New Mommy Mistake Number 1

The title of this post probably really should have been "The First of Many New Mommy Mistakes That I've Made and Already Recognized That I Made It" but that would have been a bit too long, lol.


Newborns sleep a lot.  I don't think I really understood how much newborns slept until I had one.  The Seamonkey did great at night sleeping in his bassinet, and during the day his naps were primarily in the swing.  It seemed like for the longest time my Little Man would wake up, he'd be happy for a little while, I'd change his diaper, he'd be happy for a little while longer, I'd nurse him, and he'd go back to sleep so I'd put him back in his swing.  Lather, rinse, and repeat like 35 billion times a day.

Obviously now, at 3 months old, he's awake a lot more, but for the most part he would still have that same cycle, just with the "be happy" part super elongated.

Well, like a week ago he started randomly getting psycho fussy during the day.  He didn't need a new diaper, he wouldn't nurse, I would try to just hold him and he'd be fussy and trying to stand and just crying.  I hated every second of it.  I checked his temperature probably a hundred times assuming he was sick, but he was fine, he just wasn't happy and it would last for hours.

Turns out, he was just tired.  New-Mommy-Me had assumed if he was tired he would have just gone to sleep.  Hell, that's what he had been doing for the past 12 weeks and that just kinda makes sense!  When you're tired, you sleep!  But no, apparently now for his naps he needs me to go upstairs, change his diaper, nurse him in the rocker, put him in a swaddle, rock him for a bit, and then put him down to sleep (basically a quick version of our nightly routine).

It kinda sucks that it's such a production, but I hope this is a sign that his naps will start to regulate soon.  Up until now they've just been super sporadic and unpredictable and that is sooooooo obnoxious because it makes it impossible to plan your day at all!

In other sleep news, we've transitioned my sweet little baby from the bassinet in our bedroom to his crib in his nursery.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it still (his first night in the nursery was this past Saturday), but I never had plans of him sleeping in bed with us and that bassinet isn't getting any bigger!  I wouldn't have been able to do it without one key thing though...

We got a video monitor!!! 


I always said it seemed silly since his nursery is literally 10 feet down the hall but that was before I actually had a baby to freak out about.  What if he had stopped breathing and I wasn't in there to see it?  I better go check on him... ::baby wakes up as you enter the room because you disturbed him by entering the room:: <--That totally would have been me.  And the first night he was in his nursery I barely slept; instead I just laid there like a crazy stalker mom watching him sleep on a 7 inch screen.

I ended up spending about $120 with shipping on eBay.  I really like having a larger screen so I can actually see him when I wake up in the middle of the night and still have sleepy-eyes.  The set is a no-name but is way nicer than any of the ones I've seen in-stores for a comparable price and it was brand-new-in-box, not used.  If you decide to go the eBay route I definitely recommend purchasing through this store like I did since I couldn't be happier with the product.  (I'm not getting anything from the seller for recommending them, just sharing my personal experience)


Well, it is about time for this Mama to go to bed, until next time...

Flying With an Infant

A few weeks ago The Sailor, The Seamonkey, and I packed up and got ready for a trip across the country! As I may or may not have mentioned before, I'm originally from Massachusetts - aka as far as you can get from Naval Air Station Lemoore without leaving the country!  Since my whole family is in New England and they were all itching to meet the first grandchild in the fam my crazy Mom offered to buy us plane tickets to fly home for a trip as a belated wedding present.

Now, there is an airport in Fresno which is less than an hour from us, but if we flew out of there we would have had to change planes somewhere - something I really didn't want to do with an 11 week old baby.  Instead we opted to drive 3 hours to San Francisco and to not only have a direct flight, but to also get to fly Jet Blue (my favorite airline).  Our flight heading to Boston left San Francisco at 10:18 pm.  Instead of parking at the airport, we saved some moolah by parking at the Radisson hotel which has shuttles to the airport every half hour.  I really wanted to have more than enough time to get there and I wasn't sure if we would hit any traffic or not, so we left our house at 3:30 pm.

Ready to go!

The first 2 hours and 45 minutes of the ride were flawless - no traffic and the baby was sleeping!  The last 15 minutes took almost 45 and the baby started screaming while we were stopped dead in traffic and I couldn't even pull over anywhere to feed him....the last 20 minutes of the trip were HORRIBLE as The Sailor tried to console The Seamonkey to no avail. But once we got to the hotel and I got to feed and change my Little Man he calmed right down.

We chose to carry on both our stroller and the carseat.  We didn't really need our stroller for the trip itself; in all honesty I only really use it if I'm going shopping and want to try on clothes or if I'm walking the dogs.  Other than that I use one of the many carriers that I've accumulated.  But I had to bring the carseat and I would rather gate check it than check it with the rest of the bags because in my mind there's less risk of it getting broken if it's gate checked.  So basically, the stroller was just a means of easily transporting the carseat (and our other carry-ons) through the airport...

Strollers are so handy!

Where was the baby, you ask?  Well, in the airport itself I wore him in a mei tai (more info on what exactly that is when I post about babywearing) since it doesn't have any metal parts meaning I could keep him in the carrier as we went through security.  Speaking of security...the Baby Jogger City Mini does not fit through the x-ray machine in airport security!  We found this out the hard way since it fit through the initial opening and then got stuck in the middle of the machine.  Seriously...who designed that thing?  If it fits in it should also fit out, and yet it did not.  So we spent a half hour holding up the line at security as the TSA agents tried to get it out.  Luckily they didn't break it or else I would have flipped shit.

So, once we got through security we went and grabbed a bite to eat, I nursed The Seamonkey, and we headed down to the gate.  At this point I was really happy I had made the decision to leave so early since we basically had just enough time to re-arrange everything in our carry-ons to make things we would want in-flight easily accessible (we had my Vera Bradley diaper bag, the large digi-camo diaper bag I made, a Planetwise wet-dry bag that was just holding all of our cloth diapers, and my Boppy pillow to carry onto the actual plane with us), go to the bathroom, and change the baby before it would be time to board the plane.

