Little Help

So, in about an hour I am going to the hospital with #2.

A few weeks ago, I started noticing that something wasn't quite right.  #2 can't straighten out her body.  If she is standing up her little bum is sticking out.  When she lays on the floor she always has her legs up.  If I try I can force her legs down, but then she has to arch her back. She also can't roll over.  Her top half can do it, but she can't get her legs to follow.  I could tell something was off.

She had a well check today and I talked to her doctor about it.  We currently know very little.  Her left leg is longer than her right.  And something is off with her hips.  We are going to the hospital for x-rays to see what is going on.  In a perfect world, everything is normal and we just need some physical therapy to get her hips to work correctly.  In an imperfect world we will find out that she needs surgery.

I'm kind of freaking out, and trying not to.  I mean, really, in every other way she is perfect.  I just hope a little physical therapy is all that we need.

So, if anyone feels inspired to pray for my sweet girl that everything is fine, that would be great.

*UPDATE 7 hours later*  I heard back from the Doctor, and I guess the x-rays aren't awesome.  They didn't take shots of what the doctor wanted so she couldn't see everything she hoped to see.  However, she did say that the hip is where it is supposed to be, and nothing looks broken.  (I didn't even know broken was an option!)  She is still pretty concerned, because there is obviously something unusual going on.  I just keep hearing that her "hips are really tight!"  I don't know what that means.  The doctor wants to meet with us next Wednesday morning to look at her hips some more.  For now, she is thinking that we should probably meet with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon because they would have a better idea of what to look for to figure out what is wrong.  So, I guess we still don't really know anything except that the obvious isn't the problem.  We'll have to keep trying to figure this out.  Thanks for the kind thoughts and prayers!

Parenting

#2 is a pretty sound sleeper.  Our apartment has really thin walls, and we have noisy neighbors.  She also has a pretty loud big sister.

However, there are certain very quiet sounds that she easily wakes up to.  The hardest one for me: the sound of my jeans swishing as I walk.  You see, I am not a super skinny girl.  My thighs touch.  I'm good with it.  But when I walk, if you really listen, you can hear the denim of my shorts swish.  This is a problem because #2 still sleeps in my room.  In our home, you always have to go through a bedroom to get to a bathroom.  If #1 is asleep, I can't go use her bathroom, because the door sticks and wakes her up.  #2 can easily sleep through the squeaky bedroom door, the closing of the bathroom door, all noises made in the bathroom (like hand washing and flushing toilets) all of that.  However, the sound of my jeans wakes her up.  I have now adapted with this really awkward walk where I space out my legs and squat down a little so as to not let my jeans swish.

I just ran through her room to get my phone that was ringing.  (She won't sleep through that.)

I think I pulled something doing my awkward "don't let the thighs touch" move.

The things we do for our kids. ;)

Day To Day

I love my girls.  Sure, when I was younger I never thought I would want or have 2 kids under 2.  Especially when I haven't even been married three years yet.  However, my family is my world, and I wouldn't change the size or age of my family for anything.  We always have our adventures.

Example:  Going to the grocery store.  This has never been one of my favorite tasks.  Now I pretty much hate it.  Figuring out how to maneuver a grocery store with two girls was a struggle.  But I think I have it down.  Oh, but I just told you I hate it.  Why would I hate it?  Because of all of the lame people!

I realize where I live that a family like mine is unusual.  I'm used to the surprised looks.  I'm fine with people asking the ages of my girls.  We can be a bit of a spectacle.  It is normal for me to hear someone comment on how cute #1 is, to then have them look with surprise when they realize there is a baby in a carrier right behind her.  But really, friends.  Can we work on a few things?

