Killean's Birth Story

We're approaching Killean being 'out' for a month, so it's about time I do a little blogging about him.  Guess I should start with his birth story.

The week Killean was born, I was contemplating driving up to Omaha every day that week for a meeting for work.  Monday of that week I had a doctor's appointment.  At that appointment, the doctor said we were about 4cm dilated.  At that point we were certain Killean would be born that week, so I opted out of driving to and from Omaha for work.  Instead I figured I would wrap things up at work and then get geared up for a day or two of phone duty before he was born.  Well Killean had other plans, I ended up working the full week...and getting more frustrated every day that we were STILL pregnant.  I was over it and ready to be on leave.  Instead, Killean decided he wanted to stay on the inside for a while longer.

I came home on Friday knowing that I was not going back to work on Monday.  I had no more work to do, and I didn't really feel like asking for more work to do from my coworkers, so I decided to start my maternity leave...even if Killean wasn't born for a few more days.

We spent that night just hanging out.  I went to bed around 11:00 that night.  I woke up at 1:00am (yup, 2 hours later) and had to go to the bathroom.  I was very confused when I went to the bathroom because my shorts were wet.  After my brain woke up a little bit more, I realized my water had likely broken.  I stayed up for a little bit longer to see if my water had actually broken...and yes, it had.  I told Ian (who hadn't been to bed yet) that it was time for us to head to the hospital.  I woke my mom up and let her know we were headed to the hospital.

We got to the hospital and checked in and were all ready to go.  The nurse did have to verify my water had broken, and in doing so discovered that there was meconium in my amniotic fluid.  That of course made me a bit nervous.  The nurse explained that having meconium in the fluid meant we would have a larger audience during delivery-a couple of NICU nurses and a respiratory person would be there in addition to the normal nurses and the doctor.  If Killean cried at delivery, there wouldn't be anything different about his care after birth.  If he didn't cry, he would have to have some extra care.  Nothing was mentioned about a potential NICU stay, but I figured that depending on what the evaluation after birth showed, that a NICU stay was possible.  My first thought was "Great, both of my boys are going to end up in the NICU after birth"  Everyone was very calm about the fact meconium was in the fluid though, so that helped me calm down and know it doesn't mean anything bad was going to happen.

Even though my water broke at 1:00, my contractions weren't really regular even by 4:00.  So we decided to start walking the halls and see if we could get them going. The doctor wasn't feeling like we had to get going on pitocin right away (awesome) so we had time to get labor going on our own.  Contractions started to pick up a bit, but they still weren't that close together.  After about an hour and a half of walking the halls we were checked and were between 5 and 6 cm.  The contractions were only about 7 minutes apart, but getting fairly intense.  I went into labor not 100% convinced I'd had an epidural, but not 100% against the idea either.  At this point, realizing contractions weren't that close together and not sure when pitocin would be administered, we opted to have an epidural.  It went in smoothly and I started to go numb pretty quickly.  Contractions were picking up at that point, even though I just felt some pressure and no pain.  Killean was not dropping quite yet, so the nurse had me lay on my side to try and get Killean to drop down.  Nurse also told me to let her know when I was feeling pressure down by my rectum as that was an indicator he was in position.

We didn't have to wait long (we only got about half way through Wreck it Ralph) before I was feeling pressure. We buzzed the nurse and she stopped in for a minute. She had to go and get something...or check on someone else..or do something...I don't know, but she left and said she's be back. Well the pressure started getting greater so we buzzed again after about 10 minutes.  They checked and we were ready to start pushing.  They got everything set up and I pushed through a contraction and a half before they told me to stop and called the doctor. Doctor came down after about a minute and I pushed through one more contraction and Killean was there at 9:29 am on a beautiful Saturday morning.  He cried (best sound ever!!!!!) and we knew he was going to be just fine.  The longest umbilical cord known to man was wrapped around his belly and neck (twice!), but we eventually got him untangled from the cord.

Checking out my beautiful baby boy

The nurses put him on my belly/chest immediately which was awesome.  We had requested skin to skin time with Rowan, but didn't really get it.  This time we got it right away. It was amazing.  Killean started nursing and stayed latched for a long while.  We didn't find out his weight/length for a while and that was A-OK.  We headed up to the recovery room with no mention of checking his blood sugar or anything.  I was so grateful that Killean's color was good, lungs were working, temperature was good, and was all around healthy so that we didn't have to go through another NICU stay.  Though I was a little nervous about bringing home a 2 day old baby since we didn't have to worry about weight loss in the first week of life with Rowan, but we guessed we'd figure it out.

Mr. Bright Eyes

All in all, Killean's birth was pretty uneventful and a relatively relaxing experience for me.  I was in labor for about 8 1/2 hours (same as with Rowan) and can't complain about that for one bit.  I won't say child birth is easy, and I'm not trying to imply that it is, but I didn't feel as though there was any pressure to get him out within a certain amount of time or really worry about any potential complications.  Maybe it was because I had "been there, done that".  Maybe the different hospital and staff made a difference.  May I was just delusional from having 2 hours of sleep before embarking on labor rather than a full night like I had with Rowan.  Who knows...but it was a very different experience and a positive one as well.  I'm so very grateful for that, and feel amazingly blessed to have another healthy baby boy to love and care for in our family.

