Mommy Mondays: Introducing Thatbaby!

Create your own free slideshow design If I had known writing about my prodromal labor last week would bring on the real thing I would have written about it weeks ago! On Monday morning I woke up around 4am with more annoying contractions.  The same ones I'd been having for weeks that never seemed to progress.  So I figured I was in for a long, uncomfortable day.   I went in to work, where they were no long surprised to see me.  At this point, we all figured I'd make it allllllll the way to my induction later in the week.  Besides, my birthday was on Tuesday and there was NO WAY I was having a baby on my birthday.  That night Thatboy and I were watching a movie when the contractions started again.  What's funny about them is that they were farther apart than the ones I usually have.  I started timing them and they were 7 minutes apart - the farthest they'd ever been.  It was 10pm at night and I figured I should go to bed.  That usually got my contractions to disappear and I definitely didn't want labor starting. By 11:30pm, the contractions were pretty strong and now every 4 minutes apart, but I could still talk through them.  I called Thatmom, crying that I was about to have a birthday baby.  She headed down to come watch Thatkid so Thatboy and I could head to the hospital.  Thatmom arrived at 1:00am on Tuesday morning.  My birthday.  By that time, I was in agony.  I could no longer talk through the contractions, it took everything I could to get through them.  I tried various positions to get relief - sitting, standing, moving around, on the ball, on all fours, nothing worked.  The contractions were being sporadic, usually 4 minutes apart, sometimes 2 minutes apart depending on if I was moving around or not. I was vomiting, which was causing more contractions.  We headed to the hospital.  It was the longest 20 minute drive I have ever taken.  Sitting in the car was probably the worst position out of all I tried!  And I was still vomiting.  We arrived at the hospital at 1:30am and the front desk took one look at me and sent me up to triage.  It was very "Hollywood" with Thatboy double parking the car at the entrance and rushing me in where I could barely tell them my name because of the contractions.  When they checked me I was 6cm dilated and 100% effaced.  They immediately got me admitted.  I could barely get up and into the wheelchair to get to the labor and delivery floor, having them wait through another vomiting and contraction episode before I could stand.  By 2:30am I was in L&D with the anesthesiologist on his way.  It took at least half an hour for him to place the epidural, but after that, things got back to normal.  From 3-4am I was able to actually answer questions about my medical history, give them my name and birthdate, talk about my pregnancy and thoughts on the upcoming process. Before she left the room at 4am, the nurse did another check. I was still 6cm, pushing 7cm and my water bag was "bulgy." We talked about whether it would break on its own or need to be broken. The nurse said the doctor would come in after shift change around 7am and based on progress we'd talk about it at that point. She tucked me in and told me to get some sleep and left the room. I was anxious to get some sleep.  Other than the pain relief, I really wanted the epidural so I could get some sleep.  I'd been up for 24 hours at this point and I knew I wanted to rest before any babies showed up.  I closed my eyes and - my water broke. I called the nurse back in and got cleaned up, then she headed out again and I tried again to get some sleep.  After my water broke, I could feel the contractions, despite the epidural. They were still so much better than before, but still pretty uncomfortable. I wasn't able to get any sleep. At 4:40am the nurse came back in. The baby was experiencing Tachycardia (increased heart rate) and she was a bit concerned. She tried having me change positions, which didn't seem to help, so she called another nurse to bring an oxygen mask and internal monitor. The other nurse suggested they check me out and see where I was in terms of cervical progress. I was complete and the baby's head was almost hanging out. "If she pushes right now, this baby is coming out." All of a sudden it was all hands on deck. I think every nurse on the floor was in my room, but no doctor. They were paging the doctor, but couldn't find her. I don't think they even broke down the bed. They had me start pushing anyway. Thatboy says after the first push, the head emerged, but it took about 4 more pushes for the rest of the baby to come out. At 4:52am, less than 7 hours after my contractions started, less than an hour after my water broke, we met Thatbaby.  He was as blue as a smurf, but cried immediately and was placed on my chest for skin to skin as he was stimulated to help get the color into him. Apgars were 6/9 because of his blueness. Thatbaby continues to be my Oppo-baby.  So very different from his big brother.  Breastfeeding has been so much easier this time around as Thatbaby has a voracious appetite.  Despite his rough start, he hasn't had the same issues as Thatkid, who suffered from jaundice for almost the first month of his life.  We're finding the adjustment to being a family of four much easier than anticipated.  There's so much less anxiety the second time around, because we already know what to expect, and how to handle situations.  Thatboy remarked that this time at the hospital it was almost vacation-like, just sitting around and relaxing. Although I do think the benefit to having a weekday baby (and a second kid) is that there were far less visitors at the hospital.  Which gave us a lot more downtime.  Our only guests were Thatmom and Thatkid - who is madly in love with his little brother. We've been told about jealousy, that it takes several days for a sibling to understand the baby isn't going anywhere, that we could expect all sorts of behavioral issues.  We were expecting the worst, which could be why things are going so well.  Thatkid is ridiculously protective of his brother, he doesn't want to give him away.  He wants to be whereever the little guy is, traipsing behind to watch diaper changes, peering into the crib, asking to "carry him" (hold him) multiple times an hour.  He is often fond of saying "He's MY baby.  No one else's."  I'm already taking such delight in my boys!

