6-9 months & 3 Years

I have gotten very far behind. Working remotely from home and juggling the girls makes posting anything pretty challenging. Aoife is now 9 months old and is crawling fast everywhere. She is also climbing on everything and can stand independently too! It’s just a matter of time before she takes her 1st steps. She is 16 lbs now and in the 25 percentile. She has 2 bottom teeth finally, teething has been a nightmare! She is eating any solid foods she can get her little hands on; eggs, carrots, muffins, bread, chicken pieces, cheerios, etc. Yogurt with peanut butter mixed in is her favorite. She is also saying dada AND mama now! I am so happy she has finally learned mama! She also waves and points at everything with her index finger. So adorable!

Adeline turned 3 years old back in June. She talks so much, tells stories, loves to sing! She is rambunctious and goes a mile a minute all day long. She still loves all things Frozen but also watches Bambi, 101 Dalmatians, and the Aristocats on repeat. She insists on doing everything herself and helping with all tasks. She is a great big sister most of the time but has her moments. Time out is definitely not new to her haha! But mostly she is sweet and loving and still wants me to hold her and snuggle all of the time. I am so happy she hasn’t grown out of this!

Life Updates

I am pretty behind on Aoife’s 5 months post. At her 4 months check up she was 12 lbs and 22 inches long. She is very small for her size like her sister but is growing at a healthy rate. Not too much as changed from 4 to 5 months. She rolls a lot, loves baby food, laughing at her sister and playing with toys. She is also very very close to being able to sit up unsupported! Maybe by next month.

I am currently working from home, which is challenging with a toddler running around an infant but it is also so great and I am loving it. Especially the part where my girls are both staying healthy and not constantly sick from all the germs of daycare. I am already so concerned with the thought of me having to return to the office and put them back in daycare. Infants have their own scary risks with the Coronavirus. AC thinks he should be working from home through the month of June as he isn’t part of the first phase returning at his work. I think, as long as my work considers infants a high risk, that I shouldn’t have to go back until the last phase in my office. They also factor in those without daycares for their kids too. So those combined should help me to continue working from home for awhile and keeping my kids healthier for longer but we shall see.

In other news, Adeline will be turning 3 years old in one week!!! We will just have a very intimate party of just AC, Aoife, and I, as well as my brother in law, as it is his week to come help with the children while AC and I are working. We are so blessed to have both of our mothers and AC’s brother able to come to our house on weekdays to help with the girls so that we can get our work done successfully. Adeline is definitely a Threenager now! She isn’t afraid to shout NO! or stomp her feet at us when she is angry or didn’t like something. I’ll do more of an update on her for her birthday. She is growing up so fast!

 

4 Months

Aoife turned 4 months old on the 10th. I don’t know officially how much she weighs since her next appointment isn’t until the 24th but i’d guess maybe 12 pounds. Frankly, I am surprised her 4 months appointment wasn’t cancelled due to the Covid 19 lockdown but I guess they don’t want to delay her shots and make sure she is growing good.

Aoife’s Likes: smiling! she is such a happy baby and is so close to laughing. She especially loves smiling and looking at her sister Adeline. She also loves talking, well baby babble, which she does all day long. Once she learns to talk there will be no stopping her!

Aoife’s Dislikes: tummy time! That’s pretty much it. Baths aren’t her favorite but she tolerates them well. And I guess not being held makes her upset some too ever since her Meemaw was over for 2 weeks and barely put her down!

Nicknames: Eevee is what AC likes to call her. Yes, like the pokemon! haha

Weight: I’m guessing 12 pounds but I’ll find out for sure next friday. She was on the very small side last doctor’s visit being in the 7th percentile. She just moved into size 2 diapers though I still put her in size 1s during the day just to use up what we have. She is still wearing size 3m clothing.

Milestones: Aoife rolled over once from her back to her belly. Though she chose to do that for her MeeMaw and AC while I was in the bathroom and missed it! She is also starting to hold her bottle on her own.

1, 2, 3

Yesterday Aoife turned 3 months old! I don’t know how that is even possible. Time goes by so quickly with infants and kids in general.

Aoife at her 2 months appointment, (which was really closer to her being 3 months) was 9lbs 15oz. AC and I thought that sounded huge since we could only compare to Adeline who was a preemie. But in fact Aoife is in the 7th percentile for weight! So tiny! And even smaller for height in the 0.5% at 20 in long! The pediatrician wasn’t too concerned though at how small Aoife was since AC and I are not tall people and Adeline is still very small as well. 23 pounds at 2 and half years old! The doctor said since Aoife skips a feeding or 2 during the night, that means she is getting enough food during the day and is doing great!

