Gavin's birth story and first week at home

Wow! What a week it has been. Let me start off with Gavin's birth story... sorry for the extreme detail :)

Thursday night (9/5/13), I started getting what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions {AGAIN!}, but they felt a bit more painful this time. I just had this feeling, "this could be it", so I called my mom and told her to maybe be prepared for a call in the middle of the night, shaved my legs, and went to bed. I woke back up around 1am and felt like I was having strong period cramps every several minutes. I started timing them on my phone and they were infrequent - every 7 minutes, every 5 minutes, every 9 minutes... but definitely kept getting stronger and always about 1 minute long. I tried to sleep through them knowing the next 24 hours could be extremely tiring, but couldn't sleep! 

I showered around 6am and made sure everything was packed then called the on-call doctor. She said since the contractions were infrequent and not yet close to 3-4 minutes apart, to try and wait things out a bit longer. I woke Matt up and he got showered and ready and we waited around a few more hours. The contractions started to get pretty painful and a lot closer to 4-5 minutes apart so I called the doctor again and they told me to go into the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 11:15am, checked in and got into the triage room to be checked out. The attending doctor found me at only 1 cm dilated but 80% effaced. I was very surprised I was only 1 cm, because at this point I thought I was in a good amount of pain. The doctor instructed us that we would wait in the room an hour and she would check me again. If my cervix had progress we would be admitted, if not, sent home :(. The doctor checked again and wouldn't you know it, still 1 cm dilated! I was disappointed and ready to leave, but she made a call to my doctor who told her since I was almost a week past my due date to go ahead and induce me with pitocin. I was a bit scared of being induced, but the contractions were getting more and more painful and I didn't want to go home to suffer through the pain. It took foreeeever for them to get us a delivery room, but we were finally admitted and in our room around 3:30pm. The labor nurse checked my cervix and I was closer to 3 cm at this point - much better! She started the pitocin and gave me a pain reliever through an IV. My mom came in at this point, which was good, because the contractions were so strong I needed to hold her hand and Matt's to get through them. At this point I was trying to hold off from getting the epidural, but the pain was INTENSE so around 4 cm I ordered the epidural. It felt like it took an eternity for the anesthesiologist to get in the room. The contractions at this point were taking over my whole body and I didn't know whether to scream or cry or punch Matt in the face! The epidural took about 15 mintues to go into effect but after it did I was SOOO happy. I didn't feel a thing! It was close to 6:30pm and I was about 6 cm dilated. The nurse told me it might be a good idea for me to take a nap, as I probably had another 4 hours to go. Matt's parents and my sister in law Lynette got to the hospital at this point, and they all decided to go down to the cafeteria for some food while I napped. The nurse woke me up around 7:40pm and checked my cervix - I was 10cm plus two! Her and the doctor told me it was time to push so I called Matt and had everyone except for him leave the room. This was getting more and more surreal!

Right around 8:00pm I started pushing. For some reason I had this idea in my head that I would push 3-4 times and he'd just pop out. Boy was I wrong! I pushed for almost an hour and a half. I thought he was never coming out! Matt was so wonderful - he was super encouraging and watched the whole thing, so told me what he was seeing - lots of hair! :) The last push, the doctor said "stop!" and pulled him out. I wish I could remember this moment more clearly, and I am even starting to cry thinking about it {thank you hormones}... the doctor had Gavin in her hands and I looked at him in disbelief... that is my son! I made him! He is finally here! She placed him on my belly and I just couldn't stop smiling and crying. Matt was in tears too (and wouldn't like that I told you this!)... Gavin was beautiful and just absolutely perfect. All the pain I went through disappeared from my mind... he is here and I am so in love with him! They cleaned him off and Matt cut the umbilical cord. They weighed him at 8 lbs 6 oz, 20.5 inches long and he was born at 9:42pm on Friday, September 6th, 2013. I wanted to try and breastfeed him right away, but little man was just not hungry. Matt called in our families, and they all got to meet and hold Gavin. We spent some time in the room while the rest of delivery was finished and everyone was cleaned up (I won't share these details - you are welcome :) ). Our families said goodbye around 11:30pm and we were transferred to our recovery room. 

