Easton Edward

Easton Edward made his grand arrival on Tuesday March 5, 2013 at 10:32pm.  He weighed 8lbs 7ounces and was 21.5 inches long!

Photos taken by Valerie Lynn Photography

Everyone was completely shocked that he was such a big boy!  The last few weeks were incredibly eventful which had my doctors convinced that he had stopped growing and would be small!  I guess they were wrong!  He is perfect in every way!

Easton's arrival was everything I had hoped for and more!  Without sounding silly, it was truly magical...incredibly difficult but worth every second!  Lots of people have texted and called with the same question.  "Did you have a successful VBAC?"   The answer is YES...and I am so glad that I was patient and that my doctors were just as patient as I was.  Second question..."Was Leif there?"  Yes, and he was very involved and an AMAZING birth partner!  Everything fell right into place for us and our little family.  SO...birth story details...YES or NO????

Bump-date randoms

Here is a little bump update along with some pregnancy randoms

I am currently 33 weeks. 
I can't believe that they consider you full term at 37 weeks.
I was 2 weeks late with Aiden, I will probably be late again.
My contractions slowed down quite a bit but have been crazy the past 3 days...I think a few people at the mall thought I was in labor haha
My motto is that if I can fall asleep with contractions...it's not the real thing. (even though they wake me up all night long)
I am hoping to have a VBAC so these contractions give me hope for spontaneous labor and no pitocin :-) (yes my OB will give me pitocin, even for a VBAC)
My OB's are AMAZING!!!  Every time I leave my appointments I feel like the Dr's are mind readers.  They just get it!!!
I have gained 7lbs and TRUST ME I have earned every single one of those lbs
I am still vomiting and constantly nauseous BUT...
I desperately want the PIC line out...in fact I have been weaning off the IV meds and tried oral meds HOPING that my doc approves the line coming out.  My arm is so irritated from the bandage and I am miserable! My home healthcare nurse has tried to move the bandage to allow healing but it isn't working.

The hubs playing nurse!

The start of the skin irritation blah!

I am on a 2 week trial which ends TOMORROW!  If I maintained my weight (or gained) for 2 weeks, she will let me get the line out.  2 days ago I had lost 4lbs...so I just ate a huge dinner and 2 cookies...hopefully I keep it down long enough for her to pull the line :-).
I HATE maternity clothes...whoever said they were comfortable LIED!!!
I am still wearing my regular jeans...hello 7 for all mankind skinny jeans...they are the bomb!
My normal shirts are starting to get short...uggh if only I could avoid maternity clothes for 7 more weeks.
The past 2 days I have woken up at 4 am starving but chose to hold out until the morning...woke up both mornings too nauseous to eat...bummer!
What's a craving????  I have yet to have one.
I don't believe in eating for 2...a newborn eats 4 ounces...put down the extra big mac people!!!!
With that being said, I am barely eating enough for 1...guess I don't know what it's like to feel good enough to eat for 2 ;-)
Baby boy is so darn active...all day!  I love it!
YES...we have a name :-)
The fabric sample for his bedding arrived today...I love them!  I can't wait to finish his room!
Aiden's big boy room is almost done...Baby boy's room is in full effect!
The best feeling is hearing Aiden talk about his baby brother without me bringing it up...he has so much love in his heart!
Here are some updated bump pics...I embrace the bump :-) it won't be there forever!
Sorry for the cheesy self-portraits but the hubby is gone a lot so this is what I am left with :-)

26 weeks

27 weeks

30 weeks

30 weeks...blurry blurry

32 weeks

33 weeks

I am excited, nervous, scared, and anxious and probably so much more!  This pregnancy has been a lot like my pregnancy with A and so different as well.  I certainly don't want to wish the time away but there is so much to look forward to.  Wish me luck tomorrow :-)

WOW...what a week!

(this is incredibly wordy but useful for my own memory and perspective, scroll through for pictures)

Sometimes you just have one of those days/weeks that leaves you wondering "what just happened?".  That is how I felt about last week!  The hubby was out to Sea and because I had a bunch of things I wanted to accomplish and I wasn't feeling the greatest my mom offered to come help me out!  I am really not good at taking it easy so I figured if my mom were here to play with Aiden I could do a bunch of running around with out lifting Aiden in and out of the truck and in and out of a shopping cart!  Boy was I glad she was here...