Fun fact - we didn't want to be flying all over the country with dirty cloth diapers so we chose to use 'sposies in transit.  Those things are effing gross!  How do the majority of parents use them!?  They smell funny! {sorry for the rant} The first one I put on The Seamonkey that he pooed in, the poop shot straight up the back of it and onto his clothes.  I was terrified of this happening while we took off and then I would just have to sit there with a poop-covered baby waiting for the stupid fasten seatbelt light to turn off.  So I double-diapered him...I put a 'sposie on him and then put a Best Bottom cover over it.  Since the thought of poop just floating around in the cover grossed me out I ended up putting a disposable insert in the diaper cover so he was legit wearing two diapers at once.

After I had him double-diped and in his jammies we went to sit by the gate...and he turned into a silent terror.  He wasn't crying, but he was being a complete turd.  He spit up on me twice...he rarely spits up.  He was fussing like a madman.  He refused to be put in the ring sling, which I planned on wearing him in on the plane since it is easy to get him in and out of it (more on ring slings when I post about babywearing) and kept straightening his legs so he wasn't securely in.  All I could think was this is going to be the longest night of my life....

We boarded the plane and left the stroller and the carseat at the gate and he continued to be a silent terror.  He could tell things weren't "normal" and he was refusing to go to sleep even though it was past his bedtime (it was almost 10 pm at this point).  Everyone else is boarding and I could feel them all staring at me with hatred as the watched me struggle to settle The Seamonkey as we geared up for a 6 hour red-eye flight.  After everyone boarded and they started going over the safety info I started to nurse the Little Man and he passed right out.  I think the whole plane let out a sigh of relief as I put him into the ring sling and he continued to sleep soundly.

Passed the eff out!

He only woke up twice during the entire flight to eat.  He didn't even poop, so I didn't even need to get up to change his diaper.  In fact, since he was securely strapped to my chest in the ring sling, I actually slept pretty well myself!  Once we had landed and were waiting to get off the plane he let out one loud "waaaaahhhhh" but then went back to being quiet and the people around us actually chuckled at it.  We had arrived in Boston at about 6:30 am local time so we got off the plane, I changed his diaper {into one of his normal cloth diapers}, got him dressed, and while we waited for our baggage I nursed him again.

He really couldn't have been any better during that flight.

The flight back to California was during the day and he slept for the first half and then the second half I just bounced him on my lap.  It wasn't as easy as our first flight, but there weren't any real issues.

Since this post turned out to be way longer than I initially anticipated I'm gonna wait and post later with my personal tips on flying with an infant.  Until next time...

Things I'm loving right this second...

Literally, right this second since I didn't even have to get off my ass to take these pictures...

My husband!  A certain baby who is generally even tempered and quiet has decided to be a total turd today and if I'm holding him he just wants my nipple in his mouth.  He doesn't want to nurse, he just wants to use me as a human binky.  Being a human binky makes it quite hard to get anything else done.  Luckily, The Sailor has this magic power where he can lay down with The Seamonkey and the baby falls asleep (The Sailor usually falls asleep soon after, actually).  And even though I'm pretty sure Little Man is teething (yes, I realize he isn't even 12 weeks old yet, but he is legit trying to eat his hand and drooling like a mo'fo) The Sailor's power is still working.

My new sandals.  They're from Payless.  I normally don't buy shoes from Payless because they're super cheap (not economical, poorly made) but my sister had these ones and I kinda fell in love.  They're like flip flops only better because they have a back strap.  And when I went to check them out today, they were actually comfortable.  And they're only $15.  If you decide to go get some, just a heads up, they're on the wall not in the boxes.

Totally killed two birds with one stone with this picture...sleeping baby AND awesome new sandals.  BAM!  And, since it's a crappy cell phone picture you can't even tell I desperately need to shave my legs...

Water with cucumber and watermelon slices in it.  Put fresh cucumbers and watermelon in water magically makes it more refreshing.  The added flavor isn't overwhelming at all, it's just freaking amazing.  And it makes you look super fancy.  Although drinking it out of a Camelbak water bottle does not make you look super fancy - don't judge me, I love this water bottle!  You should totally try it...

So this post wasn't completely pointless, just wanted to let you all know I didn't fall off the planet again.  Actually, The Sailor, The Seamonkey, and I were in Massachusetts visiting my family for a week!  So I'm in the process of putting together a post about flying across the country with an infant!  I'm also still working on a post on babywearing (which actually goes with the traveling post since I don't think I would have survived the flight without my ring sling), breastfeeding, cloth diapers...  Plus I have a few cool DIY projects I should be doing in the next few weeks so you can expect some posts about those.  Bottom line - you should be pretty stoked about my blog for the next few weeks.  But now I have to go shower, shave my legs, and start the process of actually styling my hair because The Sailor's squadron is having a party tomorrow and I want to look cute.  And yes, it takes two days for me to do my hair, especially with a baby in the mix.

Until next time...

Wesley Glenn - 2 Months!

Ok, so he's a little past 2 months old, but whatevs, at least I'm blogging again!

"Yeah Bitches...WHATEVS!"

So...a little about The Seamonkey.  First of all...he is seriously growing like a weed!  At birth he was 7 pounds 6 ounces and 21 inches.  At 2 months he was 12 1/2 pounds and 23 inches!  It is absolute insanity to think that he grew 2 inches in 2 months!

"See...I'm talllllll!"

