Time to dust off the old blogaroo! Haha! Almost 4 years later...
The last time I wrote a post on here was when Liam was born. It would only be fitting to do one more post about our 4th kiddo being born aka Remi the caboose! Pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum stuff is no joke! Of course you forget about it every time and then you get pregnant again and then it all comes back and you're like oh man, this sucks! My body is pretty done at this point. And I'm okay with that. I'll just soak up every little bit with this last baby and try to enjoy all the stages as much as I can with 3 other crazies running around the house. I sure love our crazy, full house.
I had developed some minor to moderate itching at about week 35 but nothing major so I wasn't too worried about it but my doctor, Dr. Wyman, was a little weary about it and with my history of cholestasis he didn't want me to go all the way to 40 weeks. He advised being induced at 39 weeks, putting my delivery date on Thursday, November 29. Trey was able to have someone cover work for him for that day and the weekend so we were all set. My parents were all ready to come up that day to help take care of the kiddos. I'm happy to say we didn't have any false alarm labor pains this time around so I didn't have to do the walk of shame like I did with Ruby and then Liam.😂
Trey drove me to the hospital at 7am. He almost hit a deer on our way, which would have made for an interesting birth story if the deer hadn't moved. Luckily we made it there safe and sound. Trey walked me in and then headed back home to get the girls off to school and Liam dropped off at our friend's house until my parents arrived.
My nurse was so great, I loved her! I think her name was Kari? Man, I'm bad with remembering names. She nailed the IV the first time and I barely felt it go in. This mama don't like needles, which is funny considering she's the wife of an anesthesiologist. Nurse K was so helpful and attentive to whatever I needed and was just fun to chat with. I was a ball of emotions the day before having her but on birth day I felt calm and excited to finally meet our baby girl. We had it narrowed down to 3 names, Isla, Remi, or Hazel. Trey and I were both thinking Isla but at the same time I had a dream a few weeks before and the name Remi came to me and when I woke up it was in my head and couldn't get it out. So I kind of had a feeling she might be a Remi.💓
Dr. Wyman came in at 8am to check on me (dilated to 3+ at this point) and he broke my water. I remember when they broke my water with Ruby and Liam that it was a huge gush of warm water but I couldn't really feel much difference and so Dr. Wyman was like, "Can you cough for me?" I laughed and fake coughed and felt more water come out but still not like I remember it. Then a little while later Remi must have moved or something because the flood gates opened! Ha ha! Such a weird feeling. They started me on Pitocin a short while after to help get things rolling. A cool thing I was able to do with this labor that I didn't do with the others was lay in the tub, even with my IV in and fetal heart rate monitors strapped to my belly. It was really relaxing, it even had jets! I loved laying in there and the contractions were coming but I was pretty relaxed. I started to do my deep breathing and felt another gush of fluid come out so I decided to be done with the tub. I labored until about 10:30am, breathing through contractions and remembering what active labor feels like. I wanted to feel it a bit knowing this was my last but I was totally fine with getting an epidural when I was ready. They started to get more painful and more frequent and I was like, okay I'm good! I didn't want to wait too long! Haha! We called in the anesthesiologist (no, Trey was not my anesthesiologist although I'm very confident he would have done an awesome job) and in about 20 minutes I was getting the warm tingles in my feet and legs. I could feel it more in my left side so the nurse had me roll on my right side to help the medicine get there. I pushed the button to release a little more and in a little while I was feeling pretty tingly on both sides. He did a great job! I couldn't even feel the contractions.
As with Liam, I took a little nap and it was lovely! Dr. Wyman came in at about 12:30 and I was dialated 6cm, I was slowly getting there. The epidural slowed things down a bit. My nurse upped the Pitocin a good amount. And then a little while later a little more. I started watching Stardust on the Ipad and got about halfway through and I started feeling weird and then a little nauseated. And then really awful and I was like, "Trey, I need to throw up....I'm going to throw up! Can you grab something?!" He was scrambling around looking for something and ended up grabbing the garbage can and made it just in time. That was our sign that it was close to go time. Whenever I go into transition I barf!
The nurse checked my cervix right after and said, "Wow! She's right there!" She called Dr. Wyman in and he asked Trey if he wanted to catch her. Trey had never done it with our other kids and I said do it! It's our last one! So he got all scrubbed up and got down below me all ready to go. Ahh!! So much excitement in the room!!! I pushed 3 times and she came out at 3:01pm! Trey was giggling like a little kid, it was really cute. They handed her to me and I held her and looked at her beautiful, perfect little face. She definitely is a Banbury. She keeps trading off who she looks like. Sometimes I think Lucy, other times Ruby, and other times Liam. But she's also her own cute little self. We are in love!!!
Her official birth stats were...
Weight: 6 lbs 9 oz
Height: 19.5 inches long
My parents came an hour later to meet her and they had Lucy with them too. Trey took Liam and Ruby to gymnastics. Lucky Lucy got to meet her and hold her first. She's a natural mama. My parents were overjoyed to hold their last grandbaby, number 29 born on the 29th. Brad Holbrook popped in to say congratulations and meet Remi. It took us a little while to decide on her name but that night we both agreed she's a Remi. Isla and Hazel just didn't seem to fit her. And we decided on the name Kate for her middle name, named after one of our favorite people, Kate Niehoff. :)
And now we are officially a family of 6!!!
The Banbiznass
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Liam's Birth Story
Here it is, Liam's story. And the events following up to it.
I'll begin at 30 weeks...
As in my previous post, at 30 weeks I started to get itchy, reeeeally itchy. I developed cholestasis of pregnancy so Dr. Rao said he planned on inducing me at about 38 weeks because during the last few weeks sometimes the placenta doesn't do it's job of keep the baby safe from the bile acids and it can be dangerous, sometimes fatal. Because of this, I started having weekly ultrasounds and dr. visits to make sure everything was A-Okay. Every week the little mister passed all the little ultrasound tests with flying colors. It put my mind at ease. I was put on medication that finally took care of the itching (thank heavens!).