What We've Been Cooking: Holiday Treats

Before we left for our trip, we had a lot of kitchen work to do.  Holiday treats for our local service workers, coworkers, and gifts for Thatbaby's teachers.

I got my station all prepped with all the ingredients and packing materials I needed. I started with the coworkers.  Mostly because Thatboy had an office party he needed "cookies" for.  Instead of cookies, I made the classic peanut butter balls, with a twist.  Instead of peanut butter, I combined almond butter with confectioner sugar and cocoa.  Then I rolled them into little balls and rolled those balls in coconut. 

Next came the treats for our postman and garbage men.  We gave them gift cards, but that's a little impersonal, so we tucked the cards in festive packages along with some candy.  I melted white chocolate and created little discs, topping each disc with dried cherries and pistachios.

For the final treat, we needed to make something for Thatbaby's teachers.  I say "we" because I decided Thatbaby was old enough to make his own gifts.  (With some adult supervision, of course).  For his 3 main teachers he filled mason jars with Hershey kisses (and I snuck some gift cards there too).  But all the teachers really help each other out, and I wanted to let them know we appreciate them too.  So I gathered ingredients so Thatbaby could make them raspberry chocolate sauce.

With all the ingredients measured out and prepped in little bowls, all he had to do was dump in the chocolate, corn syrup, cocoa, sugar, vanilla, and water into the pan.  Then he stirred until the chocolate was all melted.  We let it cool before pouring it into the little bottles I had.  I did the pouring while Thatbaby held the funnel.  I got word from one of the teachers last night that the sauce is exceptionally good over vanilla ice cream!

But these holiday treats aren't the only things that have been cooking in Thatkitchen.  I've been doing a little baking of my own. 

Thatbaby version 2.0 is coming this spring!  Guess that means it's time to officially promote Thatbaby to Thatkid!

Let Me Introduce...

My new sister-in-law!

Part of the whirlwind of the past few weeks was wrapped up in Thatbrother's wedding.   I would love to tell you it went off without a hitch - but that'd be a lie.  I will say that what's most important is that I got an email from Thatbrother on his honeymoon in which he said they kept reminiscing about how perfect it was.  No matter what actually happened, I couldn't be happier that they remember it as being perfect.

My favorite part of the entire wedding was the first dance song.  As they took the dance floor, Elton John's "Your Song" began playing.  A couple lyrics in and Thatboy turned to me "That's your brother singing."  And it was.  It might be my favorite version of the song ever. 

UDubb looked gorgeous and Thatbrother was as handsome as ever. We also got the benefit of Thatbaby getting to spend quality time with his family he never gets to see.

 He was on his absolute best behavior.  No crying, no fussing.  For the entire ceremony we passed him off to his cousin Atlanta whom he had never met before and he was as happy as a clam.  When he got tired, I strapped him into his carrier and he just fell right asleep.  Even amidst the crowds and noise.

We danced together, the three of us and he laughed louder and longer than he ever has.  This baby likes to boogie.

Now that the wedding is over and things are back to normal at work, I'm hoping to have a little more time for the blog.  So I'll be checking back in with you soon!

