It's a Boy!

Last Thursday afternoon we had scheduled maternity photos with my friend Caroline. When I was pregnant with Jackson we had maternity photos scheduled and I wound up having contractions and going to the hospital the night before our photos. I wanted to try and get some this time around. Caroline came to the house, which was so convenient for us and Jackson! Jackson loved being in the photos and was a complete ham! For weeks I had been having this intense amount of pressure and some tightness. Towards the end of the photos I realized I was in a little more pain. She left around 5:45 and we came inside the house for dinner.

Once I sat down I realized that the pain was starting and stopping... I was definitely contracting. I started timing them and they were 2-3 min apart and lasting anywhere from 30-60 seconds. I drank about 64 oz of water and continued to time them for the next hour while we ate dinner then called the OB. I sat in the tub of lukewarm water for the next hour and they were still every 2-3 min lasting 30-60 seconds each. Luckily, I had recently decided to pack some hospital bags for us. We got ready, kissed Jackson goodbye (thankfully Nana was here to stay with him!) and headed to the hospital.

We got checked in around 9 pm and headed to room B4 in L&D. The doctor probably came by around 10:30 or 11pm. I was already dilated 2-3 cm and was about 70% effaced. Since I was less than 37 weeks she wanted to give me one shot of terbutaline to see if it would slow or stop my contractions.  It did space them out by a couple of minutes but they were getting stronger. I continued to be monitored and was hooked up to an IV for fluids. The nurses checked me again a couple hours later and I was about a 4 or 5. Around 1am I decided it was time for my epidural. I had to wait until I had had one more bag of fluid and then the doctor came in to do the epidural. Why is it that anesthesiologists are always super fast?! He was done within minutes. I waited to feel a little relief but it was taking a long time. I was still feeling every contraction and they had gotten pretty strong and intense by this point. They gave me something else to help and soon I was able to relax and get some rest. The doctor decided to break my water around 4am. I was around 7 cm. Around 5am I was fully dilated. I started pushing at 5:15am and at 5:42am on September 13, 2013 Camden James Gosma was born! He weighed 6 lb 11 oz and was 19 inches long. I was very lucky this time to only have to push through 5 or 6 contractions. Last time I pushed for well over an hour and a half. Since I was less than 37 weeks they automatically bring in the NICU team for once the baby arrives. They laid him on my tummy and Jimmy cut the cord while they started cleaning him off. Then they took him over to the heated bed and checked his APGAR score. He got a 9! They continued to clean him up while checking vitals, reflexes and everything. His crying was great. I'm so thankful for a healthy set of lungs. I was so thankful that he didn't have to go to the NICU like Jackson did. I tried to nurse but he wasn't too interested yet so I just did skin to skin instead.

After a while the nurses came in to give him a bath and do his footprints and such. I was exhausted and found myself constantly dozing off. When I woke up I felt nauseous and vomited and at the same time realized I was bleeding. We called the nurse and turns out I started hemorrhaging pretty badly. They started a bag of pitocin to make my uterus contract more and constrict the blood vessels. We had to stay down in L&D for another couple of hours until they were sure everything was ok. After that we moved to our postpartum room #188. It was about 10:30 am at this point. It was so wonderful to be able to have Camden in the room with us. We tried nursing some more and then got to just doze off and rest. Since he was 36 weeks they started checking his blood sugar after he was born to make sure it stayed above 40. It started at 59 then 53 then dropped to 36 and then had dropped more even though he had nursed a little. They checked it every 4 hours. At one point they had to give him a little bit of formula to bring it up and thankfully we were able to keep it up after that with him just nursing.

Nana came to visit while Jackson was at school that morning and then Stephanie came to visit. We had a break and then Gigi and Aunt Gretchen came with Nana, Papa and big brother Jackson coming right after. Jackson was so excited and couldn't wait to see us and the baby. I had made a special big brother bag for him to open at the hospital. It had sticker books, big brother books, his own camera, snacks, coloring books and more in it. He was so excited and began taking pictures right away! I haven't taken them off the card yet so I don't even know how they turned out yet.

We had a nice quiet evening and Camden slept great! We woke up every few hours to nurse and the nurses came in as well to check vitals, blood sugar and give me my pain meds. Saturday morning Dr. Bergman came early to do his initial check on Camden. He is a healthy boy! He was circumcised and also had his frenulum clipped so that he could have more movement with his tongue to improve nursing. Thankfully it is a painless procedure with minimal bleeding. He said I should notice a big difference during feedings afterwards. Camden was very sleepy for a while from the Tylenol and big mid afternoon we decided to go ahead and head home. He had to so a car seat test since he was under 37 weeks where they check his oxygen saturation and make sure that it stays within a normal range while they are sitting in the angled car seat. We had to do this with Jackson too. He passed with flying colors. Around 6:30 everything was in order and we headed home! Jackson was so excited to see us and baby Camden when we got home!

Pregnancy Update

 Jackson likes to kiss my belly

Jackson wanted to make sure Cooper got in the picture too

I have made it to 33 weeks! Yay! Honestly when I was in the hospital at 28 weeks I didn't think I would make it this far but very thankful I have. Now if this baby can just hold on for another few weeks at least!

I have been feeling good lately. I get tired so easily which is funny since I spend so much time doing nothing and laying around at home. I do feel some pressure. This baby sits so low! I am not having (or at least not feeling) any contractions which is good! I have been going every other week to both OB and Perinatal. They stop measuring cervical length by 34 weeks and mine looked good the last time we were there (around 2cm) so as long as I don't have anything major going on in the next couple of weeks I will just see my OB every week from here on out.

