My first Mother’s day

A year ago I’d have never thought I’d be writing this post. It seemed like the thought of becoming a mother was just that...a thought. Month after month of disappointment, tears and negative tests. And then they have a whole day to celebrate something I thought I’d never become. It seemed like a cruel joke.

But here I am a year later, finally a mother.

Little man will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and it’s still hard to believe he is here, and that he is mine. That my husband and I created such a beautiful, handsome, perfect little boy. That he is the little person inside me that has been kicking for months, causing terrible heartburn and the need to pee every 10 mins.

Thanks to this smileybeautiful perfectlittle manfor making me his mother.

Little Man’s birth story

We had just gotten home from Easter at my grandmas house. I had changed into my PJ’s and laid on the couch to watch Home Makeover. My sister had just gotten here and came into the living room to ask me a question. I partially sat up and got a really sharp pain, after the pain passed I went to sit up the rest of the way and felt a huge gush. This was at 8:15pm.

I wasn’t really sure what to do as I wasn’t having any contractions so I called my OB’s office and left a message. Mr.B and I finished getting things around that I couldn’t pack before hand and decided to just head to the hospital. I called my mom to meet us there. On the way to the hospital I had 1 contraction but still continued to have gushes of water, and it felt so gross so I was more worried about that, lol.

Once we arrived at the hospital they put me in a triage room and checked me. I was only dilated to a 1 and still not really having contractions. But since my water broke they said I had to deliver within 18hrs or I would need a dose of antibiotics. So we began walking the halls. Every hour they hooked me up to a monitor for 15 mins to check baby’s heart rate and my contractions. They were going to let me walk or whatever I wanted until 3am when they would check me again. If I hadn’t progressed they were going to give me something. If I was progressing I would just continue on my own.

At 3 am they checked me and I was 3cm dilated. So they let me continue on my own. Since I had been awake since 8am the day before I decided I should try and sleep some because I knew it was going to be a long day. But then my contractions starting coming more often and stronger so I didn’t get any sleep. I was having terrible back labor.

At 6am they checked me and I had only progressed to a 4 and 80% effaced, but it was progress on my own so they just let me keep going. At 9am my contractions were about 1-2 mins apart and really strong, but I was still only at a 4 and still 80%. My doctor was concerned since my water had now been broken for 12 hrs so he wanted to start pitocin. Since the contractions were getting worse I asked for a shot of pain meds with the pitocin since I knew that was going to make them worse. Around 11am my contractions were coming in waves of 3-4 at a time. Also his HR was dropping with each contraction so they were getting a little concerned. They put in a fetal heart monitor and cervix monitor so they could monitor him and my contractions more closely. They decided it was his cord so they added fluid back into me to float his cord. They also had me change positions with every contraction. They even tried me getting on my hands and knees but that made his HR go lower. By this point my contractions were non stop so I asked for another shot of pain meds. My doctor was also talking about the possibility of a c-section if we couldn’t get his heart rate under control as I was still only 4cm dilated. So the nurse brought in the pain shot but asked me if I wanted that or an epidural. With the pain meds I ran the risk of it making baby sleepy and his HR going lower which of course makes me have a c-section. So I gave in and decided on the epidural, as if I needed a c-section I had to get it any ways. And I knew I couldn’t go farther with out the pain meds but didn’t want to cause him any distress.

So the nurse called for an epidural and started getting things around for it. Then I had all sorts of people in my room because his HR kept dropping lower because my contractions were non stop. I was in tears because they were so fast and so hard and I was mad because they weren’t doing anything to make me dilate. Finally they allowed anesthesia in to start my epidural, this was around 1pm. It took him 3 tries to get it and I pretty much had contractions the whole time. Also on the 3^rd try it wasn’t quite numb yet so I could feel it grinding in my spine so that was making it worse.

About 30 mins after they started the epidural they checked me again and I was now a 5. Also his HR had steadied now that I had relaxed. Now that things had calmed down I tried to rest some. I still had a lot of pressure but at least the back pain was gone.