At 3 months old:

Aoife has very strong neck muscles and can hold her head up independently.

She can sit on her own if propped up with something or the corner of the couch.

She is such a happy baby during the day. She smiles all of the time and I love it!

When 8pm rolls around, like clockwork, she starts screaming however! The doctor thinks it’s colic. And boy can she scream. She is deafeningly loud! Adeline was not even close to the volume Aoife has. It’s as impressive as it is painful! Thankfully her screaming doesn’t last as long as it was at 2 months. I am hoping it’ll taper off soon…when do babies grow out of colic?!

Anyway, she is wearing size 1 diapers and 0 to 3 month clothing.

She started daycare last week sadly. But she seems to be enjoying it. Her teacher says she is always happy and loves to eat!

Speaking of which, she is eating between 3 and 5oz every 3 hours. She really loves to eat! I am pumping at work and nursing at home but because of my PCOS I am not making that much milk so I am supplementing her feedings as well. I cannot keep up with her appetite! She is going through a 32oz formula bottle at daycare every 3 days :O

She loves to be held but also is a fan of just sitting up on her own in her little froggy chair that supports her.

Birth Story

My maternity leave has officially ended and this was my first week back to work and both girls are now in full time daycare 😦 But this does give me time to enter back into the blog world and finally write my daughter’s birth story!

Monday, December 9th I went to the doctors for my 38 weeks routine appointment. I had to bring Adeline with me and take the day off of work because Adeline was sick with a virus. (turns out she actually had pneumonia!) I had Adeline sit on a chair and watch her tablet while I was checked out. I was at 4cm dilated! Not very effaced though. Dr. C of course asked what I had decided about an induction date, the 16th or my Dec 21st due date since she was determined to not let me go past that. I chose Dec 21st because at 4cm, what are the real chances that I was making it 2 more weeks anyway?

That evening, a little before AC got home from work, I had some very mild cramping. But they weren’t steady enough to time and barely hurt so I didn’t worry. Though I knew this probably meant this little girl would be coming in a few days…

Around 2:30am AC and I were woken up by Adeline needing another dose of medicine because she was starting to feel bad again and couldn’t sleep. We had just finished getting her her medicine, which was a huge struggle, she had started spitting it out!, when before we could get her back to sleep I started being hit by some super painful contractions! AC could tell something was wrong so I told him baby girl might be coming tonight. He immediately phoned his mom and told his family to start the hour drive to our house. We needed them to come watch Adeline so that we could get to the hospital. I started timing the contractions but stupidly decided to use an app for that rather than just look at a clock, and I read the app wrong. I thought it was saying they were 10 min apart so I hopped in the shower, as I have read on so many blogs that this eases the pain. Yeahhh, while in the shower I was hit with contraction after contraction and knew they were much closer together than 10 min apart. I hurried up and hopped out and started watching the clock and found out that they were actually 3 min apart and we really needed to get to the hospital fast!  AC called his parents to see where they were while I got dressed…they hadn’t left the house yet!! So we decided there was no time, they would have to just meet us at the hospital instead and we would have to take Adeline with us in the mean time. Poor baby, sick with pneumonia and having to be loaded into the car at 3am and then worry about her mom who is in some serious pain on top of that. In the car we had to make a quick decision of which hospital to head to. The one Adeline was born at is a straight shot down the road 10 min from our house but the one that my doctor is associated with is about 15 min away. I decides on the slightly further away hospital since my doctor was really on me about going to the one they were associated with. I prayed we had the time to get there, as my contractions were getting closer and closer and incredibly painful. We thankfully made it there in about 9 min due to blowing through red lights and driving over the speed limit.

Once we ran in and were checking in at the front desk of the ER, I was already asking about an epidural hahaha. I remember hearing a code blue being called over the loud speaker though, right after I was finished signing my name. Little did I know just how much that was going to affect my delivery experience…

So after being checked in we were taken to a small room and asked to fill out paperwork and for me to give a urine sample if possible. It was not! Also to change into a hospital gown and  then we were left in the room alone. I was extremely angry and confused as to why I wasn’t being checked right away and taken care of. I felt like my contractions were coming every other min and I couldn’t bare it. To make matters worse, AC had to leave me too. I was kneeling on the floor hunched over with my head on the bed in excruciating pain when AC decided he should probably take Adeline out into the hall until his parents arrived. She was very scared for me. She is only 2 and half and witnessing her mom in that much pain was terrifying for her, so I knew AC had to do it, but laboring without his support was very hard. Eventually, after what felt like forever, the nurse came back and checked me. I was 8cm dilated. They decided to move me to a delivery room and the whole time I am being wheeled down there I was asking when I could get an epidural.