For example:  Today I went to Aldi.  It is a great grocery store with awesome prices.  There are a few quirks for those of you not in the know.  They don't bag your groceries.  They take the food right off the belt, scan it, and put it back in the cart.  Also, you have to "pay" a quarter to get a cart.  You get your quarter back when you return the cart.  We made it through the store with #2 in the car seat at the front of the cart, and #1 in the main part of the cart.  She loved that I kept handing her new toys to play with.  "Oh look!  A box!  And a can!  And another box!!!  My life is awesome!"  (I'm pretty sure that is what she was thinking.)  We even managed to buy eggs and get them home in one piece.  (Well, 12 pieces.)  While shopping I had quite a few of the normal comments I get.  That's cool.  #1 was squealing a lot.  But she was super happy so I didn't stop her.  It's not like we were at the library or anything.  I heard (and I guess that there were more comments I didn't hear) one woman say under her breath "she could probably keep her kid under control if she didn't have two to deal with."  EXCUSE ME?  Who are you to say something like that?  My girls were both being very well behaved.  If you are allowed to make any noise, then so is my 18 month old.

When I went to return my cart I had both girls with me.  It is getting hot here, #2 was asleep, and I knew if I put the girls in the car and when to return the cart #1 would scream and wake up her sister.  The problem was, you can't get your quarter back if anything is in the cart.  I pushed the cart to the return area and passed a couple that was smoking.  "Oh, look how sweet" the lady said.  "She is adora... wait!  Is there another baby there?"asked the man.  I smiled and told him that yes, there were two and they are both mine.  He then proceeded to watch me struggle to return the cart while holding a squirmy toddler and a baby in a car seat.  While I was doing this he commented that I, "must have a really hard time doing normal things like grocery shop with those kids."  Huh.  Ya think?  Maybe you could put down your cigarette for a minute and return my cart for me?  I realize that you may have had to step about three feet to do this, but that would have been much kinder than just watching me struggle and commenting about it.

Oh, and probably my favorite comment I get from people:  "Did you know you don't have to have your kids so close together?  There area ways to prevent that...."   oh... gosh... I'm so embarrassed   I didn't know that.  I sure wish I had known you before so you could have imparted your great and wonderful wisdom earlier.

Maybe we should just be nice?  Maybe you don't have to approve of the spacing of my children but you could just keep your opinion to yourself?


And just one more story.  This last week Hod and I were out shopping for Mother's Day.  He wanted to get me some jewelry with an emerald.  Right after finding out the ages of the girls (18 and 3 months) the sales lady perked up and asked, "Oh, so do you want an emerald because that is their birthstone?"  Ha!  Nice math lady.  But if this month is May and emeralds are the birthstone for this month.... how can an 18 and 3 month old have May birthdays?  People are funny.  At least she was nice. :)

Adjusting

Oh, the life of a mom of 2 young girls!

I love my girls so much.  #1 has a few little quirks.  For example, when she is really sad she will find her favorite pink blanket and bite it.  I don't know where that came from.  This morning I had #2 on the floor as I was changing her diaper and she was screaming.  #1 came over, and though at first I wondered if she was trying to smother her sister, gently offered her favorite pink blanket for her sister to bite on.  Yesterday #1 tried to sit on #2.  We had a very quick, very firm talk about why that wasn't ok.  She went to the other side of the room and sulked for a minute, then came back and gave #2 the sweetest little kiss and pat on the head.

Today we have all been awake for less than three hours.  So far I have given 3 baths, changed 5 diapers, and changed 4 sets of clothing.

Last night I got 2 1/2 hours of sleep.

This morning I had a beautiful 10 minute cuddle session with #1.  She smiled at me and gently rubbed my cheek.

Monday #1 threw up on me.

After a lot of work, I have gotten #2's schedule to shift about 5 hours.  She came home from the hospital almost completely nocturnal.  She is starting to respond a little to me.  Blinking her big eyes and pursing her little lips into the sweetest "O".

I taught #1 how to tickle #2.  Not that she laughs yet, but #1 thinks it is the coolest thing ever.

#2 is already obsessed with her pacifiers.  #1 was never really into them.  This is awesome because it is really quite easy to calm her down.  It is a little less awesome because if the pacifier falls out at just the wrong moment she kind of loses it.