We stayed in the hospital until Sunday at 2:00pm. During our stay, we bonded with Gavin and I got the hang of breastfeeding with the help of the amazing nurses at OSU. We even facetimed with uncle Brian!

Gavin came down with jaundice, (as all babies do) and they wanted to "nib it in the bud" so to say, so Saturday night he spent in the nursery under the lights. Sunday morning he was doing great and they had no problem releasing us all from the hospital.

OSU has a newborn photography service by Bella Baby and we had some photos taken of him Sunday morning before we left. They are sooooo cute and I can't wait to order his birth announcement!

So... to recap the past week at home. We are definitely exhausted but so unbelievably happy. Gavin, as I said, is perfect :) Breastfeeding is going really well and he is sleeping better and better every night. We've had lots of visitors and his mood is different with every one - it depends on when he ate and how tired he is!  We just love watching his expressions and staring at him when he is alert. He loves his swing and loves to be rocked to sleep. He's only peed on two of our visitors and Matt, so I guess that's pretty good for a week's time?? :) He had his pediatrician appt on Tuesday and is down to 8 lbs 1.5 oz but that's normal as babies lose 10% of their birthweight after they leave the hospital. His jaundice is getting even better and the doctor said he is perfectly healthy!

I'm waiting for everything to hit me and to have a meltdown at some point, but I can honestly say that Gavin is a very good baby and we haven't had any major issues yet (*knock on wood*).  We can't wait to see him develop and grow! We've had a whirlwind of a week but are just so happy he's finally here!

40 weeks

Ohh heyyyy August 31st! I thought we'd never meet! I cannot believe it's finally here. I know I feel like I've been pregnant for 934039 years... but it truly feels like December 15th was just yesterday and I was taking my pregnancy test! I will say, this last month has dragged but the rest of the time really feels like it just flew by.

Now.... let's talk about Mr. Tardy For the Party. I should've known - I was born close to 2 weeks late and Matt was about a week late. Plus, most first babies are late. I guess I'd rather he be late than super early... I know he will be nice and healthy and plump. :) Hopefully not too plump though! As of right now, bets are on for giving birth today (Sunday), Monday (Labor Day, ha ha ha) and Wednesday (our Anniversary!).... we will see!

I went to the doctor on Friday and everything is still the same down there... no effacement or dilation and still posterior. My induction is still set for Sunday, September 8th and I have another follow up appointment scheduled for this Friday. As much as I'd love for him to come on his own, I'm really getting more irritable when I'm around people and I don't know how I'm going to make it another week at work. Sorry in advance to anyone who comes in contact with me over the next 7 days!

I told you last week I had a pretty rough few days at work this past week. Our event went well, but I had a 10 hour day Monday and a 12 hour day Wednesday and did A LOT of walking, so I was exhausted by Thursday and ready for the week to be over.

I'm trying my hardest to rest when I can but I'm still in nesting mode and can't sit still for very long. I'm constantly cleaning, I've re-packed my hospital bag and even got into some crafting this weekend (instructions here).

Not really liking the grey bow, think I need a red one for OSU :)

I think I've mentioned already that we cancelled cable in order to be more productive with our time and to save money for daycare. We've mostly been fine with it, but yesterday they decided to play the OSU game on ESPN 2 which was NOT OKAY! Normally we'd be on campus or a bar watching the game but a) I'm 9 months pregnant and am not stepping foot in a bar and b) Matt was feeling under the weather yesterday so we had to think fast and somehow came across a website that streams the games. It wouldn't play on the iPad though so here we were watching football on my laptop, haha!

I'm feeling pretty good considering I'm overdue at this point. I've pretty much turned into a hermit though since it's been super hot outside and as I previously mentioned, people annoy me. Baby is estimated to be between 7 to 9 pounds and from the cervix pain I've been feeling he's down pretty low. I've been feeling more and more Braxton Hicks contractions and am hoping that means he is coming soon?? We will see.

