night, Zack and I were able to go out on a date to celebrate Mother's Day and Zack finishing his second year of medical school.  Our awesome friend, Kim, was kind enough to watch Elise for us for a few ours so we could have some grown-up time!

We went out to dinner at Maggiano's.  It was absolutely delicious.  There was SO much pasta and carbs.  I thought I might have the baby since I was so full he would have nowhere else to go but out ;)

It was so nice to be out at dinner and not have to perform a "circus side show" for Elise and have a bag full of tricks ready to go!  We got to talk about things like where we'd like to travel, quizzing each other on our favorite movie quotes, and other fun things!

After dinner we had a little bit of time so we went to look for some new running shoes to get Zack.  We didn't end up buying anything just yet but it was fun to look.  Don't worry, my shopping trip will come post-baby when I can wear normal clothes again, yay!! 14 days and counting!

Friday, May 10, 2013

Friday Five!


-This week my pregnancy made it to full term! I took that picture this morning at 37 weeks and 3 days. At my doctors appointment this week there still isn't much going on; I haven't dilated at all. This is fine since Zack tells me I'm not allowed to have the baby until he is done with all of his finals on Monday.  I'm pretty sure we can keep that promise!
 
-We had some absolutely beautiful weather this week and LOTS of playing outside.  Elise was in heaven and I loved watching her enjoy every moment.  I'm even starting to get a flip flop tan line from all the time I've spent out there! 
 
-My phone is up for an upgrade finally!  The frustrating part of this is that phones are expensive!  Since when I got a cell phone my senior year of high school I've always upgraded to the newer "free" phone the company offers. Well, most cell phone companies don't really offer a free phone anymore, so I have to pick a new nice phone.  It seems like my options are an iphone for around $550 or their crappy bottom of the line phone for about $90 and there really aren't any "middle of the road" phones to pick.  Boo!  This cheapskate just can't justify spending that much on a phone.
 
-I finished reading The Lovely Bones for my book club this week.  I really didn't like it.  I just couldn't imagine something like that happening to me and how awful it would have been!  The book has gotten a lot of acclaim and was even made into a movie a few years ago, but it just wasn't my taste.  I'm happy it's over and done with :)
 
-I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world because I get to play with this girl all day long!
 

Friday, May 3, 2013

Friday Five

-Elise woke up Monday morning with a fever and was not herself. When it lasted into Tuesday I took her into see the doctor.  She has Herpetic stomatitis; which is a viral infection of the mouth that causes ulcers and inflammation. Poor girl has these sores all over her mouth/tongue and I can't get her to eat a thing!  She has been miserable and so have I.  It can take up to 10 days to go away and I'm only on day 5.  I really hope it won't take all 10- I'm not sure how much more either of us can take!

-It is already May!!  I am due this month- I can't believe how fast it's come!  I had a doctors appointment on Monday and I haven't started to dilate at all but my doctor says things are progressing as they should at this point!  Anyone want to take a guess at when the baby will actually arrive?!  Due May 28th and I was 2 days late with Elise.  I'd love to hear everyone's predictions!

-As Zack's 2nd year of med school is wrapping up, his exams are piling on!  Yesterday he had his OSCE exam.  An OSCE is basically a practice physical you give to someone.  He practiced on me a few times and let me tell you- this isn't your average physical. It covers everything imaginable.  He had to remember everything to check and do it on a practice patient yesterday.  I'm happy to say that he totally nailed it :) 

-I finished reading the book Wonder by RJ Palacio.  My sister Natalie suggested it and I really enjoyed it. It was a fun, quick read and I really liked all the different stories and perspectives from the characters in it. 

-My mom booked her flight out to Milwaukee!!  I keep joking that I'm just as excited for my mom to come visit as I am to meet our little boy :)  She flies out May 25th and gets to stay until June 7th!!  She is even going to be here over her birthday to help us out.  What a great mom!