#1 is doing marginally better with eating.  She will now eat chicken and beef.  Now we just need to get her to sleep.  She was doing great, but then we brought home her sister and threw her entire world upside-down.

#2 has the hiccups.  It is so cute!

I almost can't believe how my heart has grown to love my family.  Yeah, I'm exhausted.  Yes, most days there are moments where all three of us are crying.  But I am blessed to have two amazing daughters and one supportive husband that deals with the craziness.

All The Gory Details

Well, all, #2 is here!

Seeing as pretty much all of you are either family or friends I'm sure most of you know this by now.  I was pretty detailed about my birth experience with #1, and I am glad.  I don't have a memory right now, and I'm glad that I have that record.  So, here we go again.  This is more for me and the future #2 than anyone else.

Saturday, Feb 2, I was having some pretty hard contractions in the morning.  However, these contractions weren't close enough together to warrant going to the hospital.  I let Hod know what what going on, and he decided to come home for his lunch.  While he was home I wasn't have a single contraction.  However, my lower back was KILLING me!  He was pretty worried about me.  I'll be honest, I was too.  Something just didn't feel right about my body.  After some prayer, Hod decided we needed to go to the hospital.  I readily agreed.  That is unusual in and of itself.  I am kind of anti hospitals.  Well, not super anti because I would never consider delivering anywhere else.

We called some friends to take #1 and off to the hospital we went.

We got there, around 4 in the afternoon, I was hooked up to monitors and even though I couldn't really feel them I was having regular contractions.  I was already dilated to a 4 and the bag of waters was bulging and ready to pop.  We decided to stay for a few hours and see what would happen.  60 min later I was at a 5, and having painful contractions.  We got the official word, they were keeping me!  #2 was on her way!  When we had sent #1 away with friends we hadn't given them everything they would need to watch her more than 5 hours.  Hod went on a quick run to take care of all of that while I waited.

I was enjoying some HGTV when they came to tell me they were ready to augment my labor,  We waited for Hod, and then quickly broke my water, started pitocin, and got an epidural.  I had an epidural with #1, and loved it.  It didn't work perfectly but it was still pretty great.  But this time it was a little funny. Everything started sounding really metallic.  I realize that doesn't make much sense, but I don't know how else to describe it.  I felt really light headed and I'm still not sure if I passed out.  (Wow... that sounds kind of scary now that I mention it.)  But the pain was gone and I appreciated that.  Also, pretty soon the metallic sound and light headdedness left too.

However, a few hours later the pain was back.  And it was back in full force.  Because of the pitocin the contractions were really hard.  Knowing that I was getting an epidural I hadn't practiced any other sort of pain management techniques.  This is the one unperfect part of the delivery.  It took about an hour to figure out what the problem was.  Turns out ... well I don't really know I guess.  All I know is that they ended up moving my epidural and then I could handle my life again.  That hour... man.  It was no good.  However, once they took care of it life was blissful again.

When I arrived at the hospital, #2 was still sitting posterior.  But my amazing nurse had me doing some acrobatics to get her to flip.  And it worked!

Just before midnight chaos broke out in the maternity ward.  There were at least 3 other woman laboring at the same time as me.  Within minutes 2 of them were moved into the OR for emergency C-Sections.  Sadly my amazing nurse, and my doctor had to go with one of those women.  But the new lady was nice.  One of the first things she did was check me again, and I was fully ready to start pushing.  Turns out the other lady laboring who didn't need a C-Section was ready too.   So, instead of immediately starting to push, they let me labor down on my own for a bit.  (I say "let me" even though I'm pretty sure they wanted to get a little more organized because everything was happening all at once.  Whatever, I didn't mind.)

Once everything else had calmed down, and they found me a new doctor we got ready to push.  Sadly, I did end up needing to be on oxygen again.  Hod had an easier time than he had during our first delivery.  He was able to watch the birth without getting light headed.  He said it was really amazing.