Those who know me well, know that our dog is truly part of the family!  We bought Buddy when he was 11 weeks old and we were juniors in college!  He was our first baby and the closest thing we had to a child for his first 8 years of life and our first 5 years of marriage.  Where we go, Buddy goes!  Simple as that!!!    Monday morning Aiden came to tell me that Buddy was bleeding????  Sure enough he had a bunch of blood on his backside!  I called the vet and took him right in.  They believed it was an infected anal gland but my "fierce" husky wouldn't let them get a good look so they wanted to put him under to clean it up really good! So we scheduled it for Tuesday.

I hadn't been feeling so great for about 2 weeks.  I have been having some severe pains and after my mom caught me doubled over in pain she insisted I call the doctor.  I was pretty sure I knew what it was but figured "what the heck, it can't hurt to call".  Of course they wanted to see me first thing SO...Tuesday I drop Aiden at school, drop Buddy at the vet, and head to the doctor! (Did I mention Hubby was gone, of course he was)  Thankfully my mom was with me because my "pains" weren't just pains they were actually contractions.  Like real contractions...SERIOUSLY???  I definitely thought it was stretching ligaments but I was so wrong and completely blindsided!  I LOVE my doctors but she was not happy with me and she certainly did not sugar coat a thing.  She talked a lot about viability of a baby at 23 weeks, 24 weeks, 25 weeks etc.  Obviously, 23 weeks is not a good place to be if you expect to take your baby home.  My hope is that she was just trying to scare me but I certainly didn't take it well and neither did my mom.  There were a lot of tears.  To be clear, I was NOT in labor but I was contracting pretty consistently which would be great at 38 weeks but not 23 weeks!  My first orders were for increased fluids and moderate bed rest with a follow up in 2 days...didn't work (back to doctor)...so my next order was bed rest and drugs!!!  Bed rest?????  Exactly what does bed rest look like for a mommy of a 3 year old, with a hubby out to sea, and no family in the area?  Trust me I asked.  The response was "do you know what the survival rate of a baby born at 23 weeks looks like?"  OK, I get it!!!  THANK GOD for my Mom being in town!  She helped take over while I attempted bed rest!  If you know me well, you know that I am not the type to lay around so this was a challenge!

"Bed resting"

Tuesday hadn't ended yet...on the way out of the doctors I get a call from the vet!  Buddy is still under anesthesia and does not have an infected anal gland, he has a large tumor in his back side that has worked its way to the outside and the blood is the deterioration of cells (I hope I explained that right) and we have decisions to make.  80% chance it's just a mass, 20% chance it is cancer.  He gave a few options but his recommendation (and of course the most expensive option) is to remove the tumor and take away his manhood.  DONE...whatever it takes!  What time is it????  11:00am...is it bedtime yet?  How much money have I spent in 1 day oh wait the days not over?  When does Leif get home?  phew

He hated me for making him wear this...

Buddy comes home that afternoon and cries for 2 days straight.  I am not even lying...all day and all night...so guess who was up ALL NIGHT LONG!!!  Ms. Bedrest was up and down all night long...standing in my backyard in nothing but a t-shirt...POOR BUDDY!

 (sorry no pictures of me in my t-shirt at 4am)

Now, a week later, Buddy is doing great!  He is healing well and letting me get some much needed rest!  I am still in the same situation but we are working on it and I am confident that everything will be just fine!  Aiden has been a real trooper about Mommy "taking it easy".  My mom stayed with me as long as she could and did her best to keep Aiden busy.  He is 3 and is used to me but certainly had a great time with Grammy and I needed the help! Thanks Mom!  Leif came home and took over!  If I stepped out of bed he was right there questioning my every move!  Thanks to Sandy he actually had a day off but he will leave again this week until Thanksgiving :-(   I spent 3 hours at the doctors today...my awesome neighbor took Aiden for me so that I could concentrate on my appointment and not entertaining a 3 year old in a room with a bunch of monitors and cords.  Most importantly our baby boy is doing good.  I am thankful that I got another look at our sweet boy who was...sucking his thumb!!!  I am also thankful that I have home health care.  When most people would be sitting in a hospital room with IV fluids and meds, I am lucky enough to be laying in my bed with my son playing next to me!  The nurse comes to me once a week and I see the doctor weekly and sometimes twice a week.  We, baby and I, are well taken care of!  Oh...and Buddy's tumor was benign...NO CANCER!!!  This week is off to a better start already :-)

ps...my belly popped :-)