And then he was TWO!

I'm Two Years Old!

It's hard to believe that two years ago Ian and I met Rowan for the first time.  I truthfully have a hard time imagining what life was like before that.  Most of the times that's a good thing...though Ian and I were reminiscing the other day about how meals out used to be a fun occasion where we didn't have to worry about keeping a child in his seat, making sure he eats, cleaning up the inevitable spills and messes...but I don't mind messy meals Rowan yells "mama!" when I walk in the door after work or feel his really good hugs.  He continues to amaze me and is making me laugh more and more every day.  Which is good, considering he's also a full fledged toddler now with all the challenges they bring.

LOVES the train at the zoo

I think the biggest thing that strikes me about Rowan at this age is his vocabulary.  Oh. My. Goodness.  He has so many words!  And he's putting together 2 and 3 word sentences!  I know that's 'normal' at this age, but seriously...his vocab is off the charts.  He parrots EVERYTHING and is able to come up with words on his own.  He narrates things he sees on TV or in the car.  He requests we turn the music and air conditioning on in the car.  He identifies objects in books.  He tells us 'stop please' or 'no thank you' when he's done being tickled by the tickle monster. It's crazy!  He makes my mom heart very, very proud.

Blowing out birthday candles

He's also becoming fairly independent.  We can ask him what he wants for a snack (usually by giving him options) and he'll tell us.  If he wants his juice or milk, we can tell him where it is and he'll go get it, even if it's in the fridge.  He'll also put his milk or juice back in the fridge if we ask him.  What what?  I think some of these tricks will be QUITE helpful here after his brother comes.

As wonderful as his independence can be, it is certainly a double edged sword.  He LOVES the words 'no' and 'NO!!!!!!!!!!!'.  He also has a mind of his own when it comes to playing with some toys or games.  If he wants to play with a toy, he'll play with it regardless of whether or not it really is his toy.  He also likes to make lots of noise...a trait I fully blame his father for.  He still likes to throw toys or swipe them off the table when he gets mad.  I know he'll learn to control his anger as he gets older, but man...that day won't come fast enough.

Focused on water colors

We made the TERRIBLE mistake of legitimately losing his pacifier about a week before his birthday.  We planned on taking it away sooner rather than later, but were waiting since he A) only used it at nap/bed time and B) had enough changes in his life with the move this summer and baby brother in a few weeks.  However it got lost one day, so we decided to be done with it.  The first night, you wouldn't have known the different.  Every night after that...yikes.  His bedtime routine used to be so easy.  Bath.  Diaper.  Books. Bed. No fussing.  No rocking.  No nothing.  Just lay down in bed and he was out.  Without the pacifier he needed rocking or back rubbing or having us sit in his room until he fell asleep. BUT, we had to leave the room first so he would get PISSED and then he would go to sleep.  If we just tried to rub his back, rock him, or stay in his room reading until he fell asleep, it became a game for him and it would take over an hour to get him to sleep...and we'd still end up making him mad because we'd have to leave the room knowing the process was becoming a game for him.  The last couple of nights have been better.  Tonight I put him in bed and left the room without him crying.  Ian went to check on him and rub his back for a while, and he wasn't falling asleep.  So Ian left and Rowan didn't cry.  It's not perfect yet, but tonight we may have turned a corner...or it could be a fluke.  But...I'll take even a couple of easy bed time nights we have so sorely missed.

Jake's Pirate ship...a new obsession.  Yo-ho!

Other than that, he's still our sweet little peanut.  He's about average for height-34.25 inches but a skinny butt at 23lb 6oz.  Our doctor says he's following a good curve, and he still eats like a champ (most days)...he's just a skinny, skinny boy.  He is working on his last molar to have his full set of teeth.  Yup...all 24 of them.  Nice that we'll be done with teething until he's older.  Now we just need to get him into the dentist for a meet and greet.

Time to breathe

Little entertainer

Finally...I feel like life has afforded me a few moments to breathe.  These last few months have been nothing but crazy.

Let's see...what are the highlights.  Found out I was potentially getting a job transfer to Lincoln back in February.  That became official in April.  So we started the process of getting our house ready to be put on the market.  That meant a whole lot of cleaning, organizing, sending stuff to good will, putting stuff into storage, new carpet in the basement, new flooring in the kitchen, refinishing the deck, yard work, and a whole heap of other small tasks that amounted to quite a lot of work for both Ian and I.  Ian did a whole lot of the work just because I couldn't, but we both felt like we were working non stop for the last couple of months.  All with the hopes that when we put our house on the market it would sell quickly.

Painting with a friend

Well our hard work paid off.  We put our house on the market on May 23rd and we signed a purchase agreement on the 25th.  It was absolutely crazy!  We ended up having quite a bit of back and forth with the buyer to get all the details worked out, but it FINALLY became officially about 2 weeks later