To help get me in the correct position, I had an exciting tug of war party with one of the nurses.  She was rather impressed with my upper body strength.  I do have some pretty amazing shoulder muscles from all the heavy drum carrying I did in High School.  I actively pushed for only 45 minutes.  That was worlds better than the 3 hours I pushed with #1.  #2 came and she was beautiful!  No vacuum  no forceps, just an easy delivery.   The only sad part is, right as #2 went to gasp for air some more amniotic fluid came out, so she got it in her lungs.  This made it so I couldn't hold her immediately as they had to take care of her.  They took her away to attend to her, stitched me up (Yeah, I tore again, but only a stage 3 this time!) and then Hod and I waited for them to return our girl to us.

This experience was so different than #1's.  And I'm glad.  The entire time in the hospital from check in to baby was only 9 hours.  We did end up with a few hic-ups.  The results for my group b strep test were inconclusive so we were both treated for that.  That meant we had to spend an extra night in the hospital.  As for healing, it is going pretty well.  The nurses in the hospital thought I was crazy.  I haven't ever needed anything more than strong ibuprofen to fight the pain. Heck, the part that hurt the most was my arms from my awesome tug of war fight.  Over all it was quite the pleasant experience.

Life at home is exciting.  Well, that is one way to put it.  Today is my second day home all alone.  It was hard to see my mom go.  So far we've all only cried once!  I'm excited and nervous about this new part of life, but ready or not, here it is!

(I was going to post pictures too, but I can't figure out how to activate something on my phone so it will let me connect my phone to my computer and my amazing phone guru {AKA my hubby} is at work.  I'll see what I can figure out for later.)

Anxiety, Diabetes, Pain, and Advice

Today Hod wanted #1 and I to meet him for lunch. We went to a little burger place and discovered #1 needed a diaper change. They didn't have any sort of changing station. Hod went to change her in the front seat of the car. As I waited for our food he called me in a panic. #1 had MAJOR diaper rash (she had been in the diaper for less than 25 min, I'm really not a major slacker. She had been fine then.) And she had managed to get urine all over the seat. She was actually getting blisters it was so bad. She doesn't have a dr yet so we went to the local urgent care. While there I was in some pretty intense pain. Not labor, but not right. The dr saw #1 and talked to me, telling me I needed to go to labor and delivery.

We called some friends to watch #1 for us and headed over to the hospital.  This is what we now know: I am borderline diabetic. After the three hour glucose test my Dr's nurse called me and told me I was fine. No other details, just "fine". Today I learned that if my numbers had been just one higher I would be listed as diabetic. I'm that close, and you couldn't tell me to limit my hot chocolate? No wonder I have felt so lousy.

Along with this I have "floating anxiety". Basically I am so stressed out that I am hurting myself. This is why I can't sleep and why I am in so much pain. It is bad enough that if I don't figure out how to change something I will have to be medicated or it could harm #2.  Oh, so you mean all the times I tried to talk to my dr about how I was feeling and he quickly told me "your baby has a normal heart beat, you're fine." He was actually wrong? Lame-o. I have been thinking of getting a new dr for a while, and today was the final straw!

After finding all of this out, I talked to the nurse in labor and delivery about doctors. She told me that in an emergency she would love to have my current dr, but if she wanted to be listened to, she would find someone else. So she gave us a recommendation. We asked for the phone number. She just had the dr come in and give it to us. I am very excited to try this new dr! Even just the 5 min we talked I felt like she has learned more about me than my current dr did in a month.  So glad to have a dr I can feel confidence in!