Now, let's talk "milestones."  I'm taking this chart from Baby Center and I'll just use it as a guideline to discuss milestones on my monthly updates:

Child's Age	Mastered Skills (most kids can do)	Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)	Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
1 month	Lifts head when lying on tummy Responds to soundStares at faces	Follows objects briefly with eyes Vocalizes: oohs and aahs Can see black-and-white patterns	Smiles, laughsHolds head at 45-degree angle
2 months	Vocalizes: gurgles and coos Follows objects across field of vision Notices his hands Holds head up for short periods	Smiles, laughsHolds head at 45-degree angle Makes smoother movements	Holds head steadyCan bear weight on legs Lifts head and shoulders when lying on tummy (mini-pushup)

So, 99% of those things The Seamonkey does.  He doesn't really laugh much, but he smiles a ton.  And I'm not sure what qualifies as noticing his hands...he has yet to pull his hands together and fiddle with his own hands, but he sucks on his hands a lot!  And he's a huge chatterbox!  I'll try to get a video of it to share, because it is freaking adorable!

He's still sleeping in the bassinet next to our bed and I dread the day he outgrows it and has to go in his crib in the nursery.  He doesn't even usually nap in his crib.  His naps are so irregular it's just easier to let him nap in the swing in the living room or else half the time I'd be running upstairs every 10 minutes.  When I workout he's almost always napping in his swing and if he wakes up I can talk to him and keep him from crying...if he were up in his crib he'd be crying before I even knew he was up!

Also, when he sleeps at night I still swaddle him or else he doesn't sleep at all.  Wesley still has a very strong moro reflex (the reflex where an infant will randomly start flapping their arms for no reason) and if  he isn't swaddled his arms will fly upwards and it wakes him up.  I have no problem swaddling him for as long as he needs it!

Throw your hands in the air, and wave them like you just don't care!

Ummm, not sure what else to say.  He's 100% cloth diapered, breastfeeding like a champ, and the dogs are doing great with the adjustment but each of those topics is totally worth of their own blog posts!  So I'll just show off one more picture of my handsome little man...

Until next time...

You know you had a bad night...

...when you wake up with a nursing pad stuck to your face.

Person Paint Creation

Yup...that was me Thursday morning.  The Seamonkey was basically in my armpit with his arms out of his swaddle but his lower half still in it.  Gabby was taking up the majority of the bed forcing me to sleep diagonally (The Sailor was at training in San Diego).  Lola was basically sitting on my head since Gabby was stealing the rest of the bed.  One of my boobs was still pulled out of my sleep nursing bra, and my nursing pad was stuck to my face.

More often than not The Seamonkey is a great sleeper!  We get in jam-jams around 7:30 and he falls asleep either on The Sailor's chest or in his swing until we decide to go to bed (around 9:30).  Before I go to bed I bring him upstairs, put him into his triple-stuffed night diaper (yeah...he's a heavy wetter), nurse him, swaddle him, rock in the chair for a bit with him, and then he sleeps in his bassinet right next to me.  Then he'll usually wake up around 3 am to be nursed again, and back in the bassinet he goes.  Then he wakes up again around 6 which is when I just pull him into bed with me (The Sailor is already gone for work), nurse him a bit laying down, and we snuggle until around 730 when we get up and start our day.

But not Wednesday night...oh no.  Little Man did not want to sleep.  I don't know if it was gas, a growth spurt, or general fussiness, but that boy refused to sleep in his bassinet.  So, instead of driving myself crazy I just pulled him into bed with me, especially since The Sailor wasn't there.  I spent the better part of midnight to 7 am nursing him in bed, and that's why I woke up in such a disheveled state.

But, I can't stay angry at that boy for too long...

::Yawn:: I'm sleepy since I kept Mommy up all night!

Especially since, without fail, when I bring him into the nursery to change his diaper in the morning he stares up at the lanterns and starts smiling giggling like crazy (his favorite spot in the house is on his changing table)...

You can kinda tell he's smiling in this picture

And luckily the past two nights have been back to business as usual!

When you have a fussy baby do you pull him into bed with you?  If not, how do you get any sleep on a bad night?  More importantly...have you ever woken up with a nursing pad stuck to your face? haha

Until next time...

I'm Fat.

I tried to come up with a clever title for this post, but I've been doing laundry for just under 12 hours and so my brain is kinda mush.

But yeah, that title says it all...I'm fat.  Okay, so I'm not really fat, I'm just fat for my standards.  I was well aware of the fact then when you get pregnant you gain weight but I didn't realize how much it would really mess with my head.  If you followed me during my pregnancy at all, you know my biggest gripe with pregnancy was just having to sit there and watch myself get fat. And now I'm on my way to getting my body back but in all honesty, it isn't happening as quickly as I would like.

Two days before The Seamonkey was born I weighed in at 198 pounds.  At my initial appointment (at 5 weeks) I weighed 158 pounds.  The weekend of The Fourth of July I weighed 142 pounds but I completely stopped working out and eating right right after that.  I will be happy when I'm back down to the low 140s.

So, for the first month after The Seamonkey was born I just didn't worry about it.  I was still getting used to having a baby and I was losing weight anyway since I was breastfeeding (and Little Man is quite the hungry, hungry hippo).  But, on May 1st the work started...

First of all, I joined Weight Watchers.  I had a lot of success with Weight Watchers when I was preparing for my wedding to The Ex.  I loved it.  I liked the plan, I really liked the ladies at the meeting I went to, and I loved my meeting leader.  I just assumed I would have a similar experience.

...But I didn't.  The nearest center is like 45 minutes away, but that didn't stop me since I had such a good experience in Pittsburgh.  The first meeting I went to I just didn't feel it.  They seemed obsessed with sticking to the topic that Weight Watchers says to talk about that week.  The Leader really didn't include any of the members in the meeting; it was a lecture, not a discussion.  So I tried a different leader...same thing.  I think it is just the policy of that specific location to stick closely to the topic at hand and I didn't like it.

The fact of the matter is I know what I should eat to lose weight.  I don't really need the plan itself.  I just like the camaraderie that goes along with going to meetings and I just wasn't feeling it.  So after a month (where I lost 10.4 pounds) I stopped going.