At 36 and 1/2 weeks Dr. Rao did the cervical check and I was dialted to a 2 and 50% effaced. The next week it was pretty much the same story. Womp womp! I was hoping for a little progression, especially since I'd been feeling contractions (I guess they were just Braxton Hicks) all week. We then decided on the date Wednesday, Feb. 18. Woohoo! I had never had a scheduled induction. It was kind of nice to know that on that specific date I would get to meet my little guy!
Now fast forward to Sunday, Feb. 15. Trey was on call and I was just praying that the baby wouldn't want to come early. I'm laying in bed at 1am and I start getting intense cramps that felt like contractions but they were only on one side. They were happening every 2 minutes and they were painful enough that I couldn't ignore them. I got up and walked around, drank a TON of water to rule out the possibly of dehydration causing false labor, like what happened when I was pregnant with Ruby. I was still feeling them so I quickly waddled around my room and grabbed everything I thought I would need to head to the hospital that night. I called my neighbors who were on alert just in case this happened. I couldn't believe it was happening!! It worked out perfectly that their kids were at their grandparents so Carolyn was able to come stay at the house and Kyle drove me to the hospital. I still wasn't sure if I was in actual labor but because this was my 3rd kid I didn't want to take any chances and be stuck at home and it be too late! Oh and here's the best part, I kept calling Trey over and over and he didn't pick up! I was kinda freaking out and needed to be talked down and I couldn't get ahold of him. I figured he was asleep in the on call room. Carolyn convinced me to just go to the hospital. Better safe than sorry!
We made it to the hospital in record time. Kyle doesn't mind driving fast.:) We may even ran a few red lights just for fun. It wasn't like there was anyone on the road that early in the morning on a Monday. :) I got all checked in and into triage and I had the nurse track down Trey. Sure enough he had just fallen asleep in the on call room. And his phone was turned off! Which explains why he wasn't responding to my phone calls and texts.
They got me all set up and in a bed and started monitoring the baby and everything was good. The on call doctor arrived a while later and I hadn't progressed any so it looked like it was false labor. Womp womp! It was kind of a relief but kind of a bummer too. They were nice to let Trey off a little early at 5am so we went home together. We were both exhausted since we missed out on our sleep that night. It definitely was a walk/drive of shame home, ha ha!
I had a few nights to recover and be ready for the big day. They originally had me scheduled to be induced at midnight and I was like, "what the what?!!" I made a stink about it and they were able to switch it to 7am, thankfully! My mom flew in on Tuesday so we had everything covered with the girls being taken care of. Grandmas are such lifesavers.
When we arrived Trey and I were both pretty well rested and ready (as much as we could be) to welcome baby boy Banbury to the world. We came to the hospital with our top 3 names, as we have in the past with the girls. Would he be a Crew, a Liam, or a Cohen? Or would none of those sound right? Only time would tell...
They got me right in to a nice big delivery room with a window. We watched it lightly start to snow and then really start to snow and snow and snow! I had an older nurse, Caroline. She was pretty awesome and funny. I love people who like to laugh. I felt super comfortable with her. She got me all hooked up and IV'd and started Pitocin at 8am to get things rolling. Honestly, I think the hardest part of the whole birth was before and after. The actual labor was awesome! I'll get to that in a minute.:) But yeah, the worst part before was when nurse lady put in my IV, that needle was thick and she didn't get it in a good spot. I got all hot and light-headed. I thought I was going to pass out. I'm such weak sauce when it comes to needles and blood. Hence why I could never be a nurse.
I started feeling contractions but they were no big deal at first. We just hung out and chatted and dozed a little. I flipped through the bazillion cable channels but there was nothing exciting on. I landed on HGTV like I usually do because pretty much everything else sucks, ha ha! Good old Rehab Addict kept me entertained for awhile. Dr. Rao came in at 10:30 to check my progression and I was dilated 4cm. He said let's go ahead and rupture the membranes aka break my water. It's the weirdest feeling ever. You totally feel like your peeing your pants but like gallons of pee are coming out. It's fun. :)
After that lovely experience, the contractions started getting closer together and a little stronger so I thought well, I might as well just get the epidural rolling if I'm going to do it. With it being kid #3 I knew I could easily go from 4 to a 10 in no time. I told Dr. Husband to go get the anesthesiologist(which he wished was him but I said no I need you to solely be the supportive husband today). Trey made sure I got one of the best guys to do it. Definitely an advantage of having an anesthesiologist for a husband. He was super cool (can't remember his name!) and laid back (as are many anesthesiologists) and did a great job. He gave me just the right amount. I forgot about how funny it feels to have your legs numb. They got all hot and tingly.
After the epidural, I felt great! I was so relaxed. Trey and I both fell asleep for a good 2 hours! Who sleeps during labor?! Crazytown! I woke up and Dr. Rao checked me again and I was dialated 8cm and it looked like it would be really soon. I feel like it wasn't very long until I could feel the pressure from the contractions, where I felt the urge to push (like I needed to push out a huge poop basically) but it wasn't painful to me. I told the nurse who told the doctor who then came in, checked me, and said, "Let's do this!" I was so excited. The adrenaline was pumping. We got all set up, it was me, Trey, Dr. Rao, a resident, my nurse and a few other nurses to help with the baby when he came out. I don't even think I pushed for 10 minutes. I felt like it was just a few pushes and he was out. Maybe time slowed down in the moment for me. I'll have to ask Trey how long it really took. But it was the most calm labor I've had for sure. Like I would push because I could feel enough that I was able to push, but it still wasn't painful to me, just felt tons of pressure. In between pushes we were all just chatting and laughing. It was so odd but hilarious and awesome all at once. And in just a few moments my sweet little boy was out and in my arms! It was incredible and almost felt like an out of body experience for that first few moments. It was truly love at first sight for me. That little guy had my heart from the moment I laid eyes on him.