What a week

The last time I posted was Monday, September 26. So much has happened since then that I just have to catch you up. As usual, let's pick up where we left off.

Tuesday, September 27:

- In April I texted my friend Michelle with a conversation that went something like this:
Me: I have some really bad news for you.
Michelle: Are you okay? Is your mom okay? Is Thatboy okay?
Me: Everyone's fine, I'm just not going to be able to make it to your big book signing event when your book comes out this fall. The doctors probably aren't going to let me travel that weekend.
Michelle: Are you sick?
Me: Nope
Michelle: Are you pregnant?
Me: Ding Ding Ding!

Michelle and I live parallel lives in a lot of respects and we both kind of got a kick about having our big arrivals arriving in the same week. The stresses, the excitement - our "first born" jitters were shared even though it was for vastly different things.

On Tuesday Michelle's first born hit the shelves:

Yeah, I bought a lot of them. They're going to make fantastic gifts for almost everyone I know. Plus I get a kick out of being in the acknowledgements of a book my dad didn't write! Thatboy has already devoured his copy, although he had more time than usual to do so. More on that later.

Thursday, September 29 - Rosh Hashana

- Normally we spend the Jewish Holidays up with my mom, attending services. This year I really didn't want to be so far from home (which in retrospect wouldn't have mattered in the slightest). Instead the whole family came down to celebrate with us Wednesday night. We had a nice holiday dinner together before they headed back home.

On Thursday we spent the day celebrating the New Year in our own way. First I made challah:

I made one for the holiday, and another to stick in the freezer for the brit milah/baby naming after the baby was born. Because I figured I wouldn't be doing much baking with a new baby. I'm all about prep.

Then Thatboy and I headed to the beach with Thatdog for our own little Tashlich service.

Tashlich is the casting away of sins, so you start the New Year off on a good foot. Traditionally the sins are thrown into a body of water which can carry them away.

We came home and took our weekly "bump" shot. This one marked the 39th week of my pregnancy.

Although now it marks the last picture we took of me during our pregnancy, because on Sunday, October 2 I no longer looked like that, I looked like this:

And Thatboy looked like this:

I won't bore you with the long involved birth story but the short version is that I went in for my 39 week appointment on Friday, September 30 and ended up getting sent to the hospital for an induction. An induction that lasted 2 days because this little person was not ready to come out.

Which means I spent most of Saturday, October 1 sleeping and watching movies waiting for something to happen and Thatboy spent his time reading and waiting for something to happen.

When things finally started happening, they happened really really fast. And on Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 2:42AM Thatbaby made his way into the world. That's right - Thatbaby's a BOY!

We've spent the past week fending off the inlaws who have been far more trouble than help. In fact, I joke that this mommy-ing thing comes pretty easily, it's dealing with the inlaws that is driving me nuts. They finally left yesterday and things already are far more peaceful and easy here.

Thatbaby is generally a good baby - as good as babies can be. He has his good nights and his bad nights. Last night he decided that 3am was an excellent time to wake up for the day and nothing we said or did could convince him otherwise. But really, I have very little complaints about him. He's only a week old, it may take him a little bit of time to figure out how the world works.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

We have a VERY big change to announce in Thathouse. We're expecting a new addition to Thatfamily - and I'm not talking about our October Special Delivery. This new addition won't be happening until 2012, although it's funny because it's not going to feel like a new addition.

Thatboy and I are overjoyed to announce that we will soon have - a new sister! On Saturday, UDubb agreed to officially join our family. I would be worried on her behalf, but she already knows what she's getting into. We are obviously unbelievably excited since UDubb is a family favorite. And this means I don't have to worry about running out of Nike Gear anytime soon.

Speaking of change, this week on Eat.Live.Be. we're talking about changing things up, and how we've changed things in the last five months.

In general, I haven't done too many changes to my diet. Other than giving up alcohol. As for exercise - still running, but I am running shorter distances. Same time, I'm just slower. The only real change in my routine is that I've added in some Prenatal Pilates. It's a good addition to the running since it's more of a muscle stretcher than a muscle builder. It also is great for keeping me limber and flexible.