On top of dieting I also started working out...Last spring I had purchased and completed TurboFire (a Beach Body workout {like P90X or Insanity}) and loved it, so I started that on May 1st.  That I still love!  And although I only workout 4 times a week (their schedule calls for 6 days a week) I haven't missed 1 day of my schedule yet!

On the left is May 1st, the right is June 1st

I almost look normal again from behind already! lol

So, since I decided to stop Weight Watchers I started a different program...Body By Vi.

BBV is a meal replacement program.  Their most popular plan is replacing two meals a day with their shakes but since I'm exclusively breastfeeding, I'm not comfortable cutting my calories by that much so I'm just having a shake for lunch (I did get the okay from Wesley's pediatrician before even considering the program).  Trying to explain the shakes would be stupid since they have a bunch of awesome videos on their site, lol, so you can just go there to get the deets.  And, if you get three other people to start the program you get your shakes for free every month so you can go directly to my site for any info: http://agmhinson.bodybyvi.com/

I know a bunch of women on base who are getting awesome results on the program, but if you have any questions about it for me, just ask!  If you're intrigued by what you see on the site I encourage you to at least try it since they have a 30 day money back guarantee...if you don't see the results you want just send whatever product you have left and they'll give you your money back!  I actually had my first shake today...BBV, ice, light chocolate soy milk, and peanut butter....and it was seriously delicious!

So yeah, I'm fat, but I'm working on it!  Did you obsess over your weight post-baby?  How did you lose your baby weight?

Until next time...

Oops I did it again....

...I played with your heart, got lost in the game, oh baby baby...


I don't know what's wrong with me (blogging-wise, that is)!!!  When I was planning my wedding to the Ex I was SO GOOD at blogging on a near daily basis, and now I can't even get myself to post on a weekly basis.  I have so much to say and share, but I feel like I don't even know where to start.  I am really going to try and blog regularly but instead of trying to catch up completely on the past two months (because, yeah, my Little Seamonkey turned 2 freakin' months last Friday) I'll just give you a quick run-down...

The Seamonkey is pretty awesome.  He sleeps in his bassinet right next to me every night.  I'm not ready for him to go to his crib yet, but every night the bassinet seems to get smaller and smaller so the move down the hall seems to be getting closer and closer, whether I like it or not.  He usually falls asleep downstairs with us around 830, then gets fed right before we go to bed around 10.  Then he gets up to eat around 3, and gets up again around 6 which is when I just pull him into bed to snuggle with me until we get up around 730.

Breastfeeding has been super easy for us.  Actually, the biggest problem is I'm still overproducing and he doesn't really appreciate it.  In fact, when I let down he starts chomping down on the tip of my nipple to slow down the flow.  I just started block feeding to try and help that and I haven't noticed a change yet; I'll try to get myself to do a post specifically about my boobs (because I know you all love reading about my boobs).

As for milestones - his neck control is getting pretty awesome and he loves to stand (with me holding his hands).  He hates tummy time but loves being worn in our favorite baby accessory - the Babyhawk Mei Tai.  He smiles when he's happy and his lower lip quivers when he isn't and his favorite place in the house is laying on his changing table staring up at the lanterns.  And when he sees his reflection he starts babbling to himself.

The Sailor is an amazing father.  He supports my needs/wants in parenting 100% (like breastfeeding, having the baby sleep in our room, babywearing, etc.) and always wants to help.  I feel bad because by the time he gets home from work the baby has started his evening-crankiness where all he wants to do is nurse in preparation for going to bed, but the easiest way to get the baby to fall asleep is to have The Sailor hold him against his chest; he passes out every time.

And I'm doing really well.  As afraid of postpartum depression as I was, I couldn't be further from depressed.  I can honestly say I love being a Mom and I just feel like a lot of it has come naturally to me.  But, I've been super lucky since The Seamonkey is a pretty easy baby!  It would be a completely different story if he never slept, couldn't latch on, and screamed all day and night.  My biggest problem is that I fucking hate my body.  I definitely plan on posting more about that!  I've also been sewing a lot and plan on starting my baby book/scrapbook soon so I obviously will post about that.

I'm not sure if I told you guys or not but it turns out The Sailor is getting deployed again in August.  Yeah, I know...it fucking sucks.  And he'll be due to get back right around The Seamonkey's first birthday.  The thought of it makes me sick.  Actually, I'm tearing up right now thinking about it (and I don't even blame it on my still wonky hormones...the idea of him leaving just makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry).  I have no idea how I'm going to take care of a baby, two dogs, and a cat on my own.  When I think about it I get so bitter.  Being a military wife is basically being a single Mom.  But, this should be his last deployment for a very long time, and I just need to focus on that.

So yeah, that's the cliff notes version of what's going on in my life right now.  I'm really going to try and stay on top of blogging!  As hard as it probably is to believe, I love blogging.  It's incredibly therapeutic for me!  I just have to force myself to sit down and do it.  So, if a few days pass and I still haven't posted someone please send me a virtual kick in the butt (in the form of a friendly reminder comment)!

Until next time...

PS - look how much my little man grew!!!!!  Make it stooooooooop....I want him to stay little forever...

Here Comes The Seamonkey Part 4 - Every part of my body wanted me to push

In case you missed it be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 before reading any more...

I'm going to say it was about 930 am when The Midwife decided she wanted to put an internal monitor in since my contractions were still super weird and for whatever reason the external monitor wasn't always picking them up.  First she checked me and I was barely over 6 cm.  Then she tried to put the internal monitor in and for whatever reason, it hurt like hell.  She was a little taken aback by it, since it really shouldn't hurt but since it was clearly painful for me she said she would take it out.  Then she happened to check me again and I was magically at 8 cm.  Even she didn't believe it (barely 10 minutes had passed since I was at 6) so she had the nurse double check, and the nurse agreed...I was at 8 cm!  The end really was in site!!!