Once I got the epidural I progressed pretty fast. At 2:30 I was 6-7, 3:30 I was an 8 and at 3:50 I was a 10 so she wanted me to try a couple pushes. I was so tired I just kept saying I couldn’t do it, but he was right there and ready to come so she called the doctor in. After he got there I pushed for 5-6 contractions and he was out.

After 20hrs of labor and only 30 mins of pushing John Michael was born at 4:36pm.

Birth Announcement

I just ordered our baby announcements from shutterfly, what do you think?

Mod Block Boy Baby Announcements

Shutterfly has custom baby invitations and birth announcements.

View the entire collection of cards.

And right now they have a special if you embed your project in your blog you get a $10 credit to use on a future order. And it did the work for me, all I had to do was put in my user name and password and it created this post. Easiest $10 I've ever made, lol.

Welcoming John

Announcing the birth of John Michael

Born on April 25th 2011 at 4:36pm

7lbs 1.8oz & 21in long  He is the most precious little boy and we are in love.

Scary...or no?

My husband seen this at Meijer a few days ago and decided little man had to have it.

I think it's going to scare him...what do you think?

Who’s your favorite superhero?

If you remember in this post I had purchased a set on onesies in Superman print. Well this week I took a trip to Kmart again and picked up the Batman onesies:Which of course the husband loved.

I also stopped at Once Upon a Child and found this little outfit: So now we have the major super heroes covered and that makes Mr.B happy, lol.

Yes my husband is a nerd.

I love saving money!

I signed up for Amazon Mom a few months back but haven’t actually purchased anything from them. Well today I was on one of my coupon sites and one of the posts was for a box of wipes for $11 with free shipping. Since I know nothing of buying baby wipes and diapers yet I wasn’t sure how much of a savings that was. So I jumped on Walmart’s site and found the same box for $18.49, so $11 was definitely cheaper so I decided to order it.

Now I did have to sign up for Subscribe and Save so unless I cancel it will send me this same order in 6 months (you can choose 1-6 months for delivery). But I plan to cancel it as soon as it arrives, which is with free 2 day shipping. Also by using code MOMWIPES I saved an additional 10%.

While on Amazon’s site I decided to check out diapers. In my American Baby magazine I had a coupon for 20% off, then add that to the 30% savings of Subscribe and Save I figured I could get a box cheaper there than in the store.

I have quite a few newborn diapers already so I thought I’d get the next size up, size 2. I of course tried to check prices and I didn’t find the same count (184) package, but I did find a 152ct for $39 at Walmart. So the price of $20.99 that I paid was almost a 50% discount. Looking back I should have ordered several boxes, lol.

But I do have another 20% off coupon and once this package arrives I will cancel my S&S and re-order.

Amazon Prime Member

Items: $41.99 Shipping & Handling: $0.00 Promotion Applied -$8.40 Subscription Discount -$12.60   Total Before Tax: $20.99 Estimated Tax: $0.00 Order Total: $20.99

I plan to check all of my Baby magazines I have for coupons and continue ordering diapers from Amazon as long as they are cheaper. I have a few different brands now as I’m not sure what brand we will primarily use, I don’t think I will know that till the baby is here. But since I can order any brand I want with the coupons it won’t matter, I will probably order a few different kinds until he is here and then see what works the best.

Anyone else use Amazon mom to purchase baby stuff? Does it actually save money in the end?

Surprise!

A few weeks ago my mom told me that she was invited to a VIP event at the casino for this Saturday. We’ve gone to a few of these so I thought nothing of it, other than she did tell me it was a secret event and no one knew about it. Although I was suspicious I didn’t put to much thought into it.

So I arrive at her house to pick her up at 6:30 last night and she tells me we have to drop a gift off to her room mate who is at a party, she said she forgot it. So we are driving down the road and she tells me what road I need to turn on. Well the road is one that a co-worker lives on so my brain started turning, then I asked her the house number and she tells me and I knew it was her house, as I was just there last week.