A Letter

Dear #2,

We need to have a bit of a chat.  I know your big sister is amazing, and if you turn out much like her I will be a very happy mom (but no pressure, you can be yourself too!).  However, just because she decided to put me in labor for three weeks does not mean you need to do the same thing.  ESPECIALLY since she started it three weeks later than you have.  Now, trying to rise above and do your own thing is an admirable trait.  This is a time that over-achieving is not something we should be aiming for.  You are not supposed to come out for another 8 weeks.  If you do this to me for another 7 we will be in a fight. I do not enjoy regular contractions 15 min apart for 9-24 hour segments.  We have been doing this for a week now, and I am impressed with your determination and persistence.  But now that I know how determined and persistent you can be would you mind it if we took a break for about a month?  Your big sister is a very active kid.  Chasing her around all day is hard enough while I am almost 8 months pregnant.  Chasing her around all day, getting ready for Christmas, and having contractions all the time is about to do me in!

Also, do you think you could give my ribs a break?  By break, I mean let them have time off from the constant kicking.  I am NOT asking you to break them.  It seems you think this would be a wonderful, and exciting thing to do.  I'm telling you that you are wrong.  Breaking Mommy's ribs is not a kind thing to do.  I know you are a kind girl who wants to make your Mom happy, so please just lay off a bit.

We are very excited to meet you, and for you to join our family.  Just remember these 3 rules:

1.  Stop it with the regular contractions before Mommy goes crazy.
2.  Stay in there for at least 4 more weeks.
3.  Stop trying to break Mommy's ribs.

If you could manage those three simple things we will all be much happier and healthier.

Thanks so much!  Love you!

Your Mom,

Paily

It's Alive!!

When I was about 16 weeks pregnant with #1, I was informed that I had an anterior placenta.  Not a big deal, it would just make it much harder to feel movement.  (There is some debate as to whether or not an anterior placenta more often leads to a posterior birth - which #1 had - but that is not the point of this.)  Seeing as it was my first pregnancy to go past 9 weeks, I had no idea what movement felt like anyway.  I didn't feel #1 until well after 20 weeks.  Then during the pregnancy, there was a time that I hadn't been able to feel her for way too long, so we went to the Dr, hooked me up to a machine, and I got to listen to her heartbeat for 30 min.  Well, 30 min on and off.  She kept wiggling, so it was hard to stay right on her heartbeat.  But wiggling was fine, we were just checking to make sure she was doing well, and wiggling was a great sign of that.  As a general rule, the only way Hod could feel #1 moving was when he would squish my stomach.  Basically we had to get her ticked off in order to feel movement from the outside.

Well, with #2, it couldn't be more different.  Around 11 weeks I thought I could feel her moving.  (I know, that is super early, but there was something moving around inside of me and it wasn't a normal feeling.  It was new.)  Hod has been able to feel her for a few months now.  She is a wiggler and a kicker!  Most of the time that is just fine with me.  It makes me giggle when I get a minute to sit down and read, and I rest the book on my tummy only to have #2 kick it off.  I have been amazed at how it feels when she kicks.  It is so different than with #1. 

Part of me thinks that #1 and #2 are already friends.  Well... maybe friends is the wrong word.  Every time I am sitting with #1 and #2 kicks, #1 gets a concerned look on her face and hits my stomach.  Then #2 kicks back and they go on for a bit.  I think this is how they communicate their plans for the night time.  They have this awesome schedule where every 45 min #2 will kick my bladder as hard as possible, thus waking me up and often making me run to the restroom.  Along with this, every 4 hours #1 is waking up and wanting to play.

This makes for a pretty tired Paily.  But it is a lot of fun feeling all of the kicking going on!

Opinions Of The Masses

Today Hod and I were able to find out the gender of #2.  Pretty much everyone and their pet dolphin has been guessing that this little one is a boy.  I'm carrying this pregnancy different, my morning sickness has been completely different, and everyone just has this feeling.  One of Hod's Aunts has even started telling everyone that we are having a boy.

Well, the results are in!

Everyone (including me and Hod) was wrong!  We are very surprised.  I'm not sure why we all thought it was a boy, but this kid is very much a girl.  Hod is now having nightmares about the teen years when we are all PMS-ing at the same time.  I think he and my Dad could bond a bit.  Pfft, let's be honest, I'm not looking forward to the teen years.  I was raised with 2 sisters who are just under 12 months apart, and that was a bit scary.  One sister was just mad at the world, and the other cried a lot.  It was a bad combination.  But it didn't last too long, and now they are great friends.