Then, just before 10, every part of my body wanted me to push.  So, I hit the red button to get a nurse in there and she kinda rolled her eyes and reminded me that I was just at 8 cm and if I pushed too soon it would just make my cervix swell which would make it harder to deliver when it actually was time.  But trying to stop myself from pushing was horrible.  So, I quickly pushed the red button to get her butt back there and so she checked me again.  I was pretty much fully dilated.  So she told me to push when I felt the urge to and when I did her eyes opened wide and she said to stop pushing while she went and got the midwife.

It was 10:05 am when the midwife was set up and they told me to push when I felt the need to, so when my body wanted to push, I pushed.

10 minutes pass and they're telling me I'm doing a great job, but I can't tell whether or not I'm pushing effectively (which was the only downside of the epidural - I couldn't tell if he was getting any closer to being out or not).

10 more minutes pass and I'm asking if there's anything else I can do but they promise me I'm doing a great job pushing.

5 more minutes pass and I'm starting to get exhausted and I start wondering how the hell I'm going to do this.  Pushing is exhausting.  It didn't hurt thanks to my wonderful epidural, but it was exhausting.

Then I start to feel myself tear just the slightest bit so I knew he must be close.  I was pushing with everything I had when his head finally came out...but the chord was wrapped around his neck.  I'm freaking out as they're clamping and cutting the chord.  I'm still freaking out (I mean seriously, the fucking chord was around his neck) as the midwife tells me to push once more and he'll be out.  I pushed, and before I knew it they had him on my belly and they're wiping him off.  Right after he came out, so did {what felt like} 10 gallons of liquid and I asked if that was normal, which they assured me it was.  Now, instead of freaking out about the chord or the tidal wave that followed the baby, I'm freaking out because he isn't crying!!!

I should have realized that the Midwife and the nurses would have been doing something if there was something wrong, but all I wanted was to hear my baby cry.  He was perfectly healthy, but he never cried.  Eventually I believed everyone that everything was okay and I just held my baby against my belly even though he was still covered in goo.

Wesley Glenn Hinson was born at 10:43 am on April 1st, 2012 and weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches long.

Here Comes The Seamonkey Part 3 - I folded like a tent...

In case you missed it, be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 before you continue reading...

I had never been so happy to see that tiny, old Swedish woman.  She came waltzing in wearing cowboy boots, black skinny jeans, and a very Dolly Parton-esque top.  She seemed super excited about me being in labor and I asked if she had been at the rodeo and her response was, "yes - it was a honky-tonk good time!" hahahaha  Seriously...I had never been that happy to see a little old lady in my life.

Then she informed me there was a slight problem - I was having contractions every 3 minutes but I was barely dilated (I was just under 2 cm at this point).  Apparently that's a problem.  My contractions were regular, but they weren't strong enough, and since my water had already broken on it's own she wanted to start me on pitocin.  And given how much pain I was already in because of my bladder infection she really didn't think I should try and go through with a natural birth.  If I was going to have a baby the next day I needed to sleep that night and she thought the only way that would happen would be if I had an epidural.

I folded like a tent, threw away all my hopes of a natural childbirth, and she called for the anesthesiologist.

When he got there I almost laughed.  Dude looked exactly like Beaker from The Muppets.  I wish I had a picture to show you.  He was so tall we had to jack the bed up all the way for him to be able to to put in the epidural.  And honestly, I was so exhausted at this point that I barely even noticed him putting it in.  But that man was an anesthesia sorcerer!  The pain stopped right away but I still had complete control over my lower body.  I could adjust myself in bed without an issue, but for the first time in what felt like eons, I wasn't in pain.

Then they put in the catheter.  When getting a catheter actually feels good you know there was something wrong with your bladder.  Because of the bladder infection I hadn't been able to properly empty my bladder in God knows how long, so as soon as that catheter was in it all came out.  And, let me tell you, I almost filled that bag right away.  Even the nurses were taken aback.

And, by 11:30 pm they had started pitocin and a ton of IV meds to fight off my bladder infection.  Since there was no reason to believe we would actually be having a baby until the next afternoon, I insisted The Sailor go home to get a decent night sleep (rather than sleeping in a chair) and to spend time with the dogs.  Soon after he left they gave me some benadryl since the epidural had made me super itchy and I drifted off to sleep.



Sunday, April 1st - although my glorious epidural meant I had no pain, that night was far from smooth sailing.  First of all, my blood pressure was consistently high.  Like, 150s/100s.  And it kept setting off the alarms.  That meant that I had to keep the blood pressure cuff on all night so they could continue to take my blood pressure every 10 minutes to make sure I wasn't a stroke risk.  Then, my fever was getting worse.  It started at about 99.4 and steadily increased from there.  When I hit 100 they started informing me that if we couldn't get it under control they would have to do a c-section since it isn't safe for the baby.  When it got to 101 douche bag Dr. V tried to force my midwife to turn me over for a c-section but she held her ground since they knew I was sick before actually going into labor, so the fever was probably because of the bladder infection not because of labor itself.  It ended up hitting 101.8 before it finally started going down.  I was a sweaty mess.  Then The Seamonkey's heartrate started dropping so I had to wear an oxygen mask.  It really wasn't a fun night, but it definitely could have been much worse.

By the time The Sailor got back at about 6 am my fever had already started to drop, but I was still using the oxygen to keep The Seamonkey's heartrate up.  At the rate my body was going, I was hoping to actually give birth around noon.  And I'm gonna be completely honest with you, the next few hours were pretty much a blur of sleeping a bit and then being woken up by the alarm that would go off because my blood pressure was too high.  Occasionally The Seamonkey would try to push out my catheter and I would push that magical epidural button and the pain would stop.  But, it did get to the point where they actually had to tape the catheter to my leg since he was trying so hard to get it out.

