Quayd – 2 Weeks

Written 8-24-19

Things are settling in and we are finding our rhythm now a bit more. Even though we still have just pieced together bits of sleep at night (and some nights he doesn’t really sleep until 2-3am!), the fogginess isn’t so profound most of the time and I’m learning how to function on less sleep again.

DH’s sister and her family came to visit today and meet Quayd. It was such a beautiful day that we ended up spending the entire day outside from morning until evening. DH and I took the kids for a walk in our neighboring town and rented a movie and made popcorn for movie night. It was nice and I think the boys really enjoyed it. We actually took a walk around town yesterday too. Now that it’s not a million degrees out we are really enjoying getting to be outside again. This was Quayd’s most awake and alert day so far. I think he liked being outside. 🙂

Really he’s been an incredibly sleepy baby so far and when he is awake, he’s either eating or crying. Not much of his awake time is spent being content, although he does love it when we talk or sing to him. He’s great at engaging in eye contact and focusing on our face while we talk. He still does the cutest blinky eyes when he wakes up and tries to adjust his eyes to the light. It melts my heart!

I’m really glad I bought the Haakaa pump this time. I’ve literally only used my medela 5 times. I love that I can use the Haakaa on one side while I nurse on the other and it’s noiseless and I only have one thing to wash afterwards. I’ve been using it at about 2/3 of feedings and have been able to collect about 20 ounces per day, some of which I’m freezing but mostly I’m trying to get as much breastmilk in Zane as possible. (Unfortunately, poor Zane had his latest bloodwork come back about the same as last month. Basically we are still in limbo and waiting to retest again next month.)

I can’t believe Quayd has already gained over a pound! He was 9lbs 9oz yesterday, up from 8lbs 6oz at birth. He nurses pretty much every 2 hours all day, occasionally going closer to 3 hours. In the evenings after the boys go to bed, I take Quayd to my room and just sit in bed nursing him almost constantly for a couple hours (cluster feeding, I guess) while trying to keep him awake as much as possible so he will sleep at night. Overnight he nurses about every 2-3 hours but occasionally doesn’t go quite as long. Despite the fact that he is constantly taking in milk, he hardly ever spits up. He really doesn’t like his pacifier too well, although he will take it sometimes. He would LOVE to use me as a pacifier full time though. 😂 We learned that, just like Tru, Quayd absolutely hates being swaddled with his arms down. He likes to sleep with his arms up by his head, so I wrap the swaddle at night so that his arms are out.

DH went back to work on Thurs this week and then worked from home Fri. My sister M came over for a couple hours Thurs to visit and then a friend brought dinner which was awesome and super helpful! Being on my own with the kids went pretty smoothly, thank God and I’m just hoping we get into a groove easily and quickly. 🙂

As for me, I’m definitely not feeling like myself emotionally yet as much as I’d hoped, but more so than last week, so that’s good. I think more sleep would probably go a long way with helping me feel less foggy and moody. I know this newborn phase where they don’t sleep well at night doesn’t usually last too long, so I’m just trying to get by until then. DH is great about taking the baby so I can sleep but unfortunately I still have a hard time racking up enough Z’s. The postpartum night sweats don’t help either but I think they’re supposed to calm down after 2 weeks. On the plus side, I’ve managed to drop 21 pounds already, so I’m pretty happy about that! It’s opened up a lot more outfit choices again too, which is awesome. 🙂

Dear God, thank You for beautiful weather to enjoy with the kids and for blessing us so much. Please help me to recover quickly and feel back to my usual self soon. Thank You for Quayd doing so well with eating and growing and I pray that he will have more happy alert times during the day soon. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Quayd Is One Week Old!

And just like that, in a sleep deprived haze, Quayd is already one week old. So, he was born on a Saturday and we came home Sunday. My sister L was here until Thurs morning. On Tues DH and I took Quayd for his pediatric appointment. He’d only lost 1 ounce since discharge from the hospital, so he was 7lbs 15oz, and my milk had started coming in right before we had left the hospital. It was in full force with engorgement by 48 hours after delivery, so the pediatrician said we don’t need to come back for a month. 🙂 Surprisingly, his cord stump fell off at only 3 days old. It seems to be fine though and I think he’s got an innie belly button. 😁

DH and I had been taking turns throughout the night holding Quayd since he just wouldn’t sleep. Then he got to the point where he wouldn’t sleep unless I, in particular, was holding him and even then he really wanted to use the boob as a pacifier. Thank God, we finally got some sleep Thurs and Fri. I’m so hoping we continue getting sleep. I feel completely jet lagged and exhausted currently but I see light at the end of the tunnel if we can continue getting a couple hours at a time.