Once I got set up in my new room a team of nurses assembled. AC was still away with Adeline waiting on his parents to arrive. Thank goodness for this one particular nurse Genifer. She was the only one there talking me through my contractions and the pain. Having me take deep breaths and focus on her. I was really falling apart without AC and not having the epidural yet to take my pain away. I asked again about getting the epidural or even a spinal block if there wasn’t time for the epidural. The pain was unbearable and I wanted it to stop. That’s when Genifer told me the truth, that code blue I had heard when I had just got to the hospital meant the only person who could administer an epidural or spinal block was away and I wasn’t going to get one in time. I couldn’t believe it! I had not prepared for a natural birth! I thought I was going to die. At that point, sometime after 4am, AC finally came into my room, his parents had arrived and taken Adeline back home. I told him how I wasn’t going to be able to get an epidural and that I couldn’t do this. It felt so painful and impossible to endure. Genifer told me she knew I was capable of doing this and she believed in me. That I was going to get through this and was a very strong person. With that, the doctor on call arrived and I started pushing. Let me tell you, I could have sworn I had read somewhere that pushing helped elevate contraction pain, it did not for me. It made it a million times worse! I thought I was going to pass out from the pain with each push. I couldn’t keep my eyes opened. I squeezed them shut and kept screaming with each push. I am a very quiet, shy person, so when I started screaming with each push, it surprised me! They then had to put an oxygen mask on my face because baby girls heart rate started dropping. They told me we had to get her out soon and to dig really deep with the next few pushes, she was right there and had to come out! I begged the doctor to just grab her and yank her out for me lol. She told me she couldn’t, this is something I had to do myself.

Finally, at 4:51am my sweet little baby Aoife was born (pronounced EE-fa, it’s Irish). What a huge relief that was! Life flooded back into me as they wiped her down a little. AC did not get to cut the cord, once again! I don’t even know why, they didn’t even offer for him to, they just immediately did it. As they put Aoife on my chest, I started shaking pretty violently but thankfully it was just a normal response to what my body had been through. They put more blankets on me and brought me water. She was beautiful! And though I would never ever do it again, I was proud that I could say I had a natural birth. That I was strong and delivered Aoife without an epidural. Something I never imagined doing. Aoife was 6 lbs 15 oz and 20 in long. We love her so much!

36 Weeks and Tough Decisions

Yesterday was my 36 weeks appointment. I got to have my last ultrasound, which they pretty much did a complete anatomy scan again just like at my 20 weeks appointment. They looked at her heart, kidneys, spinal cord, everything. She is looking great and in a head down position and still weighing in at 5 lbs. Once again when we went to get a picture of her face, she had her arm blocking it. It’s like she knows! Ugh, oh well, I guess we will just have to wait to see her cute little face. Yesterday was also my very last progesterone shot! I cannot believe I made it to the end of that journey. It has definitely been worth it though to be currently still pregnant at 36 weeks! We have come so very far.

I am currently 2 cm dilated and my doctor said my cervix is actually not that thin yet and will probably still be a few weeks until baby girl is ready to go. Though she is pretty much fully developed at this point and it will be safe for her to come whenever she is ready now. No NICU stay for us this time! My due date is actually only 3 weeks away now and I can hardly believe it. Then Dr. C completely caught me of guard by suggesting I think about being induced! Umm excuse me, what?? I never dreamed I would even make it this far along in the pregnancy and here we are talking about actually forcing my baby out. She said it isn’t something I need to do at this point obviously but to just start thinking about it as we don’t know how big my pelvis is since Adeline was born so small. So she doesn’t feel comfortable letting this one go too far after my due date if it came to that. Also because my due date is Dec. 21st I am risking still being in the hospital on Christmas day. She said if I wanted to, she could induce me as early as a week prior or just a few days… I honestly don’t know how to feel about this news or this discussion. I would prefer to let baby girl come when she is good and ready, though it is very tempting to be able to plan out when she is coming and have my mom already in town and ready to watch Adeline. AC is all for being induced and thinks we should go for it. I am just not sure I feel right about it.