Here Comes The Seamonkey Part 2 - I think I've lost control of my bladder

In case you missed it, be sure to check out Part 1!!!


Saturday, March 31st - The Sailor and I didn't sleep at all that night.  Every time I would have one of my super irregular contractions it would take all of my effort to not scream in agony.  It felt like I was carrying a vampire baby and he was trying to eat his way out of my uterus (yes, just like in Twilight).  The best description would be to imagine that every once and a while it felt like your bladder was going through a paper shredder for a minute to 90 seconds.

I spent a good amount of time in the tub with The Sailor just spraying me with the shower head (since the tub is tiny and the water would barely cover half my body).  If we weren't in the bathroom, we were in bed and he was rubbing my back.  At about 6 am I agreed to go back to the hospital because I was pretty sure I was going to die from the pain alone if we didn't do something.

The same nurses were working and they could tell right away that my pain level was through the roof.  So, they hooked me up to the monitors again.  Still, unless there was a nurse there to continuously move the contraction monitor it wouldn't pick them up.  When they went to check if I had dilated at all I experience the most searing pain in my cervix ever.  I had developed a minor fever so Dr. V finally agreed to give me some freaking antibiotics and he gave me some percocet for the pain.  Luckily, the first dose of pain killers worked like a charm and I was able to get a few hours of sleep.

Throughout the day the percocet worked less and less at actually relieving the pain.  The first dose got rid of the pain and put me to sleep.  After that each dose would make me feel high as a kite but it dulled the pain less and less.  And at about 5 o'clock I was pretty sure the bladder infection had gotten so bad that I lost control of my bladder.  By 7 I was back to damn near crying every time I had a contraction and since I was still high as a kite from pain meds I hadn't noticed they started getting regular.  Luckily, The Sailor had been timing them - they were only lasting about a minute but they were almost exactly 3 minutes apart.  At this point I didn't even fight it when The Sailor said we had to go back to the hospital.

When we got up to the nurses' station at the MIU, my high self simply said, "I've been here like 37 billion times in the past day and a half, apparently I have a bladder infection.  My bladder feels like it's going through a paper shredder and I'm pretty sure I've been peeing myself for the past few hours."

They asked if maybe my water had broken, but I was convinced I had just been peeing myself because of the bladder infection.  Then The Sailor told them the contractions were every 3 minutes so they brought me into a room right away to swab my vag to check if I actually was pissing myself or if my water had broken.  They informed me if the swab turned blue that meant my water had broken and I would be admitted to have the baby.  And man did that swab turn blue.  So did the second one, since I still didn't believe them (why yes...I was in total denial).  So, they called in my favorite (notice the sarcasm) doctor who apparently also didn't believe that my water had broken despite the two bright blue swabs.

First he did an ultrasound to which he said, "there's still a ton of fluid in there, I really don't think your water broke."  The nurse that had swabbed my vag was not happy with that.  She informed me that he was being a douche and that there was no reason to not believe my water had broken considering the proof was in the bright blue swabs!  She had apparently asked him if she could just call my midwife (since it said right on my file if I went in to labor she wanted to be called in right away) but he said she wasn't allowed to until he confirmed I was in labor. And he was insisting on shoving a massive metal cone up my already super sore vagina to actually look and see if my water had broken.

She warned me that given the amount of discomfort I was showing during the internal exams they had done this was probably going to hurt.  A lot.  And she was right.

I could feel that my insides were swollen and sore.  And when he shoved that giant metal cone up my hoo-hah I wanted to die.  As I was sobbing Dr. V casually stated, "huh...she actually is grossly ruptured."  And then, without asking or warning me, he shoved a poker thingy up the giant metal cone and officially "broke" my water.

At that point he finally allowed the nurses to call the midwife and I was admitted into the hospital to have The Seamonkey...

Here Comes The Seamonkey Part 1 - I know I'm not in labor, I'm just getting sick!

FYI - there will be no photographs until the very end of the birth story.  If you all thought you were gonna get to see pictures of me in general disarray in the hospital, you were very wrong.  Instead you'll just have to deal with words until I get to the point where I pop The Seamonkey out (and he gets all cleaned up).  It's my blog and I'll do what I want! haha


Friday, March 30th - I woke up and could tell I was getting sick right off the bat.  I felt the early signs of a fever and just generally felt icky.  Since I don't get a fever unless I'm actually sick I went into the hospital.  I went straight to the Maternal Infant Unit where they hooked me up to the monitors since I had been having weekly Non-Stress Tests due to high blood pressure for the past month or so and they promptly informed me I wasn't in labor.

I didn't think I was in labor.  I thought I was sick.  But, apparently they didn't believe me (this is only the first of many reasons I don't like the OB that I dealt with that morning - we'll call him Dr. V) and asked if maybe I was just having an anxiety attack since I was getting closer to my due date since it said in my file that I had a history of anxiety. I love when people use the fact that I have a history of mental illness against me (::sarcasm::).  So they sent me on my merry way.

As the day went on I felt worse and worse.  It felt like I was developing a flu.  And then, the contractions started, and I assumed they were just more braxton hicks.



The contractions continued and they were completely irregular.  I strongly believed it was just false labor and was regularly annoying a friend of mine who just had a baby 2 months previous asking silly questions to try and figure out if I was experiencing "normal" pain or not when she finally said she was gonna come by to give me her massive exercise ball to bounce on to try and get through the crazy irregular contractions I was having.

The ball helped for a while, but the pain from the contractions was getting worse.  It honestly felt like my insides were being torn up.  It got to the point that The Sailor really wasn't comfortable with me being in that much pain so I agreed to go back to the hospital where they promptly hooked me up to the monitors again.

