Has it already been over a week? It has definitely been a whirlwind of a week- that's for sure. In case you're interested, here's how it all went down. Now -warning- it's not a story without all the good details, so if TMI is not your thing, you may want to check out now! ;)
Two Thursdays ago (10/17), I had my 39 week appointment to check the status of baby Bolding. She informed me that I had progressed and was dilated to a 3, so that was good news. She agreed to strip my membranes to help speed the process along. *Now, I had no idea what membrane stripping was until I started researching labor inducing tips, but I had heard that it could be a painful experience. Honestly, I didn't even know the doctor did it. Mike was in the room with me and I was talking with the doctor the entire time just thinking she was doing a routine check. So…that was a relief. The doctor said that stripping was kind of a 50/50 shot at helping start labor. She said that I would probably see her in the next day or so, OR we went ahead and scheduled an induction for the next week. (10/23) After the appointment, I texted my parents and went ahead and gave them the heads up in case they wanted to head to Plano. Well, of course, my mom was here the next morning! :)
The next day (Friday) was parent teacher conference day. I had 8 parent conferences scheduled, so I was just praying that my water didn't break in the middle of an important meeting! Whenever I didn't have a conference, you can bet that I was in my room bouncing away on my bouncy ball while I graded papers. I decided that no matter what, Friday was going to be my last day. This way there would be no surprises, and my long term sub could go ahead and get started! Fortunately, I made it through Friday with 8 complete and successful conferences!
After work, I met up with Mom. Mike had a work happy hour that I was happy to let him enjoy (considering it may be the last one for a while), so Mom and I went to pick up Grace from the babysitter and headed to the mall. Mom had some things to return, and I was more than up for some exercising to help get Clark moving. Mom returned her things and then we had to stop and let Grace ride the carousel like 3 times. (Loli just can't say no!)
Mom had been looking for some black riding boots and she couldn't find what she was looking for at Stonebriar, so we decided to head home and just check out the Dillard's by my house. Well, apparently, the Dillard's at Collin Creek is closing because it was a disaster in there. Good news is that Mom found her some cute boots on sale and I got some more activity!
We got home around 8:30, we met up with Mike, and I made myself a PB&J sandwich. At around 9, I went to put Grace in bed. As I was picking her up to put her in bed, I felt some serious leaking going on. I quickly put her down and rushed to the restroom. Yep--it was like I seriously peed my pants. I calmly let Mike and my mom know that I should probably head to the hospital and changed clothes. My mom couldn't miss being at the hospital, so we planned on Matt coming over to stay with Grace if I went into labor during the night. As soon as Matt got there, I got changed, and the car was packed--we were headed to the hospital!
Even though we only live like 2 miles from the hospital, I was continuing to 'leak' the entire way there. I was afraid when I got out of the car, it would be a huge mess! I also started having contractions about 5-7 minutes apart. It was kind of hard for me to tell. Mike dropped me off at the ER entrance, and I headed upstairs to L&D. Since we didn't bother to take care of our L&D paper work ahead of time, I had to stand there and take care of that before I could go to my room. That was quite annoying.
Once I finally got in my room, I went to the restroom to change into my lovely gown and I continued to leak like crazy! I eventually got into bed and Mike showed up with all the bags. For the next 30 minutes, I was asked approximately 500 questions about my life! Not sure why a lot of that information was important for them to know, but we got through it. By this point, I was starting to develop a little bit of anxiety because I remembered how quickly my first labor was (4 hours) and I was thinking about my low platelet count throughout my pregnancy. The contractions were starting to become more frequent and painful, and I was thinking about the epidural!
Finally, it was time to start my IV to get my blood checked for my epidural. No big deal, right? Little did I know the worst part of my labor was going to be the IV. The first nurse came in to start the IV. She tried in my hand first. She injected the lidocaine, which is supposed to help numb the area before the actual IV. She didn't give enough time for it to set in, so it was useless at numbing any pain. She was jabbing my hand with the needle and moving it all around. Not only was it painful, but I was overwhelmed with nausea and starting to sweat like crazy. After all that, she said that my veins were good, but were too 'valvy'…blahblah. After two more tries (one in both arms), she decided to let another nurse give it a try. By this point, I was sucking ice chips like crazy and I believe I said something along the lines of: "Why is it 1,000 degrees in here?!" Mike was getting super annoyed and I could tell he was trying very hard to keep his mouth shut. I appreciated the support! The next nurse came in and tried once in the other hand before giving up. They decided to just wait until the lady with the epidural came because she was the best. Wish they would've done that in the first place!! I now had four bruises forming on both arms and was dry heaving and sweating like a mad woman. On top of that, my contractions were starting to get a little stronger and more frequent. Finally, the epidural nurse (doubt that's her actual title, but that's what I'll call her) showed up and she was a rock star! She injected the lidocaine, rubbed it in really well, and started the IV. Piece of cake!
