Birth Story - it's a long post

On Tuesday I woke up in a weird mood. I didn't want to stay home so I went to work with Josh and helped him with a few things. Then, I was able to convince Josh and my mom to let me go to the mall by myself. While I was at the mall I noticed that I was having small contractions and was bleeding a little when I went to the bathroom.

I got home and ate Josh's spicy chili I had asked him to make for dinner. I was still having contractions throughout the evening. They started getting pretty strong about 9pm but we didn't leave for the hospital until about 11:30. I think we probably waited too long but I wanted to be absolutely sure that they wouldn't send us home. We got to the hospital about midnight and went straight to a monitoring room. The contractions were pretty intense by then and when they checked me I was at a 5. I was only in the triage unit for about 20 minutes before going up to Labor and Delivery. Once we got up there things got rough fast- contractions were right on top of each other and I was throwing up. The nurse suggested I ask for the epidural right away if I was going to want one. The computers were also down so they said it may take longer than usual. I wanted to try to go as long as I could without the meds but I'm glad I asked when I did - it was actually cutting it really close and I almost didn't get it at all. The nurse had told me it wasn't too late until I couldn't sit still and those last 4 or 5 contractions I really thought I wasn't going to make it. When the anesthesiologist got there he was really patient and I was able to sit pretty still with Josh's help.

They had to stick me twice but after the epidural, life got better. The nurse would tell me I was having a contraction and I didn't even know. The nurses checked me as soon as the epidural set in and I was at a 9 - after just over an hour! They had me sit up for some reason that I don't remember after a few minutes and all of a sudden I felt my water break. During this whole ordeal the doctor was trying to get two bags of antibiotics in me since I was positive for strep b. They wanted to try and delay labor until the antibiotics had time to set in - 8 hours. There was no way that was happening but they still wanted to wait as long as possible. I was already feeling some pressure and after my water broke it got stronger quickly.

I told the nurses I wanted to start pushing and they seemed doubtful. The resident was a very nice woman who was super helpful. They told me to go ahead and try and I started making progress right away. I pushed for about 30 minutes and then she was out! Josh was holding my hands and supporting my back when I had to sit up to push. My mom was helping me with one leg and taking pictures. This might be too much information (sorry). She took pictures and told me if I wanted to look at them I could and if not, no big deal. I actually did look at them later and was wasn't too grossed out.

After she was gone everything went by really quickly. They gave her to me and then to Josh after a few minutes so they could work a little more on me. One of my favorite pictures is Josh holding her and looking at her right after she was born. It was a great and exhausting experience. I can't believe that it went so smoothly overall. They had to give me and Addie some antibiotics because I had a fever during the delivery but all the tests came back fine.

I am still amazed by this whole process. One of the first things I said to Addie was "You were definitely worth it". I am so thankful that God has been faithful even when we haven't. He made this beautiful little girl inside of me and got her here safely no matter how much I doubted him and have been angry over the past few years. I really don't understand how people can have babies and not believe in God.

Sorry this has been long - thanks for reading if you stuck with it.

Going home and a few firsts

We were able to go home on Saturday afternoon. Addie was still just a little bit under the line of needing to be under lights (the limit was 14 and her results were at 13.9). But, she had gained a few small grams which is way better than still losing weight. They set up a home nurse to come on Sunday rather than waiting until the middle of the week. When she was here she checked Addie and said that she gained another ounce and her jaundice numbers were significantly lower. They still want me to supplement with donor milk and keep waking her up every 3 hours to eat for a few more days. We will have another nurse visit tomorrow to see how she's doing.

My milk has come in or at least is doing much better. When we feed her I will nurse then give her bottle of supplement then pump. So, it's a long process and especially in the middle of the night I hate having to wake her up to eat because it takes forever. I cannot wait until I can just nurse her when she is hungary so we can all get some more sleep.