And a little change up from me - I can't remember the last time I posted a good chocolatey dessert recipe. But this seems like a time to celebrate. And brownies always scream "celebration." So does pie. So a brownie pie is like double the celebration!

Brownie Pie

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 6 ounces)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter

1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
4 oz semi sweet chocolate, broken into chunks/pieces
3 Tbsp butter
4 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix the graham crackers with 1/4 cup sugar and melted butter and press into bottom and sides of 9 inch pie pan. Chill while preparing filling.
2. Combine corn syrup, remaining sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring till sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
3. Add chocolate and remaining butter to to syrup, stirring until chocolate is melted and smooth. Let cool 5 minutes.
4. Pour chocolate over eggs, stirring.
5. Add vanilla and mix well.
6. Pour chocolate mixture into pie crust and bake for about an hour. (I toppped mine with cherries, but you can use caramel, or any other fruit that floats your boat)

Next week's topic is our favorite things about summer!

And here are a list of the other bloggers participating:

• Sarah - www.sarahscucinabella.com
• Cate - www.sweetnicks.com
  
• Maris - www.ingoodtasteblog.net
• Chris - www.melecotte.com
• Faith - www.clickblogappetit.com/
• Kristen - www.dineanddish.net
• Emily - http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/
• Jenna - http://stopdropandblog.com/
• Joanne - http://www.joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/,
• Casey - http://www.thestarnesfam.com
• Patsy - http://familyfriendsandfood.blogspot.com/
• Tri-Fit Mom - http://trifitmom.blogspot.com/
• Claire - http://cookiedoc.blogspot.com/
• Allison - http://sweetflours.blogspot.com/
• Jen - http://njepicurean.blogspot.com/
• Leslie - www.thehungryhousewife.com
• Rivki - http://www.healthyeatingforordinarypeople.com/
  
• Claudia from Journey of an Italian Cook
• Jennifer - http://lick-a-plate.blogspot.com/

This is the one Jonesy

I haven't been entirely honest with Eat.Live.Be. I've been kind of a cheater. This is the post where I'm coming clean.

My first cheat was in picking my goals. I purposely picked things that would be pretty easy for me to do. Drinking more water? Drinking less alcohol? Yeah, those were very specific goals. Nothing nearly as difficult as "watching what I eat" or "losing 15 lbs."

Speaking of the losing 15 lbs, here's my second cheat. Every month we're supposed to post how much weight we've lost. I haven't been posting this. And there's a reason for this. I haven't been losing weight. In fact, since Eat.Live.Be. has begun, I've actually gained 2 lbs.

Whew. It feels good to finally confess. Although, I'm sure you're expecting a little more from me. You know, like an explanation for my sneakiness? Well, let me try to explain.

Today on Eat.Live.Be. we're supposed to discuss vitamins and supplements we take. I get most of my vitamins from the food I eat, but I do supplement - I take these every night.

Not quite getting the full picture yet? Maybe these cookies will help. My friend Wan made them for me. Isn't she incredibly talented? If you need cookies for any occasion, I would definitely get in touch with her.

Still not there? Maybe Thatmom can put it into words best.

Next week's topic we share our playlists. I love music, so expect some good times!

And here are a list of the other bloggers participating:

• Sarah - www.sarahscucinabella.com
• Cate - www.sweetnicks.com
  
• Maris - www.ingoodtasteblog.net
• Chris - www.melecotte.com
• Faith - www.clickblogappetit.com/
• Kristen - www.dineanddish.net
• Emily - http://andersonfamilycrew.blogspot.com/
• Jenna - http://stopdropandblog.com/
• Joanne - http://www.joanne-eatswellwithothers.com/,
• Casey - http://www.thestarnesfam.com
• Patsy - http://familyfriendsandfood.blogspot.com/
• Tri-Fit Mom - http://trifitmom.blogspot.com/
• Claire - http://cookiedoc.blogspot.com/
• Allison - http://sweetflours.blogspot.com/
• Jen - http://njepicurean.blogspot.com/
• Leslie - www.thehungryhousewife.com
• Rivki - http://www.healthyeatingforordinarypeople.com/
  
• Claudia from Journey of an Italian Cook
• Jennifer - http://lick-a-plate.blogspot.com/