Car Seats and Hospital Check Out

Our hospital stay was much longer than we expected but I do not mind. I think God knew I needed some one on one with this little blessing. When it was time to leave they have you put the baby in the car seat and take them to the nurses station. The nurse told my husband that she has never had a dad do such a great job. Glad they encouraged him. I don't know about your hospital but I have realized there is no pampering in a military hospital. Once you are checked out you walk yourself out of the hospital. I will say I had the best nurses ever. I think one of them would have stayed in my room all night and snuggled the baby if I had let her. And well if she did not have other patients. Pamela

Feeling Beachie

This week’s statements: 1) I am so _scared___ for my _son when he does not catch onto social issues and says the wrong thing. ____ 2) _Feed___ me, I __am hungry, that is about all my baby boy says to me right now and I do not mind____ 3) I am ___not good ____ at keeping secrets, neither are my friends. 4) I _can’t believe__ that _my baby boy is here already, sometimes I think the pregnancy flew by and sometimes I think it lasted forever. I have missed my Feeling Beachie on Fridays. Pamela

Two Week Check Up

My baby boy is two weeks old. It does not seem like it has been two weeks. He is the most precious little gift. After two weeks I still cannot put him down. Today we had his two week well baby. It was amazing. They asked if another person in training could come in. The guy was beyond sweet and asked a ton of questions. The doctor said he looks amazing and is gaining weight perfectly. He is still not back up to his birth weight but is doing wonderfully. Right this minute he is lying in dad’s arms. Something that does not happen often, he thinks if he is awake he needs to be eating. He is definitely attached to me. He still nurses constantly during the day but at night gives me between 2-3 hours at a time so I do not mind. The kids are doing great with him. They fight over who is going to hold him. Faith has the touch with him and is the only one who can get him to fall asleep without nursing. She cannot handle him fussing and picks him up the second he whimpers. I love this little burrito picture of my boy. I hate how bruised he was. The bruising is gone. The doctor said this morning that he has a birth mark (don’t know why she does not call it a stork bite) she said it will grow with him until about 9 months and then fade away. She did say that even when he is 12 it will get red when he lies. I had to look that one up.

Brotherly Love and Bedtimes

I love these boys. I love how they love to learn. Just recently they have started playing well together. They always played together but now that James is 3 they can actually communicate and play together. It is so neat. They are either wrestling. Which looks like they are killing one another or they are snuggling and reading together. They share a room. I have been training them to play quietly in there room when they wake up. Have I told you they rarely sleep in past 6am? My rule is they can play quietly until I come and get them. Which honestly about 6:30. This will give me a few minutes to wake up or nurse a baby. There bedroom is right next to mine. I love hearing them play together. Most mornings it is very quiet and they are playing cars. Other mornings I can look on the monitor and they are jumping off the bed. I have to laugh because they always jump every time I yell for them to stop jumping. They forget about the monitor. How do you arrange quiet time for yourself? How do you handle kids waking up at different times? Pamela

Hospital Food

Did you get the fancy dinner the hospital offers after the birth of your child. They offer one at our hospital. This time I got cordon blue. Rob could not make it back to the hospital so I enjoyed the meal with my little boy. Do you think he enjoyed it? Sadly, I don't think so. He did give me a solid 5 minutes to eat. What was something you really enjoyed about your hospital stay? For me it was the hospital food. I know I am weird but I love bland food and not having to decide what I am eating. Pamela

Breast Feeding and Weight Loss

I have a little birdy, his mouth is always open. Seriously, this little boy has been my best nursing baby so far. Which I love. But he also nurses almost every hour. I would totally complain except most nights he sleeps about 3 hours at a time which I cannot believe. The night these pictures were taken that was not the case. It was our second night in the hospital and he was up all night crying. I would not have minded except that we had a roommate and that made it more stressful. Breastfeeding is going well. I nurse as often as he wants. Lanolin is my friend. I have not had it as bad this time. I think it is because I use lanolin several times a day. I also have worked hard on his latch since the first day. The first day he latched perfectly but has gotten lazy and we have to continue to work. I try to remember we are both working. I try to remember to drink my water. Drinking water is great for both of us and honestly I think it is helping me drop the weight. I have lost 38 pounds in the last 10 days. I think that tells you how much water I was retaining. I did not get help with nursing this time but I want to encourage others to ask for help when nursing is not going well. I guess I should go my little birdy is chirping and that means he has not been fed in 10 minutes. Pamela