I remember my first thought when I saw him was he's so tiny! Just like Lucy was. I guessed he would be 7 lbs even, I was pretty close he was 6 lbs 14 oz. Trey noticed his huge hands and feet (like mine) right off. I noticed how much he looked like his daddy. We snuggled for a little while and then I let the nurse take him to get him cleaned off and measured and all that. Then they plopped him on me and the kid nursed like a champ! Instant relief right there for me. I'm so happy I had another good nurser, especially with him being so tiny. Oh those first snuggles were just the best. Just thinking about it makes me want to have another one, ha ha! How crazy is that!?
We relaxed for awhile and talked about names and basically narrowed it down to two, Cohen William or Liam but we couldn't think of a middle name that we liked enough to go with it. It took us all 3 days the hospital before we could settle on his name. It was way harder than it was with the girls for some reason.
I enjoyed the nurses there so much. They were all so nice and attentive. The lactation consultants were great, there was a lady that came in late one night, I think she was over all the nurses at Hillcrest. She reminded me a lot of my Relief Society President actually. Her name was Olga. She was so sweet and came and held Liam while I went to the bathroom and changed his diaper and just gave me a break for a while as she could see I was pretty tired. She even bounced him to sleep.
Hillcrest also had really good food. And you could order as much as you wanted! Good thing because I was starving!!! I don't remember ever feeling that hungry after I had Lucy or Ruby. Good golly miss molly! It all tasted amazing to me.
The most painful part of this whole experience was actually after I gave birth. The feeling of my uterus contracting felt just like intense labor pains! Like really REALLY bad cramps. I was like "Give me some Percocet, DANG IT!!" I didn't say that out loud, I politely asked for some stronger meds, but I was screaming that in my mind. :)
All in all it really was a great experience and I would totally do it again. Even with it fresh in my mind. How weird is that? The sweetness of that fresh little baby straight from Heaven is unparalleled. Heaven felt very near in those quiet moments I had with Liam, just us two in our room getting to know each other. It really is a miracle every time one of these little angels is born. I'm so grateful I've been able to experience it not only once, but three times. It completely outweighs all of the months of being sicker than sick, aches and pains of pregnancy, and the lack of sleep. It's all so worth it.
I'll begin at 30 weeks...
As in my previous post, at 30 weeks I started to get itchy, reeeeally itchy. I developed cholestasis of pregnancy so Dr. Rao said he planned on inducing me at about 38 weeks because during the last few weeks sometimes the placenta doesn't do it's job of keep the baby safe from the bile acids and it can be dangerous, sometimes fatal. Because of this, I started having weekly ultrasounds and dr. visits to make sure everything was A-Okay. Every week the little mister passed all the little ultrasound tests with flying colors. It put my mind at ease. I was put on medication that finally took care of the itching (thank heavens!).
At 36 and 1/2 weeks Dr. Rao did the cervical check and I was dialted to a 2 and 50% effaced. The next week it was pretty much the same story. Womp womp! I was hoping for a little progression, especially since I'd been feeling contractions (I guess they were just Braxton Hicks) all week. We then decided on the date Wednesday, Feb. 18. Woohoo! I had never had a scheduled induction. It was kind of nice to know that on that specific date I would get to meet my little guy!
Now fast forward to Sunday, Feb. 15. Trey was on call and I was just praying that the baby wouldn't want to come early. I'm laying in bed at 1am and I start getting intense cramps that felt like contractions but they were only on one side. They were happening every 2 minutes and they were painful enough that I couldn't ignore them. I got up and walked around, drank a TON of water to rule out the possibly of dehydration causing false labor, like what happened when I was pregnant with Ruby. I was still feeling them so I quickly waddled around my room and grabbed everything I thought I would need to head to the hospital that night. I called my neighbors who were on alert just in case this happened. I couldn't believe it was happening!! It worked out perfectly that their kids were at their grandparents so Carolyn was able to come stay at the house and Kyle drove me to the hospital. I still wasn't sure if I was in actual labor but because this was my 3rd kid I didn't want to take any chances and be stuck at home and it be too late! Oh and here's the best part, I kept calling Trey over and over and he didn't pick up! I was kinda freaking out and needed to be talked down and I couldn't get ahold of him. I figured he was asleep in the on call room. Carolyn convinced me to just go to the hospital. Better safe than sorry!
We made it to the hospital in record time. Kyle doesn't mind driving fast.:) We may even ran a few red lights just for fun. It wasn't like there was anyone on the road that early in the morning on a Monday. :) I got all checked in and into triage and I had the nurse track down Trey. Sure enough he had just fallen asleep in the on call room. And his phone was turned off! Which explains why he wasn't responding to my phone calls and texts.
They got me all set up and in a bed and started monitoring the baby and everything was good. The on call doctor arrived a while later and I hadn't progressed any so it looked like it was false labor. Womp womp! It was kind of a relief but kind of a bummer too. They were nice to let Trey off a little early at 5am so we went home together. We were both exhausted since we missed out on our sleep that night. It definitely was a walk/drive of shame home, ha ha!
I had a few nights to recover and be ready for the big day. They originally had me scheduled to be induced at midnight and I was like, "what the what?!!" I made a stink about it and they were able to switch it to 7am, thankfully! My mom flew in on Tuesday so we had everything covered with the girls being taken care of. Grandmas are such lifesavers.
When we arrived Trey and I were both pretty well rested and ready (as much as we could be) to welcome baby boy Banbury to the world. We came to the hospital with our top 3 names, as we have in the past with the girls. Would he be a Crew, a Liam, or a Cohen? Or would none of those sound right? Only time would tell...