After the IV debacle, I continued to eat my ice chips and anxiously waited for my blood results to come back. With my last pregnancy, the nurses gave me Nubain to help ease the pain until I got my epidural. Since my last labor was so fast, they said that they didn't want to give me any this time because they don't like to give it so close to birth. (Don't remember exactly why…) So, needless to say, I didn't have any temporary pain meds to tie me over. Suck it up Candice! It was a joyous occasion when the epidural lady showed up and said my platelet count was the best it had been my entire pregnancy and she was ready to give me the drugs! whoo hoo! Let me take a moment to honor all the tremendously strong women who choose to give birth naturally/without the epidural because you are so strong and I admire your strength and courage! With that being said, I am not ashamed to admit that the epidural is one of my favorite things and I will admit my weakness all day!
The epidural was more painful than I remember. I don't know what it was exactly, but it seemed to last longer and it stung bad. Also, when she stuck me with the needle, it was like my water broke all over again--it was crazy. The nurse said she had never seen that happen, but there was water everywhere…all over the bed and floor. It was amazing to me how much liquid had continued to come out of me! (I warned you about the TMI) On top of all that, I was continuing to have contractions, and I think that was the most difficult part. Mike was enjoying himself because he had a front row seat to the entire thing and thought the epidural was quite entertaining. (*Let me take a minute to remind you that Mike had attended a happy hour earlier in the evening, so he's also got a nice little buzz accompanying him during labor. I DID warn him, however, that if he breathed any 'beer breath' in my face during labor there would be serious problems!)
About five minutes after my epidural, it was a whole new ballgame. By this point, there were quite a few people waiting to come in. Some serious troopers! Mom, Landon, Whitney, Tom, & Patsy were all there for the occasion. Since it was so late, my dad decided to wait until morning to make the trip. After the epidural set in, they checked me and it didn't look like I had progressed too much. I was still dilated to a 3. It was about 11, and the nurse said they would plan on coming back in to check around 3 and see if I was ready for labor. She told me to let them know if I felt any pressure 'down there' or an urge to push. It all happened so fast with Grace that I don't remember that sensation at all. Landon and Mike decided to get some power naps in, but I think all the girls had too much adrenaline to sleep. Before Mike fell asleep, he turned on the t.v. and we were watching 'Locked Up.' None of the girls could reach the t.v. to change the channel and the remote was broken, so we watched a mini marathon of the show and learned everything about what we DID NOT want Clark to turn out like!
We all watched the contraction/heart beat screen like hawks and watched the contractions get much more powerful and somewhat closer together. I didn't really know what I was feeling for, but around 2ish I could feel Clark moving. It didn't really feel like 'pressure', but since I hadn't felt anything up to this point I decided to let the nurse know. Well…she came in and I was completely dilated and ready to push! After that, everything was a million miles an hour! The doctor came in (another story about that in a minute) and everything got set up! Whitney was a trooper and my photographer for the occasion. Everything got setup and it was time to push. I pushed through the first contraction and out came the head. I pushed through the next contraction and out came the body! Two pushes, two minutes, and he was out at 2:51am! All 8 pounds/6 ounces and 21 inches of him. I held him for a few minutes, and then they whisked him away! It took a good 15 minutes for them to get out the placenta. The doctor said she can't remember a time when the placenta took longer than the actual birth. Finally, it was out and I was all stitched up!
*Side story about the doctor --> So, with Grace, I saw a doctor through my entire pregnancy, but another doctor in the practice ended up delivering her. Since I was so pleased with the delivery, I just decided to switch over to her for Clark's pregnancy. Well, she wasn't on call Friday night, so guess who ended up delivering Clark? The doctor that should've delivered Grace. Funny coincidence. Fortunately, I really like them both! :)
After all of Clark's measurements and cleanups, I got to try breastfeeding. He latched on pretty well and had a great first feeding. I was happy about that, but still feeling a bit apprehensive because Grace started out feeding really well too. After his feeding, the family came in (still going strong at 3 am!) Of course, everybody took turns holding and loving on him. While all of this was going on, I was having serious shaking problems. They said this could be an effect of the epidural, but it was crazy. I was shaking so uncontrollably., my body was starting to ache all over. Everybody was concerned about me being too cold, but I wasn't cold- just shaking. This lasted about 30 minutes and was quite annoying! Here's the hospital photo montage!