How far along? 40 weeks
Maternity clothes? Almost everything is maternity but I get excited when I wear a non-maternity top
Stretch marks? Yep, we're going to call them "love marks" instead
Sleep: Restless - I keep waking up to my own snoring!
Best moment of the week: Hitting the due date!
Miss anything? Beer again. Football season is here!
Movement: Yep, he's supposedly cramped but I still see and feel him moving a lot
Food cravings: Pasta lately
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yep, it's pretty obvious
Gender prediction: It's a boy!
Labor signs: Braxton hicks here and there, cervix has softened
Belly button in our out? It's poking out a bit
Rings on or off? Off
Looking forward to: Relaxing until his arrival

FINGERS CROSSED I won't have a 41 week update and my next post will be the birth story :)

39 weeks

Baby is still in there! I'm trying to be patient because I haven't even hit my due date yet but I was really hoping he'd come early. Which can still happen...

I had my weekly doctor's appointment on Friday. The cervix has softened a bit, so a slight change from last week... but still no effacement or dilation. Total bummer. The doctor decided to go ahead and schedule my induction, so he had to call the hospital to coordinate my schedule (which is wide open!), his schedule, and what they have available at the hospital... who knew they'd already be booked up the week of 9/2?! :( As of right now we're scheduled for Sunday 9/8 at 7:30am, but the doctor seemed hopeful that we wouldn't need it. Fingers crossed!! :)

Next week at work is our biggest event of the year. The top agents at Nationwide, along with the managers I work with, come into town for "Life University" for a 3 day conference. I'm really not looking forward to it, only because I'll be 39 weeks pregnant, working long days and on my feet a lot and having to *mingle*. It's a great event, but just not what I want to be doing at this point. Hence, why I've been trying a few "natural" induction techniques this past week.

All the spicy food has done is leave me with heartburn. The pineapple was yummy but obviously didn't work either. Next on my list is to try the "coffee potty"... I know I am crazy for thinking of trying it, but some girls have said it works and I'm willing to try almost anything  :) The doctor said castor oil is supposed to work, but I was reading that it will give you diarrhea and it's really not recommended. There are some other methods I might try as I get more desperate.

Side note... baby really likes my right side... this was him giving me an alien belly again the other night! {p.s. something is totally wrong with my iPhone camera when I try to take pictures in the dark?!}

Milo is really going to miss my belly...

How far along? 39 weeks
Maternity clothes? Absolutely! My outfits are pretty repetitive but I don't care :)
Stretch marks? Yep, we're going to call them "love marks" instead
Sleep: It's been okay this week; some nights I don't even wake up to go to the bathroom!
Best moment of the week: Starting to feel Braxton Hicks finally!
Miss anything? Running, I've been in the mood lately
Movement: Yep, he's supposedly cramped but I still see and feel him moving a lot
Food cravings: Chocolate lately
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yep, it's pretty obvious
Gender prediction: It's a boy!
Labor signs: Braxton hicks here and there, cervix has softened
Belly button in our out? It's poking out a bit
Rings on or off? Off
Looking forward to: Relaxing until his arrival

Evolution of the bump - updated

Note to self - next time only wear dark colors!

38 weeks

Hi! I feel like my weeks are getting more boring every blog post.... mostly because I don't feel like doing anything anymore! Which is probably good, I need to take advantage of this time to rest and relax while I can.

I had my weekly doctor's appointment on Thursday. Matt was able to come along, which was nice, because his work is super inflexible and he's not been able to come along to many of them. Everything is still the same, my cervix is not effaced or dilated and is still posterior, meaning not "ripened". The doctor said anything could happen though, so just try to be patient but also be prepared.

Since everything is prepared in the nursery and with all of his stuff, I took advantage of free time this weekend to make some freezer meals. I got the idea from Pinterest to make some meals ahead of time and freeze them, since cooking will be the last thing on my mind when baby comes and we won't want take out every night.

My mom is AMAZING and actually made us a few things already, including my favorite chili of hers, and a yummy ground meat casserole that she makes. I made a few things too....

