Right before G was born, I looked at the nurse and said, “Remember, I’m a bleeder!” I was laughing, but we’d talked about it seriously before, and she started getting the necessary medicine ready, but I bled faster. Just like last time, the moment I delivered, I started to hemorrhage. One bad thing about being more alert than last time, is that I was also much more aware of how much I was bleeding and how concerned everyone was. Even with all the medication they gave me, it still took a while to get everything under control, and I ended up losing about twice as much blood as a C section, double what I lost when I delivered E.
Of course I know I could be jinxing myself by writing this, but I’m really, really hoping we’ve finally put an end to the false fire alarms in our house! They’ve been going off randomly pretty much since we moved in. Sometimes a humidifier will set them off, sometimes we don’t know why. Almost always in the middle of the night though. And while E used to sleep through them, he’s reached an age where he’ll wake up screaming.
I’m pretty sure they’ve given him a bit of PTSD too. Every night before bed he points at them and goes “Beep!” and waves bye-bye. Every morning he wakes up and points at them. And a few nights ago he woke up screaming and pointing at the one in his room. UGH.
After I got my first dose of medicine, Tom and I settled in to wait. We ordered dinner, and watched Game night and Jumanji in our room. Around 4:30 I mentioned to Tom that my head was a little itchy, and that was weird. A little while later, it was REALLY itchy and I couldn’t stop itching. I must have been freaking him out a bit, because he said he was going to go find our nurse. By the time they returned, not only was I going crazy with an itchy scalp, but my hands had turned bright red and my palms were also super itchy.
Knowing that I was already allergic to one type of antibiotic, the nurse got worried and immediately stopped the vancomycin and called the doctor. Within a few minutes, my itchiness had gone away, and my hands were no longer red. After some brainstorming between the doctor and pharmacist, it was decided that I was having a transfusion reaction, and not a reaction to the actual antibiotic. Because my itching stopped so quickly, and the antibiotic was still in my system, it was decided I could safely finish my dose, just at a slower pace. Luckily after the dose was slowed, no more itching! And in better news, as long as I delivered by 5am the next morning, I wouldn’t need another dose of antibiotics.
I’m having a hard time putting into words G’s birth story, partly because I’m still not sure how I feel about it. It seems like it went by almost too quickly? Is that possible in labor? After 9 months of building up to it, it was over so fast, and looking back, I feel like I could have done it so much better! It’s almost like I want a second chance to see if I could have… I’m not even sure. Enjoyed it more? Savored each contraction? It’s really an odd feeling.
It’s been interesting putting this room together. It almost didn’t happen, and then it did, but while we were working on it, we were constantly thinking ahead. Because we know at some point “soon” it won’t be a second nursery, but will be E’s big kid room.
The eventual plan, when E is ready to be out of a crib, will be for the new baby to move into E’s crib, and E to move into this room with a toddler bed. It sounds complicated, but trust me there’s logic there. So it’s interesting that as I’m putting it together, I’m thinking more about it as a toddler’s play room than a baby’s room. We already have a perfectly good baby room next door.
Tom and I have always been certain that we didn’t want an only child, but unless you start with multiples, you always start a family with an only. It hasn’t been long, but for the past year and a half, E has been our only. And while we know that with his personality he’ll love having a built in playmate, there are a lot of changes coming from him.
So when it got to the point where we were pretty sure we were facing E’s last weekend as an only child, we felt like we should do something?
By now they’ve all been sent out, and if you’re on our list, you’ve probably received ours. (And if not, let me know!) Yes, they were early - although that’s not unusual for me. As with everything this year, though, it either needs to be early or not at all. Just be glad I waited until after Thanksgiving to mail them out, because trust me they were ready before that!
I’ve mentioned that I’m being monitored like crazy during this pregnancy. I’m really appreciative of it, and I love my medical team, so I’ve managed to not be too anxious or worried, which is great.
Baby has been doing wonderful, and lately I’ve been feeling pretty good too. I mean I’ve been super sick, but that has nothing to do with being pregnant. All my pregnancy symptoms have really mellowed lately, so I’ve officially reached the “forgetting I’m pregnant” stage again. It’s weird to be so pregnant and feel that way, but it happened last time at the end too. Something about the baby changing position or dropping I think.
Here’s my tip to other pregnant women: If there’s some idea you have floating in your mind, but you keep putting it off or saying no because logically you know it doesn’t make sense, just go ahead and do it NOW. Otherwise, you’re going to hit 38 weeks and decide that it needs to happen that minute, and all logic goes out the window.
Normally, I am queen of logic. It rules my life. I am fine with putting off projects or saying no to things, because I know the reasons why it wouldn’t be a good idea. And so this entire pregnancy I’ve been saying that no, the guest room can stay the way it is for now. No, we don’t need a second baby room right now. The baby wouldn’t be using it right away anyway - I mean E slept in the living room for the first few months of his life. This baby can sleep in our room if need be.
My mind is all over the place lately with lists of things to do, thoughts about the upcoming holiday and baby coming, things to do with E… I’m as frazzled as you’d think haha. So here is a random brain dump of what’s going on with us lately.
E had his 18 month check up the other day. Everything looked great, the doctor was super happy, and this little munchkin gained TWO inches in the past three months!! He gained a pound, which is right on track, but the doctor was super excited for his growth spurt! No wonder he can touch the ground on his little car now. I’ve updated this post with percentiles, etc.
E is officially a year and a half old!
It’s been quite a journey, and in about a month we’ll be embarking on our next journey when E becomes a big brother. So before life gets super crazy, I wanted to post an update of what’s going on in E’s world. A lot has changed in the past few months, but even more has changed in the last few weeks. It seems like every day there is something new that he can do, or some new thing that is so adorable and makes me melt.
It’s a weird period of time with E.
I’m both excited for what comes next, but sad about what’s ending.
For example, his language. I’m really excited for him to be able to talk and communicate and to hear all the funny things he’s going to start saying in the next 6 months. (18 months - 2 years old is a GIANT language explosion). But I’m also going to really miss how he is now. He “talks” all day with great expression and passion.
I’m actually doing okay this week, physically at least. Mentally I’m all over the place. Both with worrying about E (even though I know he’s fine) and new baby (who’s going to be uber monitored so I also shouldn’t be worried), but I really feel like I could use a relaxing vacation or something right now (never going to happen).