Sensory Boxes

I have seen this sensory box all over pinterest. I could not wait to try it. One because my daughter is in a new reading therapy and this will help. Second, because we bought pink sand last year when we could not find anything else. My son only needed a couple of tablespoons of sand and the whole bag was just setting in the garage. So when I made my daughters box I made several more for the place she does reading therapy. I did learn that part of using it is making sure that she is not just playing but making the letters look like letters. I would love to hear how you help your children when they struggle. Her therapist is using Ortin Gillingham. I have been amazed at how far she has come in just the last month. I have been amazed at how much I have learned with her. This has really taken a lot of stress out of our homeschool day. Pamela

Excercising with the Family

My husband has been doing Insanity with the kids. I am amazed at what they are capable of doing. They actually look forward to it. I love that my husband takes time to work out with them. He also takes them on a walk almost nightly. And by walk I mean they walk about 3 miles or more. I am excited to get back to walking with my family after the baby comes. How do you get your kids to exercise? For our teen he has to earn video game time by exercising. He currently uses the elliptical. Pamela

A Birth Story or at Least Part 1

The baby was instantly placed on my stomach. This is the first time my baby has been placed on my belly. Oh the pure joy of being able to see him laying there and touch him. I delivered the placenta within a couple of minutes. I remember the doctor asking me if I wanted to keep the placenta. That totally shocked me in a military hospital. I was still shaking. Now here is where you may want to close this blog down if you are squeamish. My husband took the baby over to the warmer to be examined. He scored a 9/9 on the apgar. A first for my children. I could see everything. This again was a first and I was enjoying every minute of it. I felt like I had the perfect deliver like a story. I always envied those women who held their babies after delivery. Now comes the painful part. Remember I said it just kind of happened. I have delivered five babies but this one just felt different. Apparently I tore, tore is an understatement. They called in a third doctor (the one they screamed for because of the sac); she was in the OR and never made it. Well it took two doctors over an hour to stitch me up. They took turns stitching me. I was told that I had torn all four directions. At one point they gave me something in my IV. I thought it was for pain but it was to help the shaking stop. Within seconds I stopped shaking. RELIEF is what I felt. The doctors kept working making jokes about how they were carving their names and asking my husband what else he wanted written. Ten minutes later the shaking came back. The doctor asked the nurse to give me more meds but she said I had already had the highest dose. He could not believe I was shaking again so quickly. It was mostly my legs. I did hold the baby during this time which was heaven. They eventually finished sewing me up. Painful is an understatement. They then had to go inside all my cavities to make sure they did not stitch into them. That is how bad it was. They kept me in the delivery room for a couple more hours. My blood pressure was still up. Several doctors came in to discuss the baby and how exciting it was that he was born in the sac. I cannot believe no one got pictures. This is where things got a little scary. The baby had a temp and it was confirmed that he had DAT. They still did not make him leave my room but had several specialists come and check on him. During this time I was able to hold him and love on him. Finally at 1am we were sent to our room. You know after they do the whole rubbing on your stomach which is horrible on its own but the nurse had long nails and it felt like she was scratching me. The pediatrician informed me that they would need to do blood work and would need to keep the baby at least 48 hours. They called in a NICU team to do the blood work. They had to pull the curtain to do it but he did not have to leave the room. They were checking to make sure he was not sepsis. Especially since I did not complete my antibiotics. But that he would be in my room. This hospital was amazing at keeping mom and baby together. My blood pressure was still up but not terrible and the shaking had stopped. I sent my hubby home at 1:30 to get some rest. Oh and this precious boy is already nursing like a champ. Just hours after delivery and he is nursing like a champ. He is wide awake and his eyes are so beautiful. His cheeks are so chubby. We have always wanted a chubby baby and we finally have one. He weighed 8 pounds 12 inches which is a pound heavier than any other baby. And was 20 inches long which is an inch shorter than any other baby. I have so many more details to share but they will have to wait because this precious little blessing needs his momma. Pamela

He is Here!!!