Here are the recipes:

Slow cooker pulled pork

Slow cooker pizza bake

Raspberry chocolate chip muffins

I was at the grocery store and thought I should grab some Summer Shandy before it's out of season, then noticed a few other seasonal beers and thought "hmm, better stock up now so I have it on hand for when I can start drinking again..." :)

Baby boy weighs about 6.5-7 lbs right now and his organs have matured and are ready for outside the womb. He still continues to move like crazy and is making me more uncomfortable every day. It's amazing how difficult it is to get off the couch and out of bed! All things considered I don't feel all that bad. Just impatient and anxious!

How far along? 38 weeks
Maternity clothes? Absolutely! My outfits are pretty repetitive but I don't care :)
Stretch marks? Yep, we're going to call them "love marks" instead
Sleep: I woke up to my own snoring this week - so weird, I never snored before pregnancy!
Best moment of the week: Gluttony at the Food truck festival
Miss anything? Having more of a wardrobe, I miss my old clothes but am getting excited for Fall clothes!
Movement: Yep, he's supposedly cramped but I still see and feel him moving a lot
Food cravings: Corn on the cob - I've been eating it soo much lately
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yep, it's pretty obvious 
Gender prediction: It's a boy!
Labor signs: I think I've felt some BH, but can't tell for sure
Belly button in our out? It's poking out a bit
Rings on or off? Off
Looking forward to: Relaxing until his arrival

Have a wonderful week :)

37 weeks

Hey there!

Life has been pretty quiet lately, and I like it. We're in nesting/resting mode and trying to take advantage of this time, just the 2 of us, while we can.

I went and had the car seat installed on Tuesday at our local fire department. I guess not a lot of fire departments do this sort of thing anymore so we're considered lucky to have their help. The fireman was very pleased that we have a Britax, so that was reassuring. I said "if it's good enough for the royal baby, it's good enough for our kid". :) It's so weird to see it in the back seat!

Friday evening I went out with some girlfriends. We started the night off making candles at The Candle Lab which was so much fun! The store has over 100 scents to choose from so we walked around and smelled and narrowed it down to our 3 favorites. I was going for a Fall candle scent so chose hazelnut, brown sugar and vanilla bean. Yum! We mixed with the wax then made a label. It had to dry overnight so I still need to go pick it up and see how it turned out.

 Saturday night Matt and I kind of did a repeat of last weekend and had dinner and walked around Easton. We were both in the mood for Mexican so visited Abuelos for some of their yummy salsa and queso. Shh, I know I'm not supposed to have queso, but at this point I really just don't care. :)

During some lounging this weekend, baby boy decided to flip around and make my belly look very awkward. He must like my right side!

Sunday morning I was feeling domestic and made some french toast sticks via Pinterest. They were very yummy!

In pregnancy news, all is pretty much the same around here. I had another checkup on Friday and still no change with my cervix. The doctor told me to "be patient" {UMM hello what do you think I've been doing for the past 8.5 months?!} and even said we could schedule induction for September 6th. I told him we'll hold off on that for now and hopefully won't have to make that appointment! He said he would guess baby boy is around 6 lbs and would be a little over 7 at delivery.

I'm still feeling big and uncomfortable but taking my time wherever I go and trying to rest as much as possible. Baby boy is full term and his lungs are fully developed. We seem to be going back and forth between feelings of anxiety and excitement but I think we are both extremely excited to meet this little guy. :)

How far along? 37 weeks
Maternity clothes? Yep! My outfits are pretty repetitive but I don't care :)
Stretch marks? I spotted the first one the other morning :( We're going to call them "love marks" instead.
Sleep: I'm used to the lack of comfort at this point
Best moment of the week: Spending some QT with Matt while we still can :)
Miss anything? I know I've said this one before but shaving my legs has become a CHORE - I miss being able to do this quickly in the morning
Movement: Yep, he's supposedly cramped but I still see and feel him moving a lot
Food cravings: We had Chinese food last night, mmm
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yep, it's pretty obvious 
Gender prediction: It's a boy!
Labor signs: None - still oblivious to the Braxton Hicks contractions
Belly button in our out? Flat - starting to look like it might poke out soon!
Rings on or off? Off
Looking forward to: Relaxing until his arrival

Pregnancy must haves and annoyances

So I have some preggo friends, and friends that would like to be preggo at some point, and thought it would be helpful for me to go over my personal pregnancy must haves and the things that have annoyed me the most... just for fun :)

Dana's Pregnancy Must Haves:

-Be Band from Target. 