Funny thing about those monitors...they picked up The Seamonkey's heartrate just fine, but they did not pick up my contractions.  We had to keep moving the monitor around to pick them up and as soon as the nurse would leave they would stop picking them up again.  But, I wasn't dilated and my water hadn't broken so I wasn't actually in labor yet...instead they thought I might have a fucking bladder infection (lucky me).

But since they wouldn't have the lab results back until the next day douche bag Dr. V (who was the OB on-call all weekend) wouldn't give me any antibiotics or anything for the pain despite the fact that every time I would have one of my super irregular contractions I would double over in pain and beg God for mercy.  And, once again, he sent me on my merry way.

That was the worst night of my life.

To be continued...

I failed at "pregnancy blogging"

Hey guys...remember me?  The blogger who disappeared for the past few months...

I'm sorry!!!!!!!


I really wasn't cut out to be a pregnancy blogger, since, well, I hated being pregnant, lol.  And once The Sailor got home from deployment I just really couldn't have cared less about blogging about the pregnancy that I just wanted to be over, so I didn't!

BUT NOW I HAVE A BABY!!!!  And he's absolutely perfect (obviously...The Sailor and I made him...lol)!!!  And I've started putting together my birth story (which I'll post the first segment of soon after this post) and hopefully I'll be a better Mommy-blogger than I was pregnancy-blogger.  I still wanted to apologize before I just jumped into my birth story though...

And if you don't forgive me then you can just eff off! hahaha

Worst.Blogger.Ever.

Seriously.  It has been 2 weeks since I last posted.  A lot has happened in those two weeks.  Sorry I suck; I'm pregnant and at this point I'm just counting down the minutes until The Sailor gets home from deployment...

Here's everything you've missed...

I printed/framed/hung up the pet silhouettes for the nursery!  I absolutely love them.  I think I'm going to put a quote (in vinyl) above or beneath them...

You can also see that I did some stenciling on the lamp shade!  Another project that I absolutely adore.

My Mom got us our carseat, stroller, and the conversion kit so that the carseat can go in the stroller.  We decided to go with the Graco Snugride 25 and the Baby Jogger City Mini.  At this point I couldn't be happier with these products, but I'll have to actually review them once The Seamonkey gets here!

Gabby loves to steal the spotlight

I climbed my pregnant ass up on a chair and hung the lanterns above the changing table.  Yet another project that turned out even better than I thought it would.  And I used my leftover pinwheels from my DIY mobile by attaching them to the underside of the lanterns!

You can also see the hanging basket on the wall that will be used to hold diapering accessories!

I sewed some diaper covers!!!  My sewing machine finally got here from Pittsburgh and I dove into my first project.  They are far from perfect (the seams are a little wonky) but I love them!  I used all Babyville Boutique products - PUL, elastic, velcro, and even the pattern - which can be found at Joann Fabrics.  The dinosaur one (on the left) is newborn size and the monster one (on the right) is size small.

Lola got spayed!  And while she was all drugged up post-op she totally looked like Doby the House Elf from Harry Potter, hahahaha.

And finally, I prepped (aka washed a million times) all my cloth diapers and supplies and organized and put them away in the dresser.  I even stuffed all the pockets and origami folded the flats!  And I 100% accept the fact that this stuff will never be this organized again...

And I know I still owe you all initial reviews on the diapers I bought.  I promise I'll get around to that.  I think I might vlog them, but I'm not sure yet...thoughts?

So, that's what I failed to post about the past two weeks.  Again, I apologize.  If there is anything I mentioned here that you are dying to read more about (aka have me write a post dedicated to it) just let me know and I'd be more than happy to!

Until next time...

Nursery Organization - Phase 1

Oh.my.goodness.  What a pain in the ass that was!  Yesterday I spent the day organizing, washing, and putting away everything I had crammed in the closet in the nursery.  But, I feel so, so, so much better now!  In case you forgot, this is what the closet looked like:

It may not look like that much, but once I pulled it all out and started organizing it (by size for clothes, and just by what it is for everything else) you could see how much there really was in there.  (FYI - I had already put all the newborn clothes in the laundry, so some is actually missing from this picture)

Yeah...that's a lot of stuff.  The whole floor was covered so I resorted to hanging stuff of boxes and covering the chair in stuff.  Tom enjoyed it quite a bit...

 And again:

And can I just complain for a second?  Why the hell do they feel the need to package baby clothes so intensely???  It took me forever to remove all the hangers, tags, boxes, etc. from the new clothes I had, and only like 1/4 of the clothes I had were new! (The rest were used so they obviously didn't have tags on them anymore)  When there was a hanger with like 5 onesies each freaking onesie was attached to all the others in like five freaking places!  And you have to make sure you get all those horrible plastic pieces out, because I'm pretty sure babies wouldn't appreciate being stabbed by tag holders every time you get them dressed.

Since our utilities are included in our rent I wasn't worried about doing a million loads of laundry, but if we did pay our utilities I would have definitely washed everything first and then organized by size.  (I didn't even think about it until after I had organized it all, in all honesty.)  But yeah, after a day of organizing, washing, and putting away clothes, hats, bibs, blankets, baby legs, socks (baby socks are the devil, by the way), and even my Moby Wrap (which I had gotten directly from the Moby Wrap site for 25% off after Christmas) I turned that big hot mess into this:

And look, you can see the floor again:

So, a little more info on the method behind my organization madness.  The fancy schmancy organizer in the middle is from Target (this one - cost $25) and the organizers on either side are technically for shoes and I got them from Marshall's (for $5 a piece - so $10 in all).  The top left slot has newborn sized clothes and they're broken down by onesies, jammies, bottoms, and rompers.  Below that is 0-3 month size and going down the sizes get bigger and they continue on the top right.  As the Seamonkey grows out of the smaller clothes I pull them from the organizers and there will be more room for bigger clothes (as I get bigger clothes).