I had a rough night last night with being sore from nursing as well as just normal soreness from the delivery etc. I was so tired that everytime I would wake up I was totally disoriented. I kind of lost it about 6am and just cried. My mom took Addison downstairs with a bottle so Josh and I could sleep straight for at least 3 hours. It was awesome. It really has been a huge lifesaver to have my mom here. She has been cooking, cleaned my whole house, offered much needed advice and endless encouragement. I'm already dreading when she will leave on Friday and I'm already thinking of when Addie and I can fly out to visit. Larry flew in on Saturday and that has been fun too. He has the hardest time not just picking her up to hold her constantly!

We gave Addie her first bath at home on Sunday and took a short walk around the neighborhood. Today we went to Washington Park (an awesome, huge park with lots of great paths) and walked for awhile and took some pictures. It was a good afternoon and Addie and I both handled the outing pretty well. I am hoping that before Mom and Larry leave we will be able to go for a drive to the mountains to see the leaves changing colors.

That's about it for now - enjoy the pictures!
Hospital visitors -
Mom (Grammy)- Well, she wasn't really a visitor since she was with us helping a lot of the time....


Thayne and Joan McKnight - they are a precious couple at church who have been so special to Josh and I. Right after our last miscarriage their son and daughter in law lost a little girl so we have bonded and healed together through that.



Melanie Larson - she drove all the way from Cheyenne to come visit for a few hours. Mel is an incredible friend who has been praying for Addie since she found out I was pregnant. She was at the hosptial with Josh after my ectopic surgery and it was so special that this visit to the same hospital was for much happier circumstances.


Connie Monsees - Connie will be watching Addie for us when I go back to work. Her family is very special and such a blessing to Josh and I.


Sheila Wheeler is one of my good friends at church. She has a sweet little boy Brayden who is just over a year old. Maybe Sheila will be Addie's future mother-in-law?


Caren Monsees (Connie's daughter) - Caren is a senior in the youth group this year and can't wait to babysit!


In the car seat headed home from the hosptial.


The new family before we left the hosptial.


Grammy and Grampy with the new grandbaby - She is so loved!


Daddy and Addison in front of some flowers at the park.


On a walk in the park.

Update and Prayer Request

We were supposed to go home today but the doctor's decided to keep Addie a little longer. The first 24 hours she would latch on but had a hard time sucking. I started using a flexible nipple shield and she was able to do much better yesterday. But, she was still losing weight. The nurses told us that they start to get concerned when the babies lose 10% of their birth weight. As of this morning she had lost 11.4% so we started having conversations about supplementing with donor milk or formula. I was pretty stressed out because she had been nursing for long periods of time but apparently wasn't getting much at all. We decided to use donor milk at least until my milk comes in and she's back at birth weight.

So that was one problem. Another was that her jaundice levels were right at where she would need to go under lights. Apparently my blood type combined with her blood type maker her more at risk for jaundice problems. So, since we had two things that were at least somewhat concerning they decided to keep us. I am actually glad that they did since I would rather be here with help then going home knowing all this was going on.

They retested her weight this evening after three times feeding with donor milk, nursing and me pumping each time. It was basically the same as this morning with the 11% lost but at least she didn't lose more. They also retested her jaundice levels. At a score of 14 they put her under lights and she had a 13.9 so its still right at the line.

Prayers for those problems would be great. She really is doing well and is so beautiful - we are just having a hard time getting feeding going and getting the jaundice concerns settled. Hopefully we will go home tomorrow!

Introducing....

Addison Hope Jones

She arrived at 5:04am after 25 minutes of pushing. We got to the hospital about midnight and things moved really quickly. I had a fever so they tried to make her wait to come out until I could get a few rounds of antibiotics but she was not interested in waiting very long.

She weighed 6 lbs 15 ounches and is 19 inches long.

She has a full head of black hair, Josh's ears and my nose.


More updates soon....

Addison Hope

We're at the hospital (this is Josh, not Shiloh...) and we are all set up waiting on Ms. Addison to show up. Shiloh's already got the good medicine in her, already dialated to a 10(!)...so shouldn't be long now at all!!!

Fall

In order to not think about being frustrated at the doctors for telling me Addie would come early and at myself for believing them I thought I would write about something non-baby related.