The boys have adjusted amazingly and they are so in love with their new brother. Zane isn’t even jealous, which is huge shock! Levi is a tad jealous but handling it well overall.

Quayd is a very sleepy baby during the day but we are beginning to see glimpses of his eyes for a few minutes here and there throughout the day. He is so adorable and all I want to do is just snuggle him and stare at his perfect little self. ❤️ He has a happy looking face and always looks like he has a slight smile going on. He also leaves his tongue sticking out a lot which is just too much cuteness. 😊

As for me, I’m recovering pretty well. The sore, cracked nipples were a doozy but Quayd is latching a bit deeper now, especially with the football hold and that helps. He’s not good with the nipple shield so we haven’t used that much. I’m really glad I bought the haakaa pump as it’s eliminated my need to pump separately throughout the day which is amazing. I have no soreness down below but I do have a headache. Oy!! We had to make a trip to the city yesterday to get more bloodwork for poor little Zane and then we had visitors here today. It’s been a bit hectic and my bleeding picked up a lot, so I’m going to try to just rest tomorrow as much as I can. The newborn phase is rough but I love this time with my sweet little baby ever so much and I’m trying my best to soak it in. ❤️ I’ve definitely been feeling the hormones this time though and have been so emotional, especially at night. Hopefully everything evens out soon.

Dear God, thank You so much for this amazing precious little boy. He’s so beautiful and we are so blessed to know and love him. Please help us as we recover and find our groove as a family of 6. Thank You dear Lord! In Jesus’ name, amen.

Introducing Baby Quayd

This is gonna be a long one folks!

He’s here, and amazingly, he came on his own. I last updated on Aug 8 at 38 weeks 1 day. The next morning, Friday, I woke up after a night of decent sleep, DH had even kept the kids quiet so I could sleep in a bit as he was working from home. I had an ob checkup scheduled for that afternoon and DH and I were planning to take the kids along with us but my mom convinced us to leave them home with my sisters M and K, just in case. Since I’d been 3cm the Sun before, we thought the dr might not want me to leave if I was at 4cm. So at 11:40, we set off on our long day of appointments. First I had to go to a lab to do our required insurance physical, then I had an nst at 2pm (which was apparently the first nst DH had ever attended with me in all these pregnancies!), a bpp at 2:30 and a visit with the ob at 3:15. We rushed from one appointment to another without time to spare for lunch or anything. The ob we saw was the one scheduled for our induction, so we talked over the plan with her and she checked my cervix. She declared it to be “great, stretchy, soft, shortening and 3 headed to 4cm”. I asked her if she would sweep my membranes and she did so, rather aggressively, although it wasn’t very painful at all. As soon as I stood up, I noticed some bleeding but not much else. The dr said she’d see me in 2 days, either for the induction or with my baby in the hospital. We also talked about skipping the epidural line placement since I had the spinal headache last time and the dr said she really didn’t think I needed it this time and that if she was delivering for me, she’d try to talk me through that “I can’t do this” bit of labor.

At our nst

Once DH and I left the parking lot, light contractions began. That was around 3:40pm. I immediately thought they felt more business like but I didn’t tell DH because I knew they’d go away and I didn’t want to get his hopes up. Maybe a half hour into our drive, I finally told him I was having frequent and uncomfortable contractions but that it was just from the sweep and not to think anything of it. I had been timing them though and DH was pretty unimpressed that I’d been hiding that from him. 😁

See… Unorganized pattern and too short. The 1 hour 27 min break is when we stopped to eat finally and went to the store to pick up a few groceries which never made it into the refrigerator and exploded in the van… But that’s another story.

The contractions stayed pretty uncomfortable with cramping and aching in my low back, but I remained doubtful because of the duration. So we kept our original plan to pick up a pizza from a new place we’d discovered and have DH’s parents over for dinner at 6:30pm.

Once we got home, I didn’t feel like eating again already since we’d had a late lunch (but not the chili spaghetti we’d planned on eating because the line wasn’t moving. I just had a chicken wrap instead which was disappointing at the time but DH later remarked that it was probably a good thing!), so I just had a few bites of the pizza. DH went outside to work on a dirty project with his dad and I just mentioned to him that the contractions were about 3min apart but still able to walk and talk through, so probably nothing, but hey, don’t get too involved in the project. I decided to mop the kitchen floor because it was disgusting, so my mil and I chatted while I did that and then we went outside for a bit. At that point the contractions really quieted down and spread even further apart. K and I brought the kids inside around 8:30pm to give them a bath and get ready for bed. I decided to take a shower and, oh boy, the contractions suddenly piled on top of eachother but spaced out again as soon as I got out. I sat on the yoga ball for a bit while I finished getting the kids through their bedtime routine of Bible verses and prayer and hugs ect. I kept telling DH “We’ve got to get the kids to bed. I can’t go into labor until everything is squared away.” I just wanted everything to be quiet and dark so I could decide if I was in labor.