They got me right in to a nice big delivery room with a window. We watched it lightly start to snow and then really start to snow and snow and snow! I had an older nurse, Caroline. She was pretty awesome and funny. I love people who like to laugh. I felt super comfortable with her. She got me all hooked up and IV'd and started Pitocin at 8am to get things rolling. Honestly, I think the hardest part of the whole birth was before and after. The actual labor was awesome! I'll get to that in a minute.:) But yeah, the worst part before was when nurse lady put in my IV, that needle was thick and she didn't get it in a good spot. I got all hot and light-headed. I thought I was going to pass out. I'm such weak sauce when it comes to needles and blood. Hence why I could never be a nurse.
I started feeling contractions but they were no big deal at first. We just hung out and chatted and dozed a little. I flipped through the bazillion cable channels but there was nothing exciting on. I landed on HGTV like I usually do because pretty much everything else sucks, ha ha! Good old Rehab Addict kept me entertained for awhile. Dr. Rao came in at 10:30 to check my progression and I was dilated 4cm. He said let's go ahead and rupture the membranes aka break my water. It's the weirdest feeling ever. You totally feel like your peeing your pants but like gallons of pee are coming out. It's fun. :)
After that lovely experience, the contractions started getting closer together and a little stronger so I thought well, I might as well just get the epidural rolling if I'm going to do it. With it being kid #3 I knew I could easily go from 4 to a 10 in no time. I told Dr. Husband to go get the anesthesiologist(which he wished was him but I said no I need you to solely be the supportive husband today). Trey made sure I got one of the best guys to do it. Definitely an advantage of having an anesthesiologist for a husband. He was super cool (can't remember his name!) and laid back (as are many anesthesiologists) and did a great job. He gave me just the right amount. I forgot about how funny it feels to have your legs numb. They got all hot and tingly.
After the epidural, I felt great! I was so relaxed. Trey and I both fell asleep for a good 2 hours! Who sleeps during labor?! Crazytown! I woke up and Dr. Rao checked me again and I was dialated 8cm and it looked like it would be really soon. I feel like it wasn't very long until I could feel the pressure from the contractions, where I felt the urge to push (like I needed to push out a huge poop basically) but it wasn't painful to me. I told the nurse who told the doctor who then came in, checked me, and said, "Let's do this!" I was so excited. The adrenaline was pumping. We got all set up, it was me, Trey, Dr. Rao, a resident, my nurse and a few other nurses to help with the baby when he came out. I don't even think I pushed for 10 minutes. I felt like it was just a few pushes and he was out. Maybe time slowed down in the moment for me. I'll have to ask Trey how long it really took. But it was the most calm labor I've had for sure. Like I would push because I could feel enough that I was able to push, but it still wasn't painful to me, just felt tons of pressure. In between pushes we were all just chatting and laughing. It was so odd but hilarious and awesome all at once. And in just a few moments my sweet little boy was out and in my arms! It was incredible and almost felt like an out of body experience for that first few moments. It was truly love at first sight for me. That little guy had my heart from the moment I laid eyes on him.
I remember my first thought when I saw him was he's so tiny! Just like Lucy was. I guessed he would be 7 lbs even, I was pretty close he was 6 lbs 14 oz. Trey noticed his huge hands and feet (like mine) right off. I noticed how much he looked like his daddy. We snuggled for a little while and then I let the nurse take him to get him cleaned off and measured and all that. Then they plopped him on me and the kid nursed like a champ! Instant relief right there for me. I'm so happy I had another good nurser, especially with him being so tiny. Oh those first snuggles were just the best. Just thinking about it makes me want to have another one, ha ha! How crazy is that!?
We relaxed for awhile and talked about names and basically narrowed it down to two, Cohen William or Liam but we couldn't think of a middle name that we liked enough to go with it. It took us all 3 days the hospital before we could settle on his name. It was way harder than it was with the girls for some reason.
I enjoyed the nurses there so much. They were all so nice and attentive. The lactation consultants were great, there was a lady that came in late one night, I think she was over all the nurses at Hillcrest. She reminded me a lot of my Relief Society President actually. Her name was Olga. She was so sweet and came and held Liam while I went to the bathroom and changed his diaper and just gave me a break for a while as she could see I was pretty tired. She even bounced him to sleep.
Hillcrest also had really good food. And you could order as much as you wanted! Good thing because I was starving!!! I don't remember ever feeling that hungry after I had Lucy or Ruby. Good golly miss molly! It all tasted amazing to me.
The most painful part of this whole experience was actually after I gave birth. The feeling of my uterus contracting felt just like intense labor pains! Like really REALLY bad cramps. I was like "Give me some Percocet, DANG IT!!" I didn't say that out loud, I politely asked for some stronger meds, but I was screaming that in my mind. :)
All in all it really was a great experience and I would totally do it again. Even with it fresh in my mind. How weird is that? The sweetness of that fresh little baby straight from Heaven is unparalleled. Heaven felt very near in those quiet moments I had with Liam, just us two in our room getting to know each other. It really is a miracle every time one of these little angels is born. I'm so grateful I've been able to experience it not only once, but three times. It completely outweighs all of the months of being sicker than sick, aches and pains of pregnancy, and the lack of sleep. It's all so worth it.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Itchy itchy
Here is an update on what's been going on with my pregnancy in the past few weeks:
At 30 weeks I started to notice some itchiness on my palms and the bottoms of my feet, as well as random places on my body. It felt very reminiscent of my last few days of being pregnant with Ruby. All I thought was, "oh crap, here it is again...cholestasis." My mother had it when she was pregnant with me which she so loving passed on to me which I will most likely pass on to my daughters. Sorry girls, it sucks. Once you have it in one pregnancy the odds of you developing it in subsequent pregnancies is 90%. So I was kind of expecting it, but not this early! I had 10 weeks left at that point.