He is here!!!!!!!!!!! I have so much I want to tell you. I have a neat story I want to share. But for now I will say I am smitten, I honestly do not think that is a strong enough word. I can hardly put him down. I cannot stop kissing his little neck and cheeks. I promise to get a birth story up soon. But for now I have little chubby cheeks that need kissed and squeezed. I have never had a baby with chubby cheeks. Okay, I will give a couple of little details just to hold you over. He weighed 8.12 pounds which is over a pound bigger than my largest baby and almost four times as big as my last one. He was also my shortest by at least an inch and a half. Seriously, look at those cheeks and that red hair. He has monkey toes and old man fingers and his daddy’s nose. He was born last Thursday. Pamela

Tasty Tuesday

I love fall, I love pumpkin. One of my favorite easy recipes is pumpkin syrup. Two ingredients and you are done. My kids love pancake syrup and think they need half a bottle per meal. For this recipe I buy sugar free pancake syrup and combine it with a can of pumpkin. All you have to do is put both ingredients in a sauce pan and warm it up. I also make a decent amount because I know for the next couple of weeks we will use our pumpkin syrup on waffles, pancakes, toast and even cinnamon rolls. I love this recipe because it is simple, but makes a yummy addition to our table. I also love that this French toast was made on our homemade bread. My son grinds the wheat, the girls take turns helping me with the ingredients and then I bake it. This week we made 7 large (as in store bread size) and 4 regular loaves. This should last us a couple of weeks depending upon how many we give away. Pamela

How to Pay it Forward

Don’t laugh but there are a few things that are important to me in the delivery room. The first is that I have new socks that look really clean and second that I have a recent pedicure. I don’t know why this is important to me but it is. So recently I was getting my pedicure and a lady who I had not even spoken to walked over to me and handed me a gift certificate. The place was super busy and every chair was full yet this lady walked over and handed me a gift certificate. It reminds me of how much I want to pay it forward. It does not have to be anything big. Maybe drop off snacks at the fire department or to the therapist that help my children. How do you pay it forward? Pamela

Feeling Beachie

I am so excited to be hosting this week. One because I am writing it early in the week because if everything goes according to plans by the time you read this I will be holding our newest blessing. Plus this is one of my favorite hops ever. The statements are: 1. _Sunday afternoons___ are the _perfect___ time to _take a long nap. We arrive early for church for set up an then by the time we get home the little ones are ready for bed and so is this momma. ___ 2. No matter how hard I try I still can’t _make biscuits, something I would love to have the ability to do. ___ 3. 3) When I was young I thought turning 30 meant _I was a grown up and would have my act together___ but now I know it means I want to be a teen again and that I have so much more to learn. __ 4. 4) I love to cook _a full meal with all the sides___ for dinner. When I am in a hurry my go to meal is _boil noodles add pizza/spaghetti sauce, mix in pizza toppings and top with cheese. It only takes about 20 minutes and feels like a great meal and I can add fresh veggies without complaint from the kids. __ Pamela

Wordfull Wednesday

Would you like to guess why we keep a cooler in our bathroom? Everyone keeps a cooler in there bathroom, right? At my last OB appointment my blood pressure was up. Which meant a trip to the lab and another 24 hour urine test. When you go to the bathroom every 30 minutes and you have 6 kids in the house the best solution is to keep the urine in a cooler in your bathroom. For one I did not want to be running to the kitchen every 30 minutes. And I knew if I kept a jug in the fridge one of the kids would convince another kid to take a drink. Pamela

