Monday, August 22, 2011

Potty Time

So, it's been a running joke that Sophia likes to poop and pee on Ian when he's changing her. She likes to hold in some extra just for the occasion, and seems to time it perfectly. Ian has concluded that this could only mean she is ready to be potty trained. Even though he was joking, he brought up the idea of putting her on the potty the other day. (Sunday August 14th to be exact) I told Ian he was crazy, and that if he dropped her into the toilet I would kill him.

When he asked for my help that morning, I figured I'd let him have his moment, and help him (my sole purpose was to make sure my child did not get injured during this attempt). Ian held her under her arms, and I held her litle legs up and out a little. Ian then firmly told her "Sophia, go potty!" and lo and behold, 3 seconds later, she peed in the potty. My 2 and a half week old pee peed in the potty!

Granted, this was probably just a coincidence, and I may have wiffed a little bit of cold air towards her, but the end result is she did it! We will always remember this memory. And, to keep our memory of this, we have the following picture. Notice Sophia is holding up her #1 finger, as if she is saying "I WENT #1!"

Friday, August 19, 2011

Sweet Gift



Ian came home today with a gift from an old coworker. They were adorable Personalized embroidered burp cloths! I wanted to post a picture so everyone could see how adorable they are! A big thanks to Kerry and his family!

It looks like these came from My Little Hedgehog www.mylittlehedgehog.etsy.com

Thursday, August 18, 2011

My Labor Story

It was a beautiful day on July 27th. I remember staring at my closet trying to figure out what to wear for work. I was 36 weeks 1 day pregnant, and I had decided on some calf length black stretchy dress pants (on loan from Jenni Hawkins). I remember worrying that we aren't supposed to wear capri pants to work, but, I was pregnant, and I felt like I needed something stretchy and relaxing that day, so that's what I wore.

The morning went slow. Around 10am I decided to have a nice conversation with Jessica. She is also pregnant, expecting her first, and was due mid September. We went into depth discussing our maternity leave plans for work. We both agreed we wanted to time it out perfectly. I wanted my child to come at the very end of August, or beginning of September. That way I could time my PTO and short term disability and get paid for labor day, and then be out for September and October (my favorite month of the year). Jessica had a similar plan, she wanted her son born a week late, so she could take off the rest of the year and the holidays.

Shortly after that conversation I passed by Brandy's cube, letting her know I was excited about Quizno's for lunch which was going to be in half an hour. I waddled back over to my cube, and then...........my water broke. Or, what I actually thought was I peed myself! Did I really just pee myself? I grabbed my cell phone and waddled over to the bathroom on the other side of the office. Well, moments later (I will leave out all of the gross details) I decided I was 90% sure it was my water breaking, and I called Ian, from the bathroom stall. He didn't pick up at first (typical) but he picked up when I immediately called again. I said "I think my water just broke." He asked if I was sure, ad I said "I'm 90% sure." He then told me he was going to pack up his stuff and meet me at my office. (we carpool, and his office is a 5 minute walk away, and I park the car at my office.)

After I hung up the phone with Ian, I didn't know what to do, so I walked briskly over to my old bosses office (Karen). She was meeting with a coworker, and I walked into her doorway. She noticed something was wrong by the look on my face. She asked what was wrong, and I burst into tears. I couldn't formulate any words for at least a whole 2 minutes, and then I blurted it out "My water broke." Karen calmly asked me where Ian was, and if my hospital bag was packed. "NO, my bag isn't packed.....I'M NOT READY FOR THIS." Karen calmly responded "well, you are going to have a baby today." She walked me over to my desk to collect my things and walked with me to the lobby to wait with for Ian. I remember asking her "does this mean I HAVE to have the baby today, or can I wait a while?" Wow Marian, THAT's what you were thinking about?

I called my doctors office and made an immediate appointment, and then I saw Ian's face when the elevator doors opened, we got into our car, and he drove me to our house. We had 20 minutes before our doctors appointment, so we started packing our bags. Tossing everything and the kitchen sink into our bags to make sure nothing was forgotten. It was going through my head that I hadn't downloaded my labor music, I didn't have my noise cancelling headphones, my aromatherapy oils were not ordered. Me, Marian, the most prepared person on the earth, was NOT ready.