Hod's Mom is very excited.  My Mom... well she isn't answering her phone... I'll keep trying, but just in case, "Hey, Mom, it's a girl!"

At least we don't have to put a boy in our very girly car seat :)

We better find some girl names.  Good thing we have another 20 weeks to pick one... well, at least narrow it down.

Here We Go Again

Well... The Bucket Family is Growing again.

Can I just say, "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Yeah, that's about how I feel about it.

And also, "WoooooooHoooooo!!!!!"

With a little bit of "goodgravyIcan'tbelievethisishappening.Wecan'tbedoingthisyet,IthinkI'mgoingcrazy,thisisthecoolestthingever,Ireallyamnevergoingtobeabletosleepagain,Ilovebabies!" thrown in.

Surprised?  Yeah, me too.

There really is no such thing as 100% effective birth control.  No, really, think about it.  I've heard a very popular story about a girl named Mary who tried the abstinence thing and still got pregnant.  When Heavenly Father has plans for you, it doesn't matter what you try, he can still make it happen.

Now, I'm no Mary, but I still didn't think it could happen when it did.

Around midnight on May 31 I turned to Hod and told him that I thought I was pregnant.  That next Sunday I took a test.  It came back negative.  I was very surprised how sad that made me.  I mean, #1 doesn't even come close to sleeping through the night 95% of the time, why would I want to add to that?  I must be crazy! But I was still sad.

We had purchased 2 tests, so 2 days later I tried again just to make sure.  This time it came back positive.  Whew.  Yeah!  What?  Seriously!  I feel like Rapunzel right after she leaves the tower.  So happy but so worried at the same time.

When Hod and I found out we were pregnant, we decided to wait a bit to tell people.  About 10 days later we found out that a dear family member was pregnant.  We were super happy for her and her husband because they lost their last baby at ... I want to say 32 weeks.  (Sorry that I don't know for sure.)  We found this out the first day of our family reunion.  We told our parents, but after finding out about her pregnancy I was even more sure that I wanted to wait.  I thought she deserved to be "in the spot light" for a bit.  I don't know where I got that idea from... but that is how I felt.  She is due the end of December.  Great!

Later on in the reunion, we found out that another family member is pregnant.  How great!  She is due in Jan.  If anyone was paying good attention to Hod, then they may have figured out that we are also pregnant.  He has no poker face.  He kept looking at me as if to say, "See, she's pregnant too, we may as well tell people".  But still we waited.

So, this is my family:  One sister is due beginning of August.  One niece is due in mid September.  Another niece is due.... I think mid November if I'm doing my math right.  Then comes a niece in late December, and another niece in January.  Bringing up the rear is ME in early February.

Looks like we have a family baby boom.


UPDATE

6/6/12 - Today's Craving: Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks with Nutella.  YUM!

6/7/12 - Already getting super emotional.  Watching Fireproof 20 min in, almost cried twice.

6/22/12 - Watching chick movie.  The sounds of people kissing is really grossing me out.  My nauseous stomach can't handle it.  Kissing is gross.  (Don't tell Hod I said that.  Normally it's great, but today... GROSS!!)

7/3/12 - I am surprised by the amount of Corn Dogs I am eating.  Corn dogs???  What?  And yet, I've had 5 in the past 2 weeks.  Wow... just admitting that kind of freaks me out.  But if you take a frozen corn dog, and broil it on low for about 15 min it comes out all crispy and mmMMM good!  (But not good any other time of my life.)

7/8/12 - I teach a class for 12-14 year olds at church.  Every week I get super stressed and emotional about it.  I think about my kids and hope that I can teach these tween/teens as well as I would want mine to be taught.  No pressure... :P

7/17/12 - Had our first ultrasound today.  Bucket #2 is doing great!