After everybody got their fill, they went home so I could get some rest. I also sent Mike home because there was nothing he could do at the hospital, plus he DOES NOT fit on those hospital couches very well! Also, Grace just happened to have a doctor's appointment the next morning to get a flu shot so he needed to get some rest for that. At around 7, they moved me to my recovery room and I ordered me a huge, delicious breakfast! I was starving! While I was eating, my dad showed up and got some one on one time with Clark without all the women hogging him! Smart man. We were lucky because everybody was doing perfect. I was healing nicely and Clark couldn't have been more healthy. Since he was still eating so well and not losing much weight, they said we could go home Sunday morning if we wanted to. Even though we could've stayed until Monday, we were excited and ready to get home. Here's some more hospital pics!
Meeting baby Clark for the first time!
Giving sugar!
Meeting Pops!
Hanging with Mimi!
Some tired boys!
Proud big sister!
Trip home from the hospital!
My grandma came up Sunday with my aunt and we all hung out at the house for a while…glad they came! On Monday, everybody headed home. Mom wanted to take Grace to Granbury for the week to hang out, and even though I was a little apprehensive because I wanted her to hang with Clark a little, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make things a little bit easier. Plus, Grace has been doing amazing with Clark. When we first introduced him to her in the hospital, she was very torn. One minute she would ask: "I hold it!" Then, the next minute she would shoo him away and say: "Don't want it!" She didn't know. However, now she just loves him to pieces. She gets excited to see 'Baby Clark' every morning, and she has even asked for him to sleep with her at night. Sweet little thing.
Mike and I had an amazing first week with Clark. We had no responsibilities, and it was so quiet with just the three of us.
We were some pretty big babies about how much we missed Grace, but we were enjoying our time. I think we enjoyed it a little too much because we were not productive AT ALL, and I'm paying for that this week! Here's some pics of Grace on her grandparent vacation!
Watching some Barney!
Hanging with our buddy, Shelby.
pretty girl
Again with our buddy, Shelby
Mom was planning on bringing Grace back on Friday, and since 'Boo at the Zoo' in Fort Worth was going on I decided Friday would be a perfect time to go! It was awesome! It was probably the best zoo trip we have ever had, and we have had a lot of zoo trips. There weren't that many people there and the animals were ALL really entertaining! They were all awake and fun to watch. Grace was awesome the entire time and enjoyed watching all the 'aminals.' The only thing I will say is that is a big zoo and Grace insisted that I hold her a large portion of the way. I was definitely paying for that the next day--talk about sore.
Ready for the zoo!
Clark's first zoo experience!
Watching the elephant swim
Six giraffes and she loved watching the 'feesh'
Lions! Roar!
Feeding the birds. Fearless.
Wells Fargo..represent
Choo choo! Yay!
Clark's first train ride!
Saturday was a day to catch up on some relaxation and get some chores done. It was raining and gloomy outside, so we just stayed in and watched the Tech game! It was a really great game, but sadly OU came out on top. Man, I thought we had it there for a while! Well, at least we had the cutest Tech cheerleader at our house! Also, on Saturday, cousins Clay and Nate came to meet baby Clark and play with Grace. They do wonders at wearing Grace out! She was definitely ready for a nap after they left!
Getting' our guns up!
To finish up the weekend, we went to church on Sunday. Couldn't miss it since it was dress up day. The kiddos looked super cute and Clark slept through the entire service! Success! These are the best pics I could get…Grace has started to be stubborn about her picture being taken! ;)
Ole!
We finished up the weekend with a little mani/pedi session for Grace. She was so excited. I wasn't expecting the reaction I got since she's never had her nails done before, but she was stoked. She sat there and let me paint them and then was so super careful when they were done. The only worry I have is that she is very OCD about them. If there is just the slightest chip in her nail, she says: "Uh oh! Mommy, fix it!" …and she is not happy until it is fixed!
Looking forward to another relaxing week. Mike is back at work and Grace is back at the babysitter, so it's just me and the little man. The first week of breastfeeding was a success. With Grace, they gave her formula in the hospital because she was losing too much weight and I think the introduction of the bottle so early may have been a factor in why she never latched on very well and my milk had trouble coming in. Clark didn't need any supplementation, so he has only breastfed up until this point. I feel like he is doing WAY better than Grace ever did. She seemed to get really irritable and seemed to never be satisfied, but Clark is doing really well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and following the advice of some friends who are breastfeeding champs! Hope it keeps going so smoothly because I am definitely enjoying saving money on formula and not washing bottles! Plus, it being better for him anyway… :)
I just want to take a moment to say how very very blessed we feel to have such amazing family and friends! Everyone in our family has gone above and beyond to help us out--whether it's bringing us food or playing with Grace. Everyone from work has also been amazing. They were so supportive when Grace was born, and it's the same this go around! Also, Cecily created us a meal train for people to sign up and bring us food and I love it. Not only do we get to have a meal, but we get to see our friends and show off baby Clark. Thank you everyone! We love you!
Beautiful flowers from school!
Now that you're all tired of reading my novel…hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!!