When Tru and Levi had gone to bed, we turned out most of the lights and K rubbed my feet for a few minutes, then DH laid Zane down. I had a few contractions, so I decided to go for a walk in the dark outside with DH. We barely made it out of our driveway before he made me turn around as the contractions became close again. He said this is definitely labor and we needed to go to the hospital, but I wanted to lay down for a little bit and see if the contractions went away first. Major denial! I just couldn’t believe it was real with how short they were.

I started timing at 10:05pm and you can see how they quickly picked up once we started walking at 10:26pm.

I laid down around 10:40pm and you can see they spaced out to 5 min apart again but they increased greatly in intensity and doubled in length. THAT is when I finally decided this is “probably” real and we need to go to the hospital. Keep in mind, we have an almost 1.5hr drive.

We left immediately after that and I stopped timing the contractions but DH was watching the clock while he was driving and listening to me breathe through the contractions and he informed me they were consistently 4-5 minutes apart. My mom dropped M off at my house and picked up K and they left about an hour behind us. I texted my mil, sil, bff and sisters and let them know we were going to the hospital to see if it was real labor. About an hour into the drive we stopped so I could use the restroom and DH could get coffee. It was after midnight by now.

We arrived at the hospital a few minutes before 1am and I got checked into triage where they hooked up the heartbeat and contraction monitors and checked dilation. I was 5-6cm and 80-90% effaced. It was definitely real labor!! They drew labs and started an IV. At 1:45am we moved to a room in l&d. I stopped several times along the way to lean against DH or the wall and work through the contractions which were quickly building in intensity and frequency. I think once I got to the hospital, I finally relaxed and everything started going quickly.

I realized I had no 38 week pics, so we stopped in the hall on the way to triage and snapped a quick one.

As soon as we were in our room, we met our l&d nurse, Sara. She was an amazing person and the most quiet and calming presence. She set laboring stations up all over the room for me to try different positions. The yoga ball, rocking chair etc. All I wanted was the shower, so she got me set up in there immediately. I couldn’t get comfortable because of my iv not being allowed to get wet, but let’s be honest, there is no comfortable labor position. The contractions continued to build in intensity and were coming pretty rapidly. Sometime just before 2:30am, mom and K arrived. I decided shortly after that, that I wanted my cervix checked because I needed to know that I’d made progress. The nurse said I was now 7cm and 90%. I decided to lay on my left side through a few contractions since that had seemed to speed things up with Zane and Levi. After that I moved to the rocking chair and tried not to panic as I was really feeling close to my max. That wasn’t working, so I moved to the ball. I hated that too so I just stood there feeling like I wanted to run away and go home. In between the contractions I kept telling my family all the reasons why labor sucks and describing the pain. That’s my coping mechanism, I guess.

At that point the pressure had increased, so the nurse checked again and I was 8-9cm and she noticed there was more cervix on the right side. She said I could try laying on my right or I could try hands and knees. She set the bed up so I could kneel on it and lean over the back. The contractions became absolutely unbearable in that position and she said that was a good sign. She did some counter pressure on my outer hips and it was very helpful. I had told the nurse earlier that I wanted to delay having my water broken in the hopes it would break on its own. At this point she said to me (kindly hinting) “I’m praying for a spontaneous rupture for you.” I looked at her and said “Will it go faster if the dr breaks my water?” and she said “yes.” My reply? “Let’s go for it then!”

The dr came in to the room, quietly. Everything was dim and quiet and relaxed. My water was broken in just a few seconds and I rolled over to my right side. The dr pulled up her stool and sat by the bed. The nurse said “she likes to sit with us” and I found that comforting. I immediately felt the pressure of baby’s head coming down once the water was gone and asked the dr if I could push. She said I could and checked to be sure I was 10cm. I laid there and tried to decide if I really wanted to push yet. My mom called my 3 sisters on video chat and M woke up Tru and Levi so they could watch the birth like I’d promised them we’d try our best to do so many times.