These last few weeks I have been crazy about peaches. I tend to eat 2 every day! I haven't had tons of cravings this pregnancy but then I didn't last time either. I have been into baking yummy treats with blueberries and have made several lemon sweets as well. Normally I don't drink much milk but have been enjoying a glass of milk here and there in the evenings either when I have some cookies or by itself.

Sleeping has been ok. I flip from side to side all night and tend to wake up around 2 or 3 every night and am wide awake for a couple of hours. Last pregnancy I loved my Boppy body pillow yet this time I have only used it one time.

I need to start packing my hospital bag and get Jackson's big brother present ready. When I was pregnant with Jackson I hadn't packed my hospital bag so when we wound up in the hospital at 33 weeks I was not prepared! I also need to start washing all the baby things - blankets, burp cloths, car seat, bouncy seats, etc! I love that sweet smell of Dreft and can't wait to have a nursery of baby things ready for when this baby is born.

We are getting closer on names and have a girl name and a boy name we like but haven't decided for sure. At our last ultrasound Jimmy said he thinks it is a girl from the profile and face. My mom agreed but I can't tell. I am still thinking its a boy. My only hope is that it is a happy, healthy baby!

Jackson is always talking about the baby. When we ask him if he thinks it's a boy or a girl he says "no!" He loves to lift my shirt and say "hi baby" to my belly. But sometimes if my shirt rides up and he sees my bare belly he pulls it down and says "no baby!"

2nd Pregnancy Thoughts

We were thrilled when we found out we were pregnant! I actually had a feeling and went ahead and tested about 4 days early and sure enough it was positive! I was not even 4 weeks then. We went to  Sanibel when I was only 5 1/2 weeks. I knew there was no way I could keep it a secret so we went ahead and told mom and dad the first evening. Jackson wore a "Big Brother" shirt and it took them about 15 minutes to notice what it said. Once they realized what it meant they were so excited! I felt fine until around almost 7 weeks or so when I started to have a little nausea and feeling exhausted. Then it came on full force. I spent about 2 or 3 weeks completely miserable and unable to do much of anything besides lay on the sofa. I would do my best with Jackson but its tough having a busy toddler while feeling miserable and unable to function. He watched more tv than I would have preferred. We read lots of books and he would bring toys over to me to play with on the sofa. As soon as he was in his crib for naptime mommy went to take a nap too. I knew it would just be a phase but it was hard for me to not be able to do anything with him and I had such guilt over the tv watching. He watches a show here and there normally but during this time the tv stayed on for a couple hours at a time.

I could notice a definite bump around 9 weeks or so but it became more noticeable around week 13. Thankfully now as I am in the 2nd trimester I am feeling much more normal. I still have the nausea and yucky feeling tummy way more than I'd like! I went to the doctor for the first time at 9 weeks. It was hard waiting so long! Last time I had gone at 6 weeks and had an ultrasound already. Everything looked great at 9 weeks.

I did have a scary day around 10 weeks maybe. I thought I was feeling better and went out to run an errand. I decided I needed to just go home. I called Jimmy on my way home and asked if he could meet me to help me take care of Jackson. I needed to lay down. He asked if I could drive and I said yes, but then only 30 seconds later I said no I couldn't drive. I pulled into the parking lot and into a spot and as I was doing so I started to black out. I was in park and had the doors locked. Jackson was in the backseat saying "mommy, mommy". I kept saying that mommy doesn't feel good. Jimmy was there within minutes and drove us home. He took care of Jackson and I stayed in bed the rest of the day. I was having sharp stabbing pains in my upper stomach. I'm pretty sure it was GI related but no idea what caused it. By the next day the pains were gone and I was feeling much better. The pains were not close to my uterus so I wasn't too concerned it was baby related. It was pretty scary blacking out in the car with Jackson in the backseat!

Around 11 or 12 weeks I started feeling better and could manage to get out more. I was still exhausted but it was nice to be able to do things again. With each week that passes I feel better which is definitely nice. I do feel like this pregnancy is very similar to my last one. I had the same awful nausea and exhaustion but wasn't chasing after a busy toddler all day! I have had an aversion to meat. The only things that have really hit the spot is Mexican food (home cooked not restaurant style either!), pizza, grits, toast with cream cheese on it, graham crackers and ginger ale.

So, I started this post weeks ago and never got around to finishing it and posting it. I'll try to pick up where I left off and catch up to now.

I started feeling a little better and then Jackson got the stomach bug and once he was all better I got it. It kept me in bed for almost a week. I had so little energy! Once I finally got better I had a busy week preparing for Jackson's birthday party. Once his birthday was over he got a cold and so did I. I think everything has been affecting me worse. It's been 12 days and this cold and congestion is still lingering!

My belly is growing and I'm definitely starting to look pregnant and not like I ate too much for lunch! Jackson says there is a baby in my belly but then lifts up his shirt and says baby! Ha! I think he gets it but might be a little confused still. The nausea has gotten much better and is much more infrequent. I did wind up having to get a prescription from the Dr for Zofran. And it definitely helps when I need to take it, which is fairly infrequently these days.

I'm feeling movement and lots of little kicks :) I have no guesses on gender so far and we are not planning on finding out. We need to start thinking of names. We are hoping we don't have a nameless newborn for a week again!

I have a high risk for preterm labor again since I went into labor at 33 weeks before. Thankfully there are injections I can get each week to help reduce the risk to about 15 or 20%. I started at 16 weeks and will continue receiving them until 36 weeks. They aren't too painful except when one nurse put it more in my hip versus my bottom.

Here are a few of my weekly photos:

We've missed a couple weeks when I was super sick but I'm trying to document it all. It's so fun to look back at! Plus I like seeing how Jackson changes each week. Oh and apparently I like stripes! Haha!

Baby #2

This announcement is super late! But we are excited that baby #2 is on the way!

Here is my first ultrasound at 9 weeks :)

More info to come...