I love fall. The last few days the weather here in Denver has been much cooler. It has been rainy and even snowed a small bit in parts of the city. It is supposed to warm up again in a few days so this is really just a teaser. I love so many things about this time of year and thought I would list a few.

1. Colors - the darker colors of oranges, reds, dark green, grey etc are some of my favorites. They look warm and cozy and I love clothes in those colors.

2. Sweaters and cozy pants - Soft sweaters, sweatpants, fleece jackets, scarves etc. It just makes me think of snuggling up with Josh, talking a walk outside etc.

3. Retreat - fall is when the youth group retreat happens and it is one of my favorite activities of the year. Josh always does a great job with coming up with a theme, lessons and a balance of fun activities as well as deeper spiritual activities. This is last years retreat...


4. Football - I don't necessarily like Josh zoning out all afternoon on Sunday but I do love football. Especially the #2 Texas Longhorns! This is also the second year that I am playing in a Yahoo Pick 'Em league where you pick the winners of each NFL game and give them "confidence points". Last year I was the only girl and did really well. This year I convinced my sister in law Lauren to play too. I'm doing ok so far - 5th place out of 15.



5. The smells - I love fall scents like spiced pumpkin, apple, nutmeg, pine and others. I bought a bunch of different scents in the melting wax things. They came with ideas on how to mix the smells too so I am excited to try some of those.


6. Yummy fall foods - there are too many of these to list but some of my favorites are soup or chili in bread bowls (we are actually having that for dinner tonight), pumpkin bread, homemade caramel corn, stew, hot tea, sweet potatoes and apples.




7. Aspen leaves- Aspen trees are my favorite and this is the time of year that they change colors. On Saturday my mom and I drove up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park to see the colors. They weren't at the peak yet but they were still amazing.


8. Decorating my house - I love all of my fallish decorations. This year since there is a lot of other things taking priority I'm not doing very much but I just love any sort of fall decor - wheat, leaves, beautiful colors, pumpkins, anything really.

That's all for now. Is there anything that you love about this time of year?

Pictures

These are a bunch of pictures of the nursery, presents at the church baby shower, me before our false alarm etc. Enjoy!

37 Weeks

I have been getting super impatient lately wanting Ms. Addison to get here. We had a doctor's appointment this morning and even though it wasn't as good as I had hoped, it did make me feel better. I'm dilated more than I was even earlier this week. The doctor said her head is as low as it can get without coming out and that there is a good chance that will make labor quicker. I like quicker. I have been having tons of pain and pressure because her head is low and pressing on nerves so that isn't great and apparently won't get better either.

I'm trying to keep busy with work at home so that is helpful but other than that we are just waiting. Josh has his Daddy Boot Camp class tomorrow and I'm interested to hear how it goes. We have heard really good things about this class so I 'll update about it later.

After my stroller meltdown last week we found one that I loved and got it in the mail Wednesday. We were also lucky enough to have a family from church give us two extra car seat bases that fit the one we ordered so we will have a base for my car, Josh's car and Connie's car.


Connie is the sweet lady that will be watching Addie when I go back to work. Her family is so special to Josh and I and have been since he started working at University. They have had two other kids go through the youth group at least a year with Josh and now the youngest daughter is a senior. Connie was working part time at an adoption agency as well as running University's Thursday School Program (Mother's Day Out). She actually asked us if she could keep Addie and we could not be happier about it. There really isn't anyone else I would rather she spend so much time with when Josh and I are working. This whole situation is definitely one of the ways God has blessed us during this pregnancy and preparing for Addison.

That's about it for now. I keep hoping that the next time I post will be announcing that Addison is here but I guess we'll see....

Grateful

Since the past week has been pretty rough for me, I decided to make a list today of things that I am grateful for right now.

1. Josh - He has been so incredibly patient, understanding and helpful. He also always makes me laugh at just the right times. He will do something silly like poke my belly and then say "Addison likes it. She told me"

2. My Mom - She has now been here for almost two weeks. This is longest she has ever been apart from her husband Larry and I know that is a huge challenge for both of them. She has made me meals, cleaned my house and hugged me when I cry. She will be here until Addie comes and then for a little while afterwards. It was hard to be pregnant when she was in Alaska and Canada all summer and even though we weren't sure when Addie will come she decided to come early just in case and to help out.