Have any of you chose to be induced? How did it go? Are you happy with the decision? I am just hoping it doesn’t even come to that. Now that I am done with progesterone shots, maybe she will just come soon naturally. After all, even on the shots my body is dilating and getting ready for birth.

Quick Update at 34 Weeks

Today I went to my regular progesterone shot and doppler appointment at my ob. The shot still hurts but only 2 left! I cannot believe it. Also baby girls heart rate was 152 and sounded great. I did mention to my doctor though that occasionally I was feeling a cramp or pain in my lower stomach. Nothing consistent or anything. She offered to check me though, if I wanted. I decided that would be best this time around. I learned my lesson with Adeline about ignoring things my body was trying to tell me. Sure enough, I am 1 to 2 cm dilated and my cervix is thinning! The doctor said not to stress yet though, that it could stay this way for several weeks. We will just have to be on the look out for if contractions start. She said she was glad that I was no longer going out of town for Thanksgiving as I had originally planned. I guess I am too! So I am slightly concerned that I will be going into labor early with this pregnancy too, but thankfully I am far enough along that hopefully there will be only a short NICU stay if any at all.

On a side note: AC got the job! It pays more and has great benefits. We are so thankful! That is also the reason I couldn’t travel to my grandpa’s this Thanksgiving because AC has to work Black Friday and can’t take off since he just started working. But I guess that too was a blessing in disguise.

Halloween and 33 Weeks Pregnant

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween! Adeline went as a llama this year. It was her 1st real year getting to Trick or Treat. She loved it! She wouldn’t say trick or treat to any of the neighbors but she would march up to each house and then proceed to put her candy bag in front of each person’s door making sure to have it opened to receive her candy haha! We did get her to say thank you to everyone at least and Happy Halloween a few times. We were the 1st ones and possibly the only ones to many of the houses in our little neighborhood so a lot of the neighbors gave Adeline handfuls of candy or insisted she take many pieces herself, to which she happily obliged. She also insisted that she drag her candy bag from house to house herself without any help, even when it was getting very full! She was too cute and AC and I had a blast taking her door to door.

33 Weeks with Baby Girl

I haven’t done one of these this whole pregnancy so I figured I better stop slacking!

How far along: 33 weeks/ 8 months

Total weight gain: I think so far I have gained close to 20 pounds at this point…I am hoping I don’t go too crazy this last month and a half.

Maternity clothes: 90% of the time I am in maternity clothes at this point. I have a pretty big baby bump! But some flowy dresses and sweaters still fit, so I wear them as well.

Stretch marks: None yet! Though my stomach is starting to get kind of itchy and I am wondering if I am not careful if that means stretch marks could start appearing. I need to start using lotions!

Sleep: Not the best. I wake up several times a night to pee now and when I am not waking up from that, I am waking up to rotate which side I am sleeping on because my hips are aching so bad. And then there is Adeline, who is still waking up once a night on occasion…

Best moment of this week: This week just started but I am looking forward to the Million Bulb Walk at a local botanical gardens this weekend! I know Adeline will be thrilled to see all the Christmas and holiday lights.

Miss anything: deli meat, just because I can’t have it lol.

Movement: All of the time! Baby girl kicks up a storm once I get to work and then again later in the day and then again before I go to sleep. She is much more active than Adeline was! Though Adeline never made it this far, maybe she would have been.

Food cravings: Root Beer! haha not sure why but I crave it everyday.

Anything making you queasy or sick: No morning sickness or queasiness with this pregnancy at all. Not with Adeline either though, I have been very lucky with that! I am occasionally having horrible heartburn now though and my hips ache at night. Also, if I walk to fast for any distance, it becomes painful, so I really try to be careful with that.

Have you started to show yet: Absolutely! It is very obvious.

Gender: Girl!!!

Belly button in or out: In for now, but it has gotten very shallow. I think it could be popping out soon.

Wedding rings on or off: On, though I think that wont be for much longer. It is hard to take them off before showering and I am afraid they are going to get stuck soon. I might need to stop wearing them shortly.

How does this pregnancy compare to last pregnancy: Pretty much the exact same through 29 weeks at least. No morning sickness, a felt good mostly and the only real issue was my hips hurting. This time I had to do the 3 hour glucose test though, that I didn’t have to with Adeline. The one major difference this time is that I made it past 29 weeks!!! So all of these new 3rd trimester symptoms are brand new and I can’t really compare them.