Things That are Important

Don’t laugh but there are a few things that are important to me in the delivery room. The first is that I have new socks that look really clean and second that I have a recent pedicure. I don’t know why this is important to me but it is. So recently I was getting my pedicure and a lady who I had not even spoken to walked over to me and handed me a gift certificate. The place was super busy and every chair was full yet this lady walked over and handed me a gift certificate. It reminds me of how much I want to pay it forward. It does not have to be anything big. Maybe drop off snacks at the fire department or to the therapist that help my children. How do you pay it forward? Pamela

40 Weeks, WE HAVE MADE IT

Forty weeks, I made it, I am full term. I went to the OB on Thursday. He said my blood pressure was up, not terribly but not my normal. My fluid levels are also low. So the plan is that if I do not have a baby by Thursday then I will be induced. I know I have heard all the horror stories and how you should not be induced but honestly it is not stressing me. I was induced with my 13 year old at 35 weeks for lack of growth and with my 10 year old because she was 42 weeks and showing no signs of coming. Honestly it was great; I delivered quickly and had no problems. The plan is to call in on Thursday morning at 6am and hopefully they will say come in NOW but reality is they may make we wait a couple of days until there is a open bed. I am not nervous about the delivery per say. I am nervous about the facility. I wish I was more confident in the hospital I was delivering at. But in the end I will have a precious blessing to hold and love. I think we have everything we need. I think I have arrangements for the children made. I think I have our appointments arranged so life can keep flowing. My husband is planning to take at least 2 weeks off but we will see how things go. I mean he will take 2 weeks off for sure but we will see what happens after that. So I am curious how did you recover after birth? Did you jump back into life quickly, did you have time to relax and rest in your room, and did you leave the hospital quickly or stay as long as you could. This hospital does not guarantee a room by yourself. I have already talked to the doctor about how quickly I can leave after birth. She assured me that they will let me leave as soon as I say I want because they are so busy. I think that is part of what makes me nervous. I know of someone who asked for a epidural this week. They told her yes but then got busy and she did not get it. I have not had a epidural in 16 years but I would like to know if I needed it I could get it. I got a amazing gift today. I was not expecting it until the end of the month. I receive my belly cast. She painted it like a owl. I love that the umbilical cord goes from the heart to his name. Pamela

Feeling Beachie

This week’s statements: 1) _Life________ happens, and you choose how you’re going to handle it. 2) I hate when you _clean the house___ and _no one comes over to see it or you change your sheets and the baby spits up on it.____ 3) The bravest thing I have ever done is __fly from Germany to North Carolina with my 7 month old baby to spend a month with my dad who I had never spent more than a couple of hours with. _________ 4) I like my __children___________ and ___hope that I take time to consider then blessings every day and not just something to take care of. _____________. Pamela

39 Weeks

Another week gone, I can hardly believe it. Some days I think he will be here soon and other days I think he is in his happy place and my never come out. I am not someone scared of being induced so that does not stress me. I was induced to deliver the baby we lost at 20 weeks, induced at 35 weeks because of lack of growth and again at 42 weeks because the baby was just not coming. My inductions happen quickly. It is like my body just needs a jump start. I am not doing anything currently to convince my body to start labor. This week I saw my OB. He is so funny. He is a older doctor. I was his last patient of the day; actually the office was closed by the time I was called back. He listened to the heart beat, used the ultrasound machine for half a second to make sure he was still head down. Reminded me of what to do if I go into labor and that was it. We spent the rest of the time talking about how long he has per appointment. He did tell me I tested positive for group B which I have never done. He did not check me and I did not ask to be. Not that I am not curious but because he did not offer and I have been dilated for several weeks before so it kind of gives false hope. I go back to the doctor next week. I did have a amazing privilege this week. I got my first belly cast. I have wanted one since I was pregnant the first time 16 years ago. My friend Natasha did it in her dining room. Natasha is also a doula. You can find her facebook page here. She is going to paint my cast and surprise me with it. Pamela