If you're wondering what in the world cholestasis is, the American Pregnancy Association defines it as "a condition in which the normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the high amounts of pregnancy hormones." To further explain, "pregnancy hormones affect gallbladder function, resulting in slowing or stopping the flow of bile. The gallbladder holds bile that is produced in the liver, which is necessary in the breakdown of fats in digestion. When the bile flow is stopped or slowed down, this causes a build up of bile acids in the liver which can spill into the bloodstream." Which is what causes the severe itching all over your body. A developing baby relies on the mother’s liver to remove bile acids from the blood; therefore, the elevated levels of maternal bile cause stress on the baby’s liver and can be quite dangerous.
I called and made an appointment for the following Monday, since this all went down on a Saturday. At the appointment I told my doctor about my symptoms, my history, and that my mother had it with me and he ordered a blood test to check the bile acid levels in my blood. We had to wait for a few days for the results (since my blood had be sent to Utah, funny enough, to be analyzed by ARUP) and when they came back it showed that the levels were normal and that it didn't show any evidence of cholestasis. But man was I still feeling the itch! A few days later I had an appointment scheduled as well as an ultrasound to make sure baby boy was doing okay in there. Thankfully everything looked normal and he was moving all over the place. It didn't seem to be affecting him one bit. :)
I went to see my doctor after the ultrasound and was thinking he would have some ideas for what to do to treat the itchiness. As we chatted I told him how the symptoms were still the same and the itchiness had gotten worse. It's manageable during the day but at night, oh boy, it is in full swing! I can't stop scratching pretty much everywhere (I have scabs all over my body to prove it). My doctor said looking at my symptoms and my history, along with my mother's, he said we should still treat it as if I have it because sometimes the tests can be wrong. Better safe than sorry. So he said he will have me tested again in a few weeks and gave me a prescription that will regulate the bile flow, Ursodiol. Trey just told me tonight what it actually is. Yeah, I'm taking bear bile piles. Hey, whatever works! I've been taking them for 4 days now and am waiting for the itchiness to go down. My doc said it can sometimes take up to a week before the itchiness decreases. It's getting really hard to be patient, let me tell you! I just keep telling myself, this won't last forever. It goes away as soon as you have the baby.
I went from having a normal pregnancy to a possible high risk pregnancy. I have my next appointment on Tuesday, which happens to be my birthday (woohoo!), so I hope to get some answers if I will be induced earlier than my due date. More than likely I will. They won't let you go longer than 38 weeks with cholestasis. So that puts us at around Valentines Day! Exciting!! I need to start getting stuff ready! I'm 32 weeks along right now so only 6 more weeks along as everything goes smoothly.
In the meantime they are monitoring me closely, having me come in weekly for ultrasounds and appointments. I have to make sure I feel baby boy move at least 5 times within the 2 hours after every meal I have. It's been a little stressful and uncomfortable for me, I just hope baby boy isn't affected by the craziness.
At 30 weeks I started to notice some itchiness on my palms and the bottoms of my feet, as well as random places on my body. It felt very reminiscent of my last few days of being pregnant with Ruby. All I thought was, "oh crap, here it is again...cholestasis." My mother had it when she was pregnant with me which she so loving passed on to me which I will most likely pass on to my daughters. Sorry girls, it sucks. Once you have it in one pregnancy the odds of you developing it in subsequent pregnancies is 90%. So I was kind of expecting it, but not this early! I had 10 weeks left at that point.
If you're wondering what in the world cholestasis is, the American Pregnancy Association defines it as "a condition in which the normal flow of bile in the gallbladder is affected by the high amounts of pregnancy hormones." To further explain, "pregnancy hormones affect gallbladder function, resulting in slowing or stopping the flow of bile. The gallbladder holds bile that is produced in the liver, which is necessary in the breakdown of fats in digestion. When the bile flow is stopped or slowed down, this causes a build up of bile acids in the liver which can spill into the bloodstream." Which is what causes the severe itching all over your body. A developing baby relies on the mother’s liver to remove bile acids from the blood; therefore, the elevated levels of maternal bile cause stress on the baby’s liver and can be quite dangerous.
I called and made an appointment for the following Monday, since this all went down on a Saturday. At the appointment I told my doctor about my symptoms, my history, and that my mother had it with me and he ordered a blood test to check the bile acid levels in my blood. We had to wait for a few days for the results (since my blood had be sent to Utah, funny enough, to be analyzed by ARUP) and when they came back it showed that the levels were normal and that it didn't show any evidence of cholestasis. But man was I still feeling the itch! A few days later I had an appointment scheduled as well as an ultrasound to make sure baby boy was doing okay in there. Thankfully everything looked normal and he was moving all over the place. It didn't seem to be affecting him one bit. :)
I went to see my doctor after the ultrasound and was thinking he would have some ideas for what to do to treat the itchiness. As we chatted I told him how the symptoms were still the same and the itchiness had gotten worse. It's manageable during the day but at night, oh boy, it is in full swing! I can't stop scratching pretty much everywhere (I have scabs all over my body to prove it). My doctor said looking at my symptoms and my history, along with my mother's, he said we should still treat it as if I have it because sometimes the tests can be wrong. Better safe than sorry. So he said he will have me tested again in a few weeks and gave me a prescription that will regulate the bile flow, Ursodiol. Trey just told me tonight what it actually is. Yeah, I'm taking bear bile piles. Hey, whatever works! I've been taking them for 4 days now and am waiting for the itchiness to go down. My doc said it can sometimes take up to a week before the itchiness decreases. It's getting really hard to be patient, let me tell you! I just keep telling myself, this won't last forever. It goes away as soon as you have the baby.
I went from having a normal pregnancy to a possible high risk pregnancy. I have my next appointment on Tuesday, which happens to be my birthday (woohoo!), so I hope to get some answers if I will be induced earlier than my due date. More than likely I will. They won't let you go longer than 38 weeks with cholestasis. So that puts us at around Valentines Day! Exciting!! I need to start getting stuff ready! I'm 32 weeks along right now so only 6 more weeks along as everything goes smoothly.