Turning Around

Things are slowly starting to get better around here. AC still does not have a new job yet but he had a 2nd interview with a place yesterday and should hear back soon if he will get the job. I pray that he gets this job and that it is good for our family! So far it is our only option, though he has been submitting many applications, went to a job fair, and spoke with a head hunter. He actually has another company interested in him but it’s in upstate New York and would be a big move for our family. But at least it’s another option. I truly believe AC lost his job to be pushed out there for something better. I was extremely stressed out that on our current salaries combined we still weren’t going to be able to make ends meet once we have 2 little ones in daycare. It’s a huge weekly expense that we couldn’t afford but at the same time, we couldn’t afford for both of us not to work. The job he interviewed for yesterday should pay quite a bit more money if he gets it and would really make everything so much better for us. Maybe I could even be a stay at home mom! That might be a stretch lol but it’s possible. Until we hear back, fingers crossed and lots of prayers that this is all part of a better plan for us!

As for my 3 hour glucose test, I got the results right before we left out of town to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary in a cabin in the mountains. My numbers came back beautifully they said! I do not need to worry about having gestational diabetes anymore, which is a huge burden lifted!

The Hits Just Keep on Coming

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of blogging yet again. I am currently 29 weeks and 5 days pregnant! That is a new record for me!! Adeline was born at 29 weeks and 1 day, so I am heading into all new territory with this pregnancy and I could not be happier that so far this baby is comfy and content to get us closer to full term. Maybe these weekly progesterone shots are really helping! That’s the highlight, because currently my family is in a period of struggle. It seems to be one thing after another going wrong right now.

I had my glucose screening last Tuesday at 28 weeks only to get the results at the end of the week that my numbers had come back high. I knew going into this that there was a significant risk of me not passing the test because of my PCOS. With Adeline I was on Metformin the first 2 trimesters up until 2 weeks prior to me getting my glucose screening. I think that played a huge role in me passing that time around. I am not on Metformin this time, and that seems to show. I was pretty bummed about the results and knowing I now had to take the 3 hour glucose test the next upcoming week.

One good thing that did come out of that 28 week appointment was that I got to have an extra ultrasound to make sure everything was looking good and that baby girl wasn’t trying to come out anytime soon like Adeline. My cervix looked great and she was measuring normal at 2 lbs 11 oz.

The technician even tried to get me a 3-d picture of baby girl but unfortunately she was sleeping with not only her arms in front of her face but also her feet as well! She was curled up into such a tight little ball I really couldn’t see her face at all.

I did get to see her face in the regular 2d ultrasound though. Overall, I am just glad she is healthy and has a chance at going full term. I love getting to see her on ultrasound. My next one won’t be until 35 weeks, if I make it that far.

By the end of last week right before I got my glucose screening  results that were too high, AC had just found out that his work was downsizing and his position, along with a few others, was being cut. They gave him no warning whatsoever, just today is your last day and we will give you a few weeks severance pay, good luck. I couldn’t believe that! He was working at a little family run company that knew we had a baby on the way and that would be here very shortly. Thankfully God is so good and is seeing us through this rough time. AC’s Army Reserve unit is letting him work a few weeks there to fill in the paycheck gaps and get us covered through November. I think that will buy us enough time for AC to get another job lined up. I sure hope so! If those 2 things weren’t bad enough, Adeline has come down with Hand Foot and Mouth so we were also scrambling to find someone to babysit her while she had to be out of daycare this week. Thankfully AC’s family has agreed to taking turns watching her.

Yesterday was my 3 hour glucose test. I went in just before 9am and got my initial blood draw and then drank the highly concentrated glucose drink. It was labelled at 100 ml of sugar. That first hour was the hardest. I felt slightly queasy and starving at the same time. I had had to fast from midnight on until the test would be over at noon. I couldn’t even drink water! After getting my 2nd blood draw I started feeling better thankfully and even my hunger pains had subsided for the most part. Right before my 3rd blood draw (they are each spaced 1 hour apart) the power to the whole building went out! it flickered back on twice and then stayed out for good. Luckily, the nurses continued on with my testing in the dark. I would have cried if I had to redo all of this another day! They were able to take me back and draw my blood by cell phone light lol.  Then I went back into the waiting room to wait another hour in the dark for my final blood draw. While waiting, they were sending many people home and the place was almost entirely empty before I was taken back for my 4th and final blood draw. Just a crazy experience but I am so grateful it is over and I was able to finish it even in the dark. I really hope I pass this test because I have no idea how to handle gestational diabetes or what that involves.