We took our "luggage" and went to my women's doctor, arrived around 1:20pm, who confirmed my water had broken and I was going to have this baby tonight or tomorrow morning. She ordered me to check into the hospital, and we did just that. We checked in and got situated into our room. We took the LAST room at St. Francis. (Thank goodness!) The nurse was ordered to start me on pitocin to get my contractions started. Although my water broke, I did not have any contractions. I asked the nurse politely "do you think I have time to take a shower first" and I did just that. I took a nice hot shower, washed my hair, blow dried it straight, put on my maternity gown and jumped into the hospital bed. I remember telling myself "wow, this labor thing isn't that bad, I'm refreshed, relaxed and ready to go."

The nurse started me on Pitocin through an IV, some fluids, and penicillin. The Penicillin was ordered because at 36 weeks I had not had my Strep B test. So, they were going to treat me as if I would have tested positive and go ahead and give me the Penicillin just to be safe. That IV BURNED like hell. It was so painful, they had to dilute it down because I couldn't take it. At that point I thought "If I can't handle an IV, how am I going to give birth!?!"

The contractions started. They were not regular, and the intensity was only a medium. Ian and I did our breathing anyways, to stay focused and relaxed. I was hungry so the nurse got me a Popsicle. I was debating whether to ask someone to bring Rita's Italian Ice for me. An hour late the contractions started picking up. My mind was going a mile a minute trying to figure out canceling my work parking pass, trying to get short term disability paperwork copied and to Brandy (a co-worker who was stopping by that evening to pick up the paperwork to deliver to my benefits coordinator the next morning.) I remember Ian leaving to check on the photo copies, and me going through 3 huge contractions by myself, alone, in the room. I thought that was bad, but around 5pm things started getting bad. The contractions were pretty painful, so I asked for my epidural. Easy right? The nurse checked me and I was 6+ centimeters dilated. I was proud I got that far without pain meds (even though that wasn't my intention). The nurse told me the anesthesiologist would be in, in around 15 minutes. Well, 30 minutes passed, then 45 minutes, and the pain was unbearable. I remember holding tight onto the side of the hospital bed screaming "EPIDURAL!!! Just get me my epidural." Ian kept telling me to breath and apparently I told him I didn't want to. My doctor came in to say hello, and I was in so much pain, and was crying so bad, that my nose had stuffed up, and I couldn't breathe (keep in mind I'm still leaned to the side of my bed gripping onto the rail). They gave me an oxygen mask to help me get oxygen, but the pain was so bad, I thought was going to pass out, or throw up, or both.
an hour and 45 minutes had passed with no epidural, and then ta da, the anesthesiologist showed up. FINALLY, dude, what took you so long!
Right before he was going to give me my epidural, I felt pressure, almost like I needed to push. I didn't want to say anything to anyone because I was afraid they'd say it was too late for and epidural, and I was getting my darn epidural!! So I asked if I could go to the bathroom, and the nurse said to let the anesthesiologist give me my epidural and they'd give me a catheter. A Catheter? Gross, no I was going to use the bathroom now thanks, so I got up and wheeled my iv cart into the bathroom.
When I was done I wheeled back and received my epidural. Within 5 minutes I could relax. But, I could still feel the contractions as really INTENSE pressure, and I told the nurse I felt like I needed to push. The next 20 minutes was a blur. The nurse and Ian coached me through my pushes 10 seconds long, 3 sets at a time. After about 10 minutes of pushing the nurse goes "woah, stop, don't push" and she called for my doctor. My doctor came in, put on her scrubs, laid out all of her supplies, stuck her hands down there and told me to push. I did 2 more sets of pushes and out popped out baby girl. She cried instantly. I was in so much shock because I didn't realize how quickly everything went. They tried to give her to me, but apparently her umbilical cord was "the shortest they'd ever seen" so she could go past my upper thighs. Ian had to cut the cord right there. I remember them cleaning her up and placing her on my chest. I saw her hair first, and then her face, and her cry. I will always remember the sound of that cry. It was my baby's cry, she was mine, and my life was going to be forever changed.