In the meantime they are monitoring me closely, having me come in weekly for ultrasounds and appointments. I have to make sure I feel baby boy move at least 5 times within the 2 hours after every meal I have. It's been a little stressful and uncomfortable for me, I just hope baby boy isn't affected by the craziness.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Baby boy is growing!
We are so excited to meet our little man in a few months! I'm currently 28 weeks pregnant, which means I am officially starting my third trimester! I'm 7 months along guys. It's getting real here. I'm starting to have my appointments every 2 weeks now. Crazy! I can't believe I'm already here but then I think about it and it's like yeah, I feel like I've been pregnant for a looong time. That first tri was pretty rough for me. Worse than with my girls. That should have been my clue that I was having a boy. :)
This was the first official picture of my belly I took, even though I was clearly showing...
This was the first official picture of my belly I took, even though I was clearly showing...
15 weeks
This is how I announced to social media that I was expecting
17 weeks
(trying on my outfit for Eric and Emily's wedding)
18 weeks
20 weeks
Makes for a good pillow :)
22 weeks
Halloween, prego fighter pilot :)
23 weeks
24 weeks
25 weeks
27 weeks
Ruby went to the doctor with me for my 27-week Rogam shot and glucose test. She was so impressed by how brave I was when I got stuck with 2 different needles. She asked me where my sticker was. The cute nurse pulled out a lollipop for her and let her choose a sticker to give to me for being so brave. So she picked a Dora sticker and plopped it right on my belly. :)
Comparing the pictures it looks like week 24 is when I really started to pop! It should be fun to see how big it gets in the coming months. It's probably going to look ridiculous. I'm carrying this guy just like I carried Ruby, straight out!
In church my calling is with the kids 18 months - 3 years old. A few weeks ago I was playing with the kids and one little boy came up to me, put his hands on my belly and said, "Ball?" I laughed and said, "That's not a ball, there's a baby in there." He kept looking at it and saying, "Ball?" He was certain I had a ball under my shirt. I kept saying, "nope no ball under there." And then he grabbed my shirt and lifted it up to make sure, ha ha! It was hilariously cute. His mom walked in to pick him up right after that and I was laughing so hard. I told her the story and she laughed and said they play that game at home all the time where they both will stick balls under their shirts like that. Too funny!
Okay I'm signing off for the night.
P.S. Why are boys names so hard to pick? We are having the hardest time finding names we like. Any suggestions? We know we want to stick with our tradition of doing family names for middle names so his middle name will more than likely be William. So we're just trying to fill in the blank, ______ William Banbury.
And then there was that one time...
...we bought a van!
Back in my youthful 20s I thought this day would never come. Now that I'm 30 (almost 31 ha!) and much wiser(ha!) and could care less of what other people think, I am all about it!
We hadn't planned on buying one until January or February, just before baby boy is due to come, because we didn't really NEED one until then. Yeah, there is no way we could fit 3 car seats across in our Subaru. Not happening folks. Anyway, back to the story. Trey's '96 Honda "Hollywood" (he so lovingly named her) decided to blow a huge hole in the muffler on his way home from work one day. It sounded AWFUL. We said if the next thing that goes wrong with her will cost us more than $100 to fix, we weren't even going to bother. Not worth it. Sure enough the gaping hole was placed in a spot that Trey just couldn't patch so he put her on Craigslist a few days later, sold her that day for $420, and we bid her farewell. She was a good little commuter, too bad she couldn't have lasted us just a few more months.
Then we were in need of a new set of wheels ASAP. I had no intention of driving Trey to work everyday at 6am. We had been researching and looking at local dealerships via the interwebs for months since we knew we would be in the market soon enough. We thought we would check out a Honda Odyssey since it sounded like it was the most reliable and easy to sell later if we wanted to. We went to a Honda dealer just going to test drive and check out a few, and we left with a black 2012 Honda Odyssey!
It all happened so fast but I guess it was just meant to be. We have not regretted our decision once. We love the space! Trey loves that he can haul wood and big stuff from Home Depot in there. I love the automatic doors. The girls love it too. :)
Back in my youthful 20s I thought this day would never come. Now that I'm 30 (almost 31 ha!) and much wiser(ha!) and could care less of what other people think, I am all about it!
We hadn't planned on buying one until January or February, just before baby boy is due to come, because we didn't really NEED one until then. Yeah, there is no way we could fit 3 car seats across in our Subaru. Not happening folks. Anyway, back to the story. Trey's '96 Honda "Hollywood" (he so lovingly named her) decided to blow a huge hole in the muffler on his way home from work one day. It sounded AWFUL. We said if the next thing that goes wrong with her will cost us more than $100 to fix, we weren't even going to bother. Not worth it. Sure enough the gaping hole was placed in a spot that Trey just couldn't patch so he put her on Craigslist a few days later, sold her that day for $420, and we bid her farewell. She was a good little commuter, too bad she couldn't have lasted us just a few more months.
Then we were in need of a new set of wheels ASAP. I had no intention of driving Trey to work everyday at 6am. We had been researching and looking at local dealerships via the interwebs for months since we knew we would be in the market soon enough. We thought we would check out a Honda Odyssey since it sounded like it was the most reliable and easy to sell later if we wanted to. We went to a Honda dealer just going to test drive and check out a few, and we left with a black 2012 Honda Odyssey!
Sunday, November 23, 2014
And just like that...
...it's almost Thanksgiving!! Wow! I have been neglecting our poor little blog. I blame IG. It makes posting pics so easy and quick, I forget about blogs completely! Every Sunday I like to check friend's blogs who still update them, but I rarely comment anymore. It looks like most people don't anymore either. This is actually more for me to have as a journal of family happenings so it doesn't really bother me. Although I do appreciate all your comments mom! Keep 'em coming! ;) And anyone else who wants to too. ;)
I'm trying to decide if I want to try and play catch up or not even bother, ha ha! I guess I should finish my Utah post real quick.
