We definitely have lots to share since the last update I sent out. Most importantly we had our baby girl, Jacey Hannah. For those of you who haven't heard, here's a short version of my labor and delivery experience...
I was due to have Jacey on June 6th. Unfortunately my due date came and went and I had no signs whatsoever that Jacey was ready to come out. When I was two weeks overdue both Paul and my OB doctor were both really pressuring me to be induced. I tried everything I could find on the internet (with the exception of castor oil) to try to start labor naturally but it just wouldn't happen. I REALLY didn't want to be induced and so after much debate I finally convinced them to let me wait another 5-6 days (with fetal monitoring every other day) to see if Jacey would come on her own. Well, that very same day at 5pm I got a call from a doctor who had "double-checked" my monitoring strips from earlier that morning saying she saw something that concerned her and that I needed to come in that night to be induced. I was devastated because I wanted a natural delivery, but I wasn't going to put my baby at risk just to avoid induction so we found someone to watch Kade for us and headed to the hospital. We got there around 8pm and they started me on Pitocin and put an epidural in. Because of the drugs I had several hours of easy laboring and was progressing quite well. I also found out after talking to my sister that my mom had decided to catch the next available flight out to San Diego and was already on her way. What a nice surprise! Then all of a sudden things began to go wrong. I stopped dilating at 8cm and so they had to break my water hoping that would help. I did eventually get to 10cm, but then I started having problems with the baby's heart rate and my blood pressure. Although I didn't have any urge to push, I was told I had to or I would be brought back for a c-section. So I pushed for close to two hours but not much happened. The baby did crown but then she seemed to get stuck and wouldn't move down anymore. I decided to have them shut off my epidural so I could feel to push better, but shortly after that the baby's heart rate took a dive and so the doctors said they'd have to try forceps. Two different doctors tried to get her out with forceps (with me feeling every bit of it since my epidural was still off) but neither could get her to budge. Apparently Jacey didn't like the forceps much either because her heartrate took a dive during the process and so they (literally) ran me to the OR for an emergency c-section. She was born at 12:10pm weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. My mom got there about an hour later and got to hold the baby for a little while before heading to our house to watch Kade for us. I was in the hospital for about 48 hours after that and then we headed home to start life with two kids! Paul got to stay home from work for a few days and my mom was able to stay for a few more days as well so it was nice to have some help around the house! We were very sad to see my mom go and shortly after she left we were already wishing she could be our live-in nanny! The nursing was quite painful for me the first couple of weeks, and recovery from the c-section was much harder than it was after my natural delivery of Kade, but I couldn't complain too much though because Jacey was an absolute doll and Kade also adjusted quite well to having a baby sister in the house.
Twelve days after Jacey was born we headed home to MN to see family and friend for two weeks (when I bought the plan tickets back in April I thought she was going to be a month old by then). Kade was a little antsy on the plane, but overall the trip was good. When we got back to CA we had one rough day with Jacey, but since then she has been such a good baby! She started sleeping 7 hours at 4 weeks old and now she is sleeping 9-10 hours straight at night! I think she feels sorry for me for how she came into this world so now she is trying to make up for it by being such a good sleeper! She is a good eater too and has the body to show for it...she's HUGE! We're guessing she's already over 12 pounds at 7 weeks old. Apparently she is taking after her daddy and her brother. who were both very plump babies). Life with two children really hasn't been as bad as we expected (probably because God has blessed us with such great kids). After hearing lots of horror stories from friends about their experiences with their kids we were a little nervous, but there are times (such as right now and in the evening) that I almost forget that we even have kids because they both sleep so much. Hopefully that will continue!