Preggo..."How are you feeling?"

Thank you to everyone for all of the kind words about our impending arrival in February!  Both Leif and I are very excited about welcoming another blessing into our lives!  This is something that we knew we wanted and to be honest were just trying to get the timing right.  Unfortunately for us, the timing didn't quite work out in accordance with the needs of the Navy but that will be another post!
So many people have asked how I am feeling?  I am pretty sure that is because most people know how sick I was with Aiden.  With Aiden I began vomiting before I even knew I was pregnant...and never stopped!  I would "get sick" upwards of 25 times a day and struggled to even lift my head from the pillow with out being sick.  After thinking it was normal I finally called the doctor and told her what was going on...over 15lbs lost and still in my first trimester I was put on bed rest and told I had Hyperemesis Gravidarum which is "a debilitating and potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease marked by rapid weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and/or vomiting with potential adverse consequences for the newborn(s)." (via http://www.helpher.org/ )  To make a really long story and little less long, I lost over 20lbs and never got better until my sweet Aiden was born!
SO....here we are again!!!  So many people have said to me "I can't believe you are doing this again"...Me Neither hahah!  Leif and I had so many discussions about "what to do".  We always wanted 2 children but after Aiden I swore up and down that I would never do it again.  But if I heard it once, I heard it a million times..."every pregnancy is different"!  So we waited until we felt like Aiden was in a less needy position and thought maybe we were just slightly settled and we tried again.  We also talked a lot about finances and knowing that there was a strong possibility we would need a nanny, we tried to brace ourselves financially as well!  We knew very early on that we were pregnant...no surprises here...and immediately set up a doctors appointment to start the medication.  I did well for about the first 6 weeks and then day by day I got worse and worse!  So here we are...almost 18 weeks pregnant, down 14 lbs (not too bad),  PICC line was put in at 14 weeks and hooked up to IV fluids/nutrients 12-24 hours a day, I use and elastomeric infusion pump for my anti-nausea 3 times a day, and I am still sick!!!  Luckily I am not on bed rest yet and I have actually gotten used to vomiting in public places (GROSS, I know, but life has to go on).  Trust me...this isn't a blog looking for pity or sympathy!  Both Leif and I know where babies come from :-), we knew the possibility and together we made the decision to go for it!  We wanted to expand our family and knew that, as with all pregnancies, anything can happen!  It might sound silly but we put ourselves in this position and are dealing with it.  Well, I am dealing with it hahah...he works 16 hours a day and is in and out with the ship...why is it easier for the guys haha!  So...is there a point to all of this....2 points.  1.  A ton of people asked how I was feeling so this was the easiest way to explain things.  AND 2.  This will all be worth it!  If I have said it once, I have said it a million times.  Aiden is my everything!  I love him more than life itself and I know that 40 weeks of hell will be worth the feeling and depth of love that we wills get to experience again! 
So...now that you are bored out of your minds here are a few visuals (hopefully nothing too graphic)

My nightly routine

PICC line!

17 weeks :-)

We find out the sex of our baby tomorrow!  My actual comprehensive ultrasound isn't until Wednesday but since they close at 6 and there was absolutely no way Leif could get off on the day I scheduled, even though I picked on of his suggested days, we have scheduled a gender ultrasound at 7:30 pm tomorrow evening!  My sister and Mom will accompany me to my "big" ultrasound and since they want to be surprised we won't be sharing the info until Wednesday!  We are excited and anxious all at the same time!  I am just praying for a healthy baby!!!!