We came back up to C-ville to stay with my parents for a few days until we headed back to the Cleve. We celebrated my dad's birthday and went to Sizzler! I totally miss that place, it makes me nostalgic! We went there a lot when I was a kid.
We hit up Cherry Hill with the cousins, it was so soo fun! My girls didn't want to leave. We hit up City Creek and met up with Grandma Robin for lunch, and to tell her I was pregnant! (I'll get to that in a minute) We also went to Farmington Station and hit up Zupas one more time (my favorite!) with a bunch of my family. We went to Wellsville/Logan and I showed the girls my alma mater aka their future college, Utah State. We also went to Gossners for some squeaky cheese and rootbeer milk. The girls thought it was gross, ha ha! :) We visited Grandma Darley's grave and put a butterfly balloon by it that the girls picked out. We also drove by our old house across the street from Joann. Oh such fun memories of when were young and kidless! My mom and I went yard-saling of course, one of our favorite pastimes. We found some good stuff! The girls enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa's trampoline and dress ups. We also met up with the Morbys at a splash pad and found out Callie was prego too!
So back to me finding out I was pregnant! Ha! The first sign I had that I could possibly be pregnant was on our drive to drop Trey off in St. George to catch a shuttle to Las Vegas to fly back to CLE. On the way back I felt hungry. But not just normal hungry, it was like I need to get food in me like NOW or I'm going to be sick. I told my dad, "Um, don't tell anyone but I think I might be pregnant." He smiled and said "Really?! Why do you say that?" I said "because I need to eat something NOW or I might throw up." So we both kept it a secret for the rest of the trip. I was proud he didn't tell my mom. I kept it a secret from Trey because I wanted to surprise him if it was in fact true. So I waited until it had been the right amount of days after my last missed period and popped into the dollar store for some prego sticks, it was actually in Logan I think. I took 2 tests just to make sure but sure enough, two pink lines appeared!! Yay!! It was so exciting! I sent Trey a pic of the sticks in a text. He was pretty surprised and excited. So then I brought one of the sticks up to my mom and said, "Mom I have something I want to show you," and she was busy doing something and said okay hold on. I showed her the pee stick and she flipped! She has pretty good reactions so it's always fun passing on good news to her. :) I decided to tell the rest of my fam since we were there, even though I wasn't even 5 weeks along yet. It was fun to be able to tell them in person. The day after is when we met up with Robin for lunch to tell her in person too. I had Lucy tell her, "Momma has a baby in her belly!" I'm glad we got to be in Utah for the excitement.
And this is when I got a new phone and I stopped taking pictures on my normal camera. Those iphones just make it so gosh darn easy to snap a quick photo and post it.
We had another fun trip just a few weeks after we got back from Utah. Unfortunately, I was in the thick of my sicknesses but I still managed to do a lot. It was really fun to watch the kids with their cousins. I may have felt like crap but it made me so happy to see my girls having so much fun. We went to Cory and Lauree's for a few days and met up with Trey's parents and 2 of the Arizona cousins, Logan and Morgan. They were so fun and so cute with Ruby and Lucy. Lucy really took to Morgan and Ruby to Wren and Dylan. The kids loved exploring in their backyard and caught all sorts of fun creatures, even a little tiny toad. Trey played on Lauree's v-ball team one night and we went to Purity for some of the best ice cream ever. It was a true shame that I couldn't taste it. Then we went to NYC for a day trip and had a blast at the museum of natural history, the Shake Shack (also a shame I couldn't taste it and felt like crap), road the subway, explored Rockafeller Square, Lego store, Nintendo store, Times Square, and Central Park. Then we went to our camping destination and met Matt and Kristy there. It was at the base of Keuka Lake, one of the finger lakes. It was this cute little campground with a little lake and little cabins for everyone to sleep in. It was perfect! It was kind of nice to be camping because then I could just go throw up in the bushes if I needed to, which unfortunately happened a lot. :( We had such a great time with the Banburys though. We hit up Keuka lake one day and played on the beach and swam. It was so fun and exhausting(for me). It really was so fun to be with everyone. I wish we all lived closer so we could see more of each other.
The rest of the summer we didn't do too much. We hung around home a lot and played in the backyard, we went swimming a few times.
Trey and I went on a rare date to an Indians Game where we saw the most glorious fireworks show I've ever seen!
The girls played fashion show a lot and played with their neighbor friends. One night me and Ruby even went on a little date when Lucy went with Trey on a daddy-daughter campout.
And here are a bunch of random photos from the summer for your enjoyment...:)
A little butterfly attached itself to Ruby and wouldn't let go while we were on our walk. It walked all the way home with us. It was too cute. Ruby was so tickled.
I found out my neighbor Julie, who lives across the street, was pregnant too! She's 4 weeks ahead of me. I'm so happy for her, she had a miscarriage the previous summer and I thought they were done. It's been fun talking pregnant lady stuff with her.
We also experienced our first air show, complete with Blue Angels and all. Ruby hated how loud it was.
And just like that, summer ended. Lucy started Gymnastics. She decided she wanted to try something different than dance this year, even though she liked it. After she went to her first gymnastics lesson, she said, "I liked dancing, but I love love LOOOOVE gymnastics!" Ha ha, it does look pretty fun out there.
Lucy also started Kindergarten. Full-day Kindergarten! It was a little hard for me to send her away at first because it was so darn long and Ruby sure did miss having big sissy around to play with and entertain her (I did too!).