Nothing too exciting is happening with Paul's work. He does have a few short trips planned for training and conferences, but only for a few days at a time. We are planning to take a vacation to Hawaii and possibly Japan this October (by way of Space Available military flights). It should be quite interesting because with Space A you are at the mercy of the military's scheduling!!! We are going to try to fly by the seat of our pants, but it will be a challenge for me since I am usually such a planner. Our friends from Phoenix, Dan & Jamie, are coming to visit Labor Day weekend, and then my parents are coming the last week of September. Paul will be at Bangor, WA for a conference part of that week so my parents and the kids and I are going to spend a few days driving along the coast to San Francisco and then come back down to San Diego via Kings Canyon and the Sequoia National Forest. Hopefully the kids (and my dad) will travel well! :)
I was due to have Jacey on June 6th. Unfortunately my due date came and went and I had no signs whatsoever that Jacey was ready to come out. When I was two weeks overdue both Paul and my OB doctor were both really pressuring me to be induced. I tried everything I could find on the internet (with the exception of castor oil) to try to start labor naturally but it just wouldn't happen. I REALLY didn't want to be induced and so after much debate I finally convinced them to let me wait another 5-6 days (with fetal monitoring every other day) to see if Jacey would come on her own. Well, that very same day at 5pm I got a call from a doctor who had "double-checked" my monitoring strips from earlier that morning saying she saw something that concerned her and that I needed to come in that night to be induced. I was devastated because I wanted a natural delivery, but I wasn't going to put my baby at risk just to avoid induction so we found someone to watch Kade for us and headed to the hospital. We got there around 8pm and they started me on Pitocin and put an epidural in. Because of the drugs I had several hours of easy laboring and was progressing quite well. I also found out after talking to my sister that my mom had decided to catch the next available flight out to San Diego and was already on her way. What a nice surprise! Then all of a sudden things began to go wrong. I stopped dilating at 8cm and so they had to break my water hoping that would help. I did eventually get to 10cm, but then I started having problems with the baby's heart rate and my blood pressure. Although I didn't have any urge to push, I was told I had to or I would be brought back for a c-section. So I pushed for close to two hours but not much happened. The baby did crown but then she seemed to get stuck and wouldn't move down anymore. I decided to have them shut off my epidural so I could feel to push better, but shortly after that the baby's heart rate took a dive and so the doctors said they'd have to try forceps. Two different doctors tried to get her out with forceps (with me feeling every bit of it since my epidural was still off) but neither could get her to budge. Apparently Jacey didn't like the forceps much either because her heartrate took a dive during the process and so they (literally) ran me to the OR for an emergency c-section. She was born at 12:10pm weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. My mom got there about an hour later and got to hold the baby for a little while before heading to our house to watch Kade for us. I was in the hospital for about 48 hours after that and then we headed home to start life with two kids! Paul got to stay home from work for a few days and my mom was able to stay for a few more days as well so it was nice to have some help around the house! We were very sad to see my mom go and shortly after she left we were already wishing she could be our live-in nanny! The nursing was quite painful for me the first couple of weeks, and recovery from the c-section was much harder than it was after my natural delivery of Kade, but I couldn't complain too much though because Jacey was an absolute doll and Kade also adjusted quite well to having a baby sister in the house.
Twelve days after Jacey was born we headed home to MN to see family and friend for two weeks (when I bought the plan tickets back in April I thought she was going to be a month old by then). Kade was a little antsy on the plane, but overall the trip was good. When we got back to CA we had one rough day with Jacey, but since then she has been such a good baby! She started sleeping 7 hours at 4 weeks old and now she is sleeping 9-10 hours straight at night! I think she feels sorry for me for how she came into this world so now she is trying to make up for it by being such a good sleeper! She is a good eater too and has the body to show for it...she's HUGE! We're guessing she's already over 12 pounds at 7 weeks old. Apparently she is taking after her daddy and her brother. who were both very plump babies). Life with two children really hasn't been as bad as we expected (probably because God has blessed us with such great kids). After hearing lots of horror stories from friends about their experiences with their kids we were a little nervous, but there are times (such as right now and in the evening) that I almost forget that we even have kids because they both sleep so much. Hopefully that will continue!
Nothing too exciting is happening with Paul's work. He does have a few short trips planned for training and conferences, but only for a few days at a time. We are planning to take a vacation to Hawaii and possibly Japan this October (by way of Space Available military flights). It should be quite interesting because with Space A you are at the mercy of the military's scheduling!!! We are going to try to fly by the seat of our pants, but it will be a challenge for me since I am usually such a planner. Our friends from Phoenix, Dan & Jamie, are coming to visit Labor Day weekend, and then my parents are coming the last week of September. Paul will be at Bangor, WA for a conference part of that week so my parents and the kids and I are going to spend a few days driving along the coast to San Francisco and then come back down to San Diego via Kings Canyon and the Sequoia National Forest. Hopefully the kids (and my dad) will travel well! :)
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