This thing is essential for the first 1-2 trimesters if you are trying to save money and still wear your "normal" pants. It allows you to leave them unbuttoned/unzipped and your pooch to stretch out while still keeping the pants up. I can still wear 1 pair of pants with this thing at 36 weeks, and I know it will be good for the transitional period after baby. It's pretty amazing and I might just keep it on hand for Thanksgiving and any time I overeat. :)


-Maternity leggings. 

I purchased mine from Motherhood Maternity and they have been a staple in my wardrobe from about 16 weeks. I wear them around the house everywhere. When you are huge and nothing fits anymore, you don't give a sheeeet what you look like. :)


-Pregnancy pillow. 

My lovely friend Lauren let me borrow hers but if she hadn't I would've definitely bought one. Sleep gets uncomfortable early on and you eventually need to support the growing belly when you get bigger (since you can only lay on your side)- a body pillow would probably do just fine but it's nice to have the support in your front and your back.


-A good pair of flats. 

Heels will just be annoying at some point (for me, 20 weeks) and you become more clumsy in pregnancy so heels aren't really recommended. Have 1-2 pairs of comfy flats to get you around.

-1 decent pair of maternity jeans. 

I don't wear jeans a lot so I get by with 1 pair because who wants to buy two pairs of maternity jeans? I got mine from Motherhood Maternity for around $30. 

-Start off small with your maternity clothes wardrobe and see what you can make do with... Try to borrow or get resale or take advantage of clearances. It sucks buying clothes you can only wear for 6 months. 

I love my maternity tee's from Old Navy.

-Belly lotion. 

It's supposed to help with stretch marks... I thought it was helping with me until I spotted some at 36 weeks :( Either way it's helpful to keep the skin moisturized, it gets dry/itchy from all the stretching.

-Back support belt. 

I had some back pain so this was helpful.

-A good book to get you through the 9348398493 pregnancy questions you will have. 

I liked this one, and I know the 'What to Expect' series is always a good go-to.

-Tylenol for pain, when needed. You can't take Ibuprofen.

-TUMS for heartburn.

 I have MAJOR heartburn and this has been a life saver.

-Apps on your phone to track pregnancy and development. 

I like babycenter, sprout and babybump.

-A partner that deals with your crazy emotions and takes your weekly belly photos and goes to get ice cream with you :)

Dana's top 5 pregnancy pet peeves:

-"Why are you having a baby in August? Aren't you sooo hot?!" Umm yes, I am. I understand I did have some decision in the baby making process, however, nothing is guaranteed and mother nature kind of has the decision in her hands more than anyone. Shut your face.

-"Ohh congrats! Were you trying?" First of all, that's none of your business. Second of all, do you think I'd really tell you if my kid was an accident? No. Butt out.

-"Why do you want to know the sex? Don't you want it to be a surprise?" It was surprise enough that my husband and I were able to create a baby given that it's such a blessing as some people aren't able to. It was also surprise enough when we found out the gender at 18 weeks. I'm a planner, and I wanted the room and clothes to match the gender.

-"Oh you're drinking coffee/pop, aren't you supposed to eliminate caffeine?" If you'd done your research you'd know that you can safely have 200 mg of caffeine a day while pregnant. I mix decaf with my coffee so it's not nearly close to 200mg. I'm tired as heck, and leave me alone stranger.

"You're not having a natural birth?" That's right, I'm getting the epidural. I'm a wuss and will need all the help I can get, I just know it. I'm not trying to be a hero and will take the drugs gladly. 

That was fun to get off my chest! :)