That's pretty much my labor story in a nutshell. Sophia Nicole Millikan was born 8:16pm on Wednesday July 27th. I was in labor for about 5 hours, an hour and a half of that being incredibly horrible, but totally worth it. If I would of had my epidural when I asked for it, my labor probably would have been amazing. I still think my labor was pretty easy, but man, I should have gotten that epidural a lot sooner than I did.


Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Estyholic

Hi, my name is Marian, and I’m an Etsyholic. Yes, I’ll admit, I can spend what seems like 5 minutes on this website, and realize it has been over an hour. The things you can get made, and the depth of skill and craft knowledge on this site is intense! Plus, I really feel like I’m helping the economy, America, stay at home moms with side businesses, and it makes me feel good. In addition, I can get things that are customized to my tastes, for the same or even cheaper than some retail stores.
I forewarn you, once you go to Esty, you get addicted, so if you don’t have time, or money to spend on super cute craft items, you may not want to read on.

This weeks purchase: VIRGINIA TECH ITEMS
So, ever so often I’ll search “Virginia Tech” and see what pops up, or “Virginia Tech Baby” to narrow down the list. Well, I’ve gotten to the point where I can look up anything and type College next to it, and there are people out there who make pretty much anything in either your college colors, or with official material from your college. You wont believe my surprise when I stumbled across these 2 shops, and I could not resist! I had to ask them if they would do a custom order with Virginia Tech material and they did. See my current weeks purchases!!


Boppy Slipcover
So, my dear friend Alia got me the most amazing gift, the Boppy. The Queen of all pregnancy pillows, pretty much a staple on all registries, and all homes with an infant. I know I’m going to get a lot of use of out this! Well, the covers they sell at babies r us are like $26. So I registered for one at first, but then I notice that people on Etsy custom make covers for around the same price. Score!
So I found this shop: Pitter Patter Bliss
http://www.etsy.com/people/PitterPatterBliss
I received this in the mail this week and LOVE it. I put it on my boppy right away. I know have 2 covers, one that says “sweet pea” that came with the boppy, and one Virginia Tech cover. You really need 2, because if it gets spit up or pooped on, you need a back up. SO, thanks to Alia, and to Etsy I have the perfect pillow, and a replacement cover that will see many days in front of the TV watching VT games. GO HOKIES!

If you want to order, tell Chelsea that you want the VT slipcover Marian purchased 

Bumbo Cover
What is a Bumbo you might ask? A Bumbo is a positioning chair. You stick your baby in it when it can’t sit up on it’s own, and voila, your baby is sitting up, can’t get out, and you have a tray where you put some toys etc. Pretty much a nice little entertainment area. You can take it easily on trips, or over to friends houses. Thanks to Yvonne who gave me the Bumbo chair and tray as a gift off my registry! I was so excited to get it.
Well, I registered for the pink color, because at the store they only had pink or blue as an option (you still may be able to get green and yellow online). Since we’re having a girl, I choose pink. I wondered what I would do if I had a second kid and it was a boy. These chairs are expensive, so I was not buying another one, so my potential future boy would just have a pink chair. But there was a solution!!
There is a shop on Etsy that sells Bumbo covers! Boutique Sweet Cheeks
http://www.etsy.com/people/BoutiqueSweetCheeks
I’ve never seen them in the store, but, these covers are great because your baby’s chubby thighs can sweat and get stuck in the leg section of the positioner (the chair is made out of a hard plastic sponge material) and the cover allows the chair to be a little more comfortable.
So, I bought a Virginia Tech Bumbo cover to match my Virginia Tech Boppy Cover. It came last week, and it looks perfect! I couldn’t be happier.

If you want to order, tell Laura that you want the VT cover that Marian purchased 
Blog Design by Caked Designs