As I’m pulling up I see all of my friends cars and knew it was a party. They were throwing me a surprise baby shower! I tell you I have the best co-workers and friends!

Of course no one thought to bring a camera so one of the girls was using my phone to take pictures, most of which are blurry or have her finger in the shot. But I had a great time and we got some awesome gifts. Although I feel somewhat stupid as I had been talking with them all about the shower my cousin is throwing, thinking they were coming to that. But it is just a family shower. I even asked them last week if they got their invites and they told me yes, silly girls sure can keep a secret, lol.

Even my 2 best friends didn’t let it slip and I had lunch with one on Friday and the other on Saturday. On Friday we even went to Target and added stuff to my registry and still nothing. Good job keeping quiet girls, lol.

Here are just a few pictures, like I said they aren’t great quality:

This is me with Anne, Lorretta and Carrie The same girls with Nancy sneaking in at the bottom Lorretta and I Opening the handmade burp rags and blankets my friend Teisha made, my mom looking on One of the outfits from my mom Mmm…cake! The diaper cake Anne made Most of the presents at home, now I just have to take care of them all, lol.I had a wonderful time and I’m so thankful for my friends for doing such a wonderful thing for us. Little John is so spoiled already!

Pink or Blue...either will do!

I’m not sure who’s idea it was to schedule our u/s the day before Thanksgiving, but it was a bad idea. First I drank extra water due to the fact that at my 12 week scan my bladder wasn’t full enough. So as we were getting ready to leave I already felt like I had to go to the bathroom. Of course there was a ton of traffic on the highway and it took twice as long to get there, which made us late. Like I said my mom was there so Mr.B texted her and asked her to let them know we were on the highway and coming soon.

We finally arrived and were only about 10 minutes late. By this time my bladder was so full I was almost in tears and felt like I was going to wet myself. The tech was with another patient, I believe the one scheduled after me and since I was late I couldn’t really complain.

Finally it’s my turn and we all head back to the room. She starts looking around and getting all of her measurements. When we got there she asked if we wanted to know the gender and of course we said yes. So after getting all of the measurements she headed below the waist and that was when we discovered the legs clamped closed! Nice and straight and stuck together all the way to the ankles. Of course everything else like hands and head were moving like crazy(thanks to the big glass of orange juice I drank), but those little legs were closed tight.

Then the tech said “well if you really want to know I’m going to have to be mean” cause she knew how bad I had to use the bathroom. So she then starts bouncing the wand up and down on my stomach to get the baby to move and the legs to open up.

Luckily it worked and we got a nice clear shot and James announced "that's my boy" haha.

 

(Taken from Google Images)

So looks like we have a little boy on our hands. Everyone is so excited and we can’t wait to welcome him come April!

Sorry it took me so long to update everyone but we wanted to tell our parents first. We told my dad’s side of the family early on Thanksgiving and then headed to my grandma’s to tell my mom’s side of the family. I made Turkey sugar cookies frosted blue to tell them. Some got it and others didn’t, but I thought it was a cute way to tell everyone. Then we went to dinner at my FIL’s tonight and told him. Mr.B’s brother, who he hasn’t seen in probably 15 years, was there as well. I loved seeing how happy and proud he was to tell his family he’s having a boy.

Thanksgiving was great this year and I can’t wait to celebrate it next year with my son.

Baby Tees….funny or oh so wrong?

I received this email the other day titles “Why husbands shouldn’t pick out baby clothes”. I have to admit I LOL’d at a few of these and think it would be funny to put my child in them.

Would you allow your children to wear these?

And I have to say the one in the “They shake me” tee is so stinkin cute! Just his little expression and big eyes, adorable!

And this last one, Whoa, she looks frightened. Poor baby girl.

What ones are your favorite? And would you put your kids in these?

How to make a Baby

If only it were this easy……