The dr said I could just stay there on my side and birth the baby if I wanted, so I gave a few gentle pushes and could feel water gushing each time. DH was holding my leg up for me but it started to cramp, so I rolled onto my back and the dr asked if I wanted them to raise the bed a bit as she thought it would help; so they did. The pressure of baby’s head was suddenly so incredibly intense and hot and it felt like I was literally going to explode in my pelvis. The dr asked me if I wanted to pull my legs back to help open the pelvis. That sounded absolutely terrible to me but I was desperate to be done, so DH and the nurse held my legs back for me. I pushed once and then started blowing through the contraction as his head was slowly born. The dr helped to ease his head through so I wouldn’t tear. The nurse said to give one tiny push, and with that, he was out. Screaming and slippery, at 3:23am on Aug 10th (just about 2.5 hours after arriving at the hospital), our fourth son was laying on my chest and I just looked at him in awe. I was so busy throughout the entire pregnancy that sometimes I’d almost forget that a baby was really and truly joining our family in August. And here he was! And he promptly peed straight onto my face. 😂

The dr waited for the cord to stop pulsing, which took a few minutes and then DH cut the cord and I felt the urge to push once more and with that, the placenta was out and I was able to just bond with my baby and put him to the breast for his first feeding.

After our hour of skin on skin time, Quayd was weighed in at 8lbs 6.2oz and checked out healthy. After I’d finished receiving the 2 bags of pitocin (to prevent hemorrhage), I changed into my clothes and we were wheeled up to the mother baby unit. They weighed Quayd again and he’d lost an ounce due to peeing a couple more times and passing his first meconium diaper. He measured 53cm (almost 21″) and his head circumference was 34cm. He nursed and stayed alert almost constantly until about 8am. We were both discharged after 1 night and went home 36 hours after the birth. We are doing great and just learning the breastfeeding curve and hoping for sleep in our near future. 😉

So, that’s the story folks. I thank the Lord for such a beautiful and relaxed experience and for giving us a labor and birth far beyond my wildest dreams. Thank You Jesus for another beautiful healthy son.

38 Weeks 1 Day

This has been an interesting week. Sunday (37+4), I woke up at 8am and started having contractions fairly often. They were deep cramping and pressure in my pelvis but didn’t get stronger or closer together, so I got ready for church. I noticed the baby wasn’t moving very much so I tried to pay attention throughout the morning to his movements. By the time Sunday school was over, I thought I’d felt about 10 movements in the 3 hours since I woke up. I let DH know that I’d probably want to go to triage after church was over so I could check on Quayd, just to be safe. Keep in mind, I was still having contractions this whole time and was on day 3 of bl**dy show.

On the way home I picked up my sister M to come stay with the boys. Then I ate some lunch and tried to do a kick count. He definitely started moving more but not as much as normal and since this was day 3 of less movement (and he also hadn’t passed his nst on Friday in the usual 20 minutes), we decided to just play it safe and have the hospital check on him. Also, still having contractions every 7-14 minutes. On the way to the hospital we stopped for dinner at a restaurant since I wasn’t imminently worried.

We were able to get seen right away in triage when we got there and were done in about an hour. Quayd looked great on the monitor despite me still not feeling much movement. I was checked and 3cm but not much effacement, having contractions every 10 mins or so that registered around 80 on the toco monitor. So anyway, the nurse said possibly early labor and to come back when the contractions were 5 minutes apart. And of course, as soon as we left, the contractions fizzled out. 12 hours of contractions and they just.freaking.stopped. At least we were able to make the most of our evening by turning it into a date. We stopped for coffee and just enjoyed being together alone for a little bit. It was refreshing. 🙂

So, anyway, the pelvic pain issues I’ve been having reached an all time horrible this week. My mornings have been spent in tears after struggling to sleep with the pain. And then my right leg will be so stiff that I can hardly move it to get out of bed. Everything hurts and there’s been no way to get comfortable! HOWEVER, yesterday I went for a 30 minute massage and a chiropractic adjustment and, oh my goodness… I woke up this morning feeling almost like my usual self! It’s amazing!! I hope my pelvis will stay in place until the induction so I don’t have that pain and immobility to contend with on top of labor.

Yesterday I also went out for an impromptu dinner with my parents and brother AS since we all happened to be in town at the same time. That was nice. 🙂 Now that induction is just a few days away, I just want to spend my time resting up and being with my family. Tomorrow I have a checkup, nst and bpp (I’ll probably just add a quick edit to this post with those stats tomorrow) and then the next day we are supposed to pick my sister L up from the airport. 🙂 I need to take Zane for his bloodwork this weekend too!