The first day of school she cried when I gave her a hug goodbye, it was so sad. It made me tear up too. She has a hard time with transitions and this was all very new and a lot to take in for her. It took Lucy awhile to get used to it too but after about the first month is when she really started to warm up, make friends, and participate in class. I was so so grateful that she made a friend on her 2nd day of school. Her and Virginia are best buddies now, they are so cute. And they totally get in little fights too but then work it out and forgive each other and go back to being BFFs. I remember doing that with my little friends too when I was her age. Too funny! And her teacher and teacher's aid are just the best! She really does have a great little class. I chaperoned their first field trip to the zoo and had a blast getting to know all the kids. (That cute little redhead girl is Virginia.:))
Lucy is definitely a minority in her school. It's been a good experience so far to get to know kids from different backgrounds. We enjoyed that with living at UME in Hershey too. We made friends with people from all over the globe. :) Definitely something we wouldn't have experienced if we never left Utah.
Okay I'm going to stop there for now. I'll continue my catch up next Sunday and maybe get all caught up by then. That's a fun thought. ;)
I'm trying to decide if I want to try and play catch up or not even bother, ha ha! I guess I should finish my Utah post real quick.
We came back up to C-ville to stay with my parents for a few days until we headed back to the Cleve. We celebrated my dad's birthday and went to Sizzler! I totally miss that place, it makes me nostalgic! We went there a lot when I was a kid.
We hit up Cherry Hill with the cousins, it was so soo fun! My girls didn't want to leave. We hit up City Creek and met up with Grandma Robin for lunch, and to tell her I was pregnant! (I'll get to that in a minute) We also went to Farmington Station and hit up Zupas one more time (my favorite!) with a bunch of my family. We went to Wellsville/Logan and I showed the girls my alma mater aka their future college, Utah State. We also went to Gossners for some squeaky cheese and rootbeer milk. The girls thought it was gross, ha ha! :) We visited Grandma Darley's grave and put a butterfly balloon by it that the girls picked out. We also drove by our old house across the street from Joann. Oh such fun memories of when were young and kidless! My mom and I went yard-saling of course, one of our favorite pastimes. We found some good stuff! The girls enjoyed Grandma and Grandpa's trampoline and dress ups. We also met up with the Morbys at a splash pad and found out Callie was prego too!
These two had so much fun together! I wish we lived closer! Hopefully someday.
Playing at Cherry Hill
Luckily we made it home before the sickness started kicking in. Life was good for about a week and then the sickness happened. And I got a nasty cold on top of it, which would send me into fits of coughing which would then trigger the barfing reflex. It was just bad all around. The last half of the summer was basically that. I was in survival mode at that point. Luckily I have an awesome husband who helped me out a ton with cooking dinner, as evenings were the worst part for me. I survived on frozen berries and yogurt, bread, and whatever sounded good at the moment, which wasn't much.
And this is when I got a new phone and I stopped taking pictures on my normal camera. Those iphones just make it so gosh darn easy to snap a quick photo and post it.
We had another fun trip just a few weeks after we got back from Utah. Unfortunately, I was in the thick of my sicknesses but I still managed to do a lot. It was really fun to watch the kids with their cousins. I may have felt like crap but it made me so happy to see my girls having so much fun. We went to Cory and Lauree's for a few days and met up with Trey's parents and 2 of the Arizona cousins, Logan and Morgan. They were so fun and so cute with Ruby and Lucy. Lucy really took to Morgan and Ruby to Wren and Dylan. The kids loved exploring in their backyard and caught all sorts of fun creatures, even a little tiny toad. Trey played on Lauree's v-ball team one night and we went to Purity for some of the best ice cream ever. It was a true shame that I couldn't taste it. Then we went to NYC for a day trip and had a blast at the museum of natural history, the Shake Shack (also a shame I couldn't taste it and felt like crap), road the subway, explored Rockafeller Square, Lego store, Nintendo store, Times Square, and Central Park. Then we went to our camping destination and met Matt and Kristy there. It was at the base of Keuka Lake, one of the finger lakes. It was this cute little campground with a little lake and little cabins for everyone to sleep in. It was perfect! It was kind of nice to be camping because then I could just go throw up in the bushes if I needed to, which unfortunately happened a lot. :( We had such a great time with the Banburys though. We hit up Keuka lake one day and played on the beach and swam. It was so fun and exhausting(for me). It really was so fun to be with everyone. I wish we all lived closer so we could see more of each other.
The rest of the summer we didn't do too much. We hung around home a lot and played in the backyard, we went swimming a few times.
Trey and I went on a rare date to an Indians Game where we saw the most glorious fireworks show I've ever seen!
Bugs, bugs, bugs! Both girls are still obsessed with bug catching.
Horseshoe Park
Lucy giving Ruby a makeover, complete with chalk makeup
Awww!<3
Playing with Caleb
These girls and big bear. Lucy still sleeps with him every night. :)
Ruby is really into "organizing" things these days.
We also experienced our first air show, complete with Blue Angels and all. Ruby hated how loud it was.
Lucy also started Kindergarten. Full-day Kindergarten! It was a little hard for me to send her away at first because it was so darn long and Ruby sure did miss having big sissy around to play with and entertain her (I did too!).
The first day of school she cried when I gave her a hug goodbye, it was so sad. It made me tear up too. She has a hard time with transitions and this was all very new and a lot to take in for her. It took Lucy awhile to get used to it too but after about the first month is when she really started to warm up, make friends, and participate in class. I was so so grateful that she made a friend on her 2nd day of school. Her and Virginia are best buddies now, they are so cute. And they totally get in little fights too but then work it out and forgive each other and go back to being BFFs. I remember doing that with my little friends too when I was her age. Too funny! And her teacher and teacher's aid are just the best! She really does have a great little class. I chaperoned their first field trip to the zoo and had a blast getting to know all the kids. (That cute little redhead girl is Virginia.:))
Okay I'm going to stop there for now. I'll continue my catch up next Sunday and maybe get all caught up by then. That's a fun thought. ;)
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