Day 1

I'll just start this off with LOL.

The car ride back home was a little tense. First time driving with a baby = extra careful.
Then, when we got home, I assumed the regular feeding times would continue. WRONG. Benjamin decided to change things around and shake it up a little bit. In the past 24 hours, Bill and I experienced:

-Peeing on the changing pad cover
-Peeing on the billilight ... twice
-Pee on his onesie
-Diaper changes every 2 hours (and they all had extra surprises)
-Figuring out the technicalities of a baby bottle
-1 college grad and two MBA's to install the pack n play
-hourly wake up calls for formula
-2 loads of Benjamin only laundry

If he wasn't so cute, I wouldn't be laughing while I'm typing this up, under severe sleep deprivation!

Post Delivery

OK, no one gave me post delivery horror stories. Not that I have a horror story but it's what I didn't expect. I was discharged within 48 hours (standard) but Benjamin stayed in Special Nursery Care (NICU) since he was delivered early. Every three hours, I had to go and nurse Beni. Kind of a pain when you want to sleep - much bigger pain when you have left the hospital.

I ended up with a schedule of 6am feeding until 9pm and skipped the me, it was no fun feat when you just delivered a baby less than 12 hours ago.

Benjamin was doing very well upon delivery. They monitored his lung capacity, heartbeat, blood pressure, among other things. They also tested his blood sugar and a few other lab work. A day later, he wasn't eating very well so a feeding tube was placed. At around the same time, his billirubin was really high (jaundice) so he went under the photo therapy light. It looked really cut12am and 3am feeding. (They give him formula). In between feedings, I had some Target runs, checked email, etc. Doesn't sound so bad but trust e, like he was getting a tan. Cute or not, it was hard to watch as first time parents.

On Thursday night, there was an influx of preemies. Benjamin, along with two other were selected for the satellite nursery, I termed it as 'overflow parking'. On Friday, they gave the OK for him to go home. It was quite a surprise but totally awesome. He still needed the billilight so we have one at home in his crib.

Welcome Home Benjamin! We love YOU

"D Day"

This blog post is for all of you that are interested in "what really happens on delivery day?" (aka graphic detail)

Coming home from the exciting shower, I wasn't able to sleep very well. Around 2am, I went to the couch and started to watch TV. At around 4am, I needed to go #1. Sitting on the 'porcealin throne', I realized something was not right. I was done peeing but I wasn't. Oh oh

I called out to Bill and literally, in 30 seconds, he had his bags packed. I couldn't make it a few minutes without getting soaked. Bill grabbed the roll of paper towels in the kitchen... good idea. After a call to the hospital, I realized that I planned on making Carnitas and had to put the meat in the freezer. Yes, the things you think of when it's time...freezing meat.

We checked right in and they told me I was 4cm. Good thing I paid attention in childbirth class. The cervix goes from 1cm- 10cm dilated. You start pushing around 8-9 (I think). Then, the waiting game started. We arrived at the hospital around 6am. I didn't feel anything but was registering some mild contractions. Around 10-11am, I agreed to Pitocin which induces labor since there wasn't much going on. Then the contractions started up a little, nothing serious. Bill grabbed some lunch and we started to watch the Packers/ Jets game. Our nurse was really cool and a devout Packers fan. The game ended and the contractions started to hurt. What do they feel like? Just really bad PMS cramping.

I wanted to wait as long as I could before the epidural and this was the limit. Once the epidural kicked in, it was like a normal day. I probably could have done just about anything. More Pitocin was pumped to speed up labor. So around the end of the Packers game, I was probably in level 2 labor. Level 3 is when active pushing begins and that started around 1am. Bill and I thought it would be cool to have a baby on 1/23 since my birthday is on 10/23. Nope. Adzuki was going to do it his way.

30+minutes later, our precious little one was delivered. He started to cry right away and all was well. Bill was awesome - he was there for support and didn't do anything annoying. The staff was wonderful! I couldn't say better things about the nurses at Methodist. When our little Benjamin came out, it was a sigh of relief followed by overwhelming joy.

Then, there's the post-delivery "stuff". What I feared the most was tearing. However, I knew it would happen since my doctor said, 'most first time mom's will tear'. Lovely. Here's something really gross - I didn't feel it when it happened but I sensed a ripping, kind of like ripping a piece of paper. Anyways, I ended up with a level 2 tear (out of 4) and all was fixed in no time.

We don't really know why I went 5 weeks early. Some speculate it was the fibroids. After delivery, there was a huge 'roid', grapefruit size, sticking out of my belly. Weird. All in all, it went fairly smoothly, no trauma or horror stories here!

Last Baby Shower

I had my last baby shower on Saturday. It was so much fun! Shanna hosted the party and if you don't know Shanna, she's can host a party like Ina Garten with the style of (insert your favorite celeb).

We had a ton of my favorite foods (bacon wrap weenies, Guyere & Ham puff pastry, pastry cups filled with cheese and yummy stuff, cheese dip and cupcakes - homemade and the ones from Byerly's that look like hostess cupcakes).

Thank you Auntie Shanna! I received a ton of gifts which was extremely helpful as we start to fill the nursery. Thanks everyone :)

43 at 34: January 19th

Well, close enough. This week, I measured at 43” inches around my belly and I’m at 35.5 weeks. Not that I was ever a skinny gal but I’m amazed at how my waist can go from a 28 to 43. Scary. In addition, I am still trying to squeeze through tight places, thinking I’m a 28 and then getting stuck. I find it kind of comical.
Lil Adzuki is doing well. He was kind of quiet during the weekend which scared us a little but during our appointment yesterday, we went through a stress test and he’s fine. In addition, he decided to let us know that he is very active and kicking since then. I guess the little peanut is running out of room in the tight spaces during the last month.
Last night, I experienced (I think) Adzuki making the descend. Basically, it just felt like my belly shifted lower. I know that my body has gone through a lot of changes but I’m kind of amazed at the ability for all these things to happen when the time is appropriate. How does Adzuki know to head south? It’s a little mind-boggling and fun to witness!

41 days and counting

I can’t believe we’re coming up to the end now. Bill’s got an app on his phone that has a running timer countdown, hilarious. It was a very productive weekend – the first shower was on Saturday with the Berger family. Adzuki received a lot of books, toys and baby items. In addition, the Christmas decorations came down and we headed to babies r us to get a few more ‘essential items’. Seriously – babies had too many ‘essential items’; mattress, changing pads, blankets, onesies, car seat, the list is ENDLESS. What’s annoying is that Babies R US sends us coupons that you can only use during certain weeks, great marketing for them… multiple trips for us.

Here's the nursery and 8 month Anne.

Adzuki 4.12

Last week, both Bill and I had a holiday break from work. A full week of not working and traveling! Needless to say, the time flew by. On Monday the 27th, we went in for an ultrasound. Adzuki weighed in at 4lb. 12oz. and is approximately 10 days ahead of schedule. Typically, average weight around this time is 3.5lbs. Yikes. He was very active during the ultrasound and showed us his fingers and toes at one point. Very cute.

During our week off, we went to the movies and saw Tron (I was the only female in the entire theater), purchased a rug for the nursery, Bill assembled the nursery furniture and painted, I made Christmas and New Year’s dinner and did some chores and errands. Oh yes, we also had a Berger reunion at the Holiday Inn water park. I felt pretty lazy the entire week and the third trimester ‘insomnia’ started to kick in. I’m hoping that going back to work will take care of it!

I have to say, the nursery looks pretty cool – the furniture looks a bit big but very nice, way nicer than our own bedroom set. What is up with that?!