3. Swimming - I have loved being in the water the last few weeks. I don't necessarily notice that my belly feels a lot lighter when I get in the water, but once I get out I definitely notice that it feels heavier.

4. Books- I have always loved to read but while being pregnant reading has been a sanity saver sometimes.

5. My boss and my team at work - The agency I work for is small and my foster care team that I work directly with is 3 other women and my boss (the only man in the whole agency). They have been incredibly flexible and supportive during the whole pregnancy but especially the last few weeks while my work schedule had to change and now I'm working from home.

6. Sonic Ice - One of my favorite things has been to get a large water with lemon and then eat the ice.

7. Foam Rollers - if you don't know what this is - sorry, it is a little hard to describe but it is a dense foam cylinder that I use to stretch. It works wonders on my hips and thighs when they are sore. I got mine at my gym but they also have them at target.

8. Bath and Body Works Sugar Scrubs - they feel so good and have helped exfoliate and moisturize my skin (especially my belly) so it doesn't itch.

9. Linda - this is the nurse practitioner that I see every other doctor's visit. She is so sweet and patient with all of my questions. She has seen me off and on throughout our whole history of the miscarriages etc and that always makes me feel better.

10. Other people - Our church family and friends have been so supportive! I was overwhelmed at the generosity at our baby shower and so many people offer to help with anything. It has been good for Josh to know that there are also people who can help out with youth group stuff when ever he is home with me.

That's it for now. There are so many more things that I have been thankful for but I am needing to take a nap. Hopefully Ms. Addison will decide to come meet us soon!

Stroller Meltdown

The past 48 hours have pretty much stunk. Yesterday Josh and I went to Babies R Us and realized that the stroller/car seat combo we wanted had been discontinued and no one let us know. So, we had to try to pick out another one. There was one that was basically the same as the original just different fabric and $70 more. Then we went to Target and found one that was cheaper but about 30 lbs heavier. So, I started crying, upset because I couldn't even pick out a stupid stroller and car seat. Eventually I found one on line at Target that was a reasonable price and still lite weight with the other features we liked. Crisis solved.

Today I had another meltdown or two. The first was putting away clothes in Addie's room and trying to figure out where to put things. I am having lots more anxiety lately that I am going to do a terrible job taking care of this tiny little person.
The second meltdown was a the doctors appointment this afternoon. I was already worried that she would tell me that nothing much had changed (which she did) and it didn't help that they were running 45 minutes behind and my blood pressure was high. I have been getting so easily overwhelmed and unfortunately my body's first response is tears. I think I have cried more this week than in the last 3 months of the pregnancy. I hate crying. I really, really hate crying. It makes me feel stupid. I've also been completely over analyzing everything. I get so worried that other people are upset that it makes life worse. Hormones suck. I honestly thought I had been doing really well most of this pregnancy - I've been easily frustrated and more sensitive lately but the crying at the drop of a hat is new.

Back to the doctor's appointment - I'm dilated to a 1 which is an improvement over last week I guess. I can stop taking the medication to stop contractions and I can do more activity now too but it could still be 24 hours or 28 days. I'm praying she comes early - the doctors have no more concerns about her development or health if she comes now and I am super uncomfortable with her head being so low. We also got and put together my glider tonight and Josh also finally packed his hospital bag so I really am ready whenever she decides to come out.

Josh's Blog

My husband has finally started a blog. He has toyed with this idea off and on for awhile and decided to actually go for it. He wanted to have a mix of a "preacher blog" with devo thoughts, spiritual insights etc and a blog just to update on his life, share etc.

If you are interested the address is http://theblogofjoshjones.blogspot.com/

I will update with some pictures of showers hopefully soon.

As of today Ms. Addison still hasn't decided to come out but I'm still hopefully it will be soon. I'm getting increasingly uncomfortable and having more contractions even though they are still little.

I'll keep everyone updated!