So, my last week of symptoms updates…. Everything is pretty much the same as before but I think I never mentioned that my nose has been so incredibly stuffy this whole pregnancy. Thank goodness for those adhesive nose strips that help me sleep at night! I am also looking forward to being done with my heparin shots (I switched from lovenox to heparin last week) as my belly is itchy and covered in bruises and welts. And now I’m breaking out in the face rash that I get from the allergic reaction to the preservative. Oh my…

My weight keeps yo-yoing between 31-35 pounds gained. Today its at 34. This is the least I’ve ever gained (and it’s still a lot! 😳) which is probably because I started out so much heavier than I was with my other pregnancies.

Ok y’all, I really don’t have anything further to add. We are ready for baby whenever he wants to come out or at least on induction day. 🙂 The kids are excited and counting down the days, especially Tru. They’re ready for me to be able to play with them more without having to stop to gasp for air and wincing in pain getting up and down. I’m ready, that’s for sure! I have very very few sentimental thoughts surrounding pregnancy this time around. I’ve loved growing this little person but it’s been rough doing pregnancy in the heat of summer with 3 little guys who need me constantly. Hopefully I have another easy recovery from birth like I did with Zane. 😉

37+4

37+6

Dear God, thank You for less pain today. Thank You for bringing us safely through this pregnancy. Please help us to have a safe delivery and for the boys to have fun and be safe while we are gone having the baby. In Jesus’ name, amen.

37 Weeks 3 Days

Yesterday we reached the same gestation as Tru was born at and I almost thought we’d be having this baby too. I had my checkup and nst, which Quayd failed in the allotted time, despite being buzzed twice. The dr decided to leave him on the monitor awhile longer and he finally gave a couple accelerations. That concerns me though because he’s definitely moving less yesterday and today. I’m being vigilant with kick counts, which I’ve never really had to pay much attention to with this hyper boy. So, that’s a bit worrisome.

I asked the dr if she would mind to do a membrane sweep if she was able to and she was happy to oblige. She said I was 2, more like 3cm dilated. I forgot to ask her about effacement. She said if the sweep is going to work, it usually will in 24 hours. I started having contractions right away (3pm) and they continued and built in intensity until 8pm and then they fizzled out. I woke up through the night with mild contractions but this morning I’m just crampy. TMI: I did pass plug this morning and also had spotting Monday and Friday (yesterday). Monday I had lots of cramping and contractions but they also fizzled out by the time I went to bed. Regardless, I’m extremely thankful that I’ve made more progress dilating. Every centimeter I can get out of the way now is one less centimeter I have to suffer through on induction day.

I haven’t had too bad a week for symptoms. Probably because I’ve been so overwhelmed by the pelvic pain that is radiating down my inner right thigh. I think it’s actually originating from my low back. Some stretches help a little. I also have a chiropractor appointment scheduled next week.

I keep fluctuating between 34-35lbs gained. Desperately hoping I don’t gain any more! I have a few new stretch marks around my belly button. I think it’s due to the fact I’ve been very lazy about putting on lotion this time around. For my first 2 pregnancies I didn’t get any belly stretch marks and I know I was much more careful to put on my lotion. Lesson learned!

I got a couple more meals frozen this week. Chicken broccoli casserole and chicken pot pie, banana and chocolate chip muffins and tons of pancakes. I think I’m done freezing meals now.

Oh! I almost forgot, I had my first ever professional pedicure this week. (I know. I live under a rock.) My sil wanted to take my mil for her birthday, so I tagged along. I love love love the polish color, I loved the massage chair and the foot soak. Could definitely live without the hedge clippers on my cuticles and the cheese grater on my feet. In fact, the man who did my pedicure had to stop because I was laughing so hard from how bad it tickled. He was afraid I’d go into labor right then and there. He said they actually had a woman who’s water broke during her pedicure! Anyway, I enjoyed the experience overall and just getting to relax.

At the point where I could no longer hold back the laughter from the tickling.

We decided to take the boys to the mini golf last night since they’ve been begging to go all week. It was their first ever time and they all had a lot of fun. However, it was so incredibly HOT out that Tru and I both started to get sick from the heat. He couldn’t finish the last few holes because he had to sit down so he wouldn’t throw up. Some cold water, the van AC and an ice cream cone finally cooled everyone off. The kids are already asking to go again. 🙂

He knows what he’s doing.

Dear God, thank You for another week down. Please bring us safely to the end of this pregnancy and I pray that Quayd will be delivered whenever and however is best for him. Thank You for my body making more progress towards birth. Thank You for fun times with my little ones. In Jesus’ name, amen.