In the middle organizer there is a bunch of random stuff: shoes, swaddles, receiving blankets, binkies, hats, etc. and the bin at the bottom is all socks (did I mention baby socks are the devil?).  I figure once the Little Man is here I'll probably move that stuff around to wherever makes sense.  And, the whole left side of the closet is still empty, so I've got plenty of room for more stuff!

Now you may be wondering what the hell I'm going to be putting in my lovely dresser...diapers, obviously! (So that may not be that obvious, but cloth diapering supplies require a good amount of space!)  And, that'll be "nursery organization phase 2."  I just have to prep all the diapers, line the drawers of the dresser, and put it all away!

Did I mention this is my week 30 update?  I really don't feel any different from week to week, I just feel bigger (and I feel the Little Man move around more) so if I were to continue doing weekly update posts they'd be pretty damn boring.  I will say, I recently invested in a 2 inch memory foam mattress pad and my back and my ability to sleep have improved tenfold.  I 110% recommend getting a nice mattress pad to any pregnant ladies who are struggling to find a comfortable way to sleep!

Until next time...

As always, you can see the whole progression of belly photos on the Pregnancy tab of my blog!

**All images used in the post are personal photos**

OOTD - Maternity Style - "Breakfast with the girls"

Okay, so I didn't actually go for "breakfast with the girls" in this outfit; that's just a total Sex and the City reference.  You know, the kind of outfit that is comfortable, casual, but still put together...

 And the surprise back (which was terrible to photograph on my own, lol)

The entire outfit is from Motherhood; the sweater is from last summer (I got it on clearance at the beginning of fall), the jeans I got on clearance at the beginning of December (they're my "nice" maternity jeans, lol), and it's a navy blue maternity tank.

The shoes I got on clearance from DSW (for $15!!!) and they don't carry them anymore.  Yes, they have a 3 1/2 heel, but they are seriously the most comfortable shoes ever.  They feel like they were made for my feet.

And the necklace is a gold/silver key on a 30 inch chain by Premiere Designs (a direct sales company).

So, there you have it, my maternity version of a "breakfast with the girls"-type outfit!  What do you think?

Until next time...

Nursery Updates!!!

Since January is coming to a close, I figured I'd give you some nursery updates!!!  Here's my original to-do list (from earlier this month):


Things I need to buy:

• Crib mattress - I got this from Target ($60)
• Shelves (I want floating shelves for the wall, not like a book case)
• Crib bedding set - I got this from Target ($100 - on sale when I purchased it)

• Paper lanterns - I got a variety of sizes from The Paper Lantern Store ($30).  I still need to hang these though
• Hooks and baskets - I got these  from Target ($20)

And here are the DIY projects I have lined up:

• Final touches to my crib 
• Refinish my dresser/changing table combo
• Mobile for over the crib
• Print, mat, and frame the pet silhouettes - coming soon!!!

On top of that, a few random things:

• Make the final decision on my rocker/glider.  My Dad is going to be buying this for us/the baby, but I need to decide what I actually want!

I went with this glider from Babies R Us.  The blanket and pillow on the chair came with the bedding set.  The lamp is from Home Goods ($40), the side table was kinda a splurge from Overstock ($57), the circles above the chair are mirror wall decals I got from Totsy ($7 - Totsy is a flash sale site; if you  don't have an account already you should make one here!!!), and the stuffed puppy I got at Marshall's on clearance because it was dirty but once through the wash and it's fine ($7)!

 And again (with the shades closed and the light on):

And a close-up of the mirror wall decals:

• Prep the diapers I've purchased already.  When you use cloth diapers you have to wash them a few times before you use them in order to maximize their absorbency.
• Wash all the clothes I've gotten.  There's the stuff I've bought (or other people have bought) and on top of that I just bought a bunch of used baby stuff and it came with a bunch of clothes, but more on that on my weekly update this week!
• Put away/organize all the diapers, baby cloths, etc.
• Figure out what I forgot to put on this list and do that too, lol. - This is going to be ongoing, lol

New Additions to the List:

• Do some stenciling on the lampshade
• Create labels for the closet organizers I purchased
• Frame/hang an animal/alphabet print I got off Zulily (another Flash Sale site; if you don't have an account with them you should totally make one here!)
• Cut out a quote (which quote is still under debate) in vinyl using my Cricut (once it gets here from Pittsburgh - yes, I'm still waiting to get some of my stuff from Pittsburgh) to stick on the wall.

And here's what the rest of the nursery currently looks like at this point.  It's shameful; but I know once I start hanging things and organizing the clothes/diapers it'll all come together...

 I promise I'll be posting about all the cloth diapers I've purchased soon!!!


I forget how much I spent on the night light, but it was next to nothing; I got it from Marshall's.  I also still have to figure out what to do with all my extra pinwheels; some of them will be hung up with the lanterns (above the changing table) but I'm not sure about the rest.

 This wall has become a place for me to place random crap.  AKA this wall is a hot mess.

 Here's a close-up of my favorite books from when I was little, I stole these from my Mom while I was home for Christmas, haha.  The top one is In the Night Kitchen and the other four are the Good Dog Carl books that are about the shenanigans that a baby and her pet rottweiler get into when the Mom let's the rottweiler babysit the baby, hahahaha.

 The organizers are already hanging in the closet, I just need to wash all the clothes (on the floor and on the top shelf in the closet) and put them away!  And yes, the door is currently off it's hinges; I had to remove it to get the rocking chair in the room and I'm having trouble putting it back up.  The Sailor can do it when he gets home.  And hanging on the door is the Vera Bradley Diaper Bag my Dad got me for Christmas!

So there you have it!  Despite all the progress I've made this month, the nursery is currently in shambles, hahaha.  Next time you see it will probably be once everything is done, but I will obviously share pictures of the DIY projects I complete between now and then!

Did your nursery look like a hot mess for a while before it all came together or were you super organized from the start?

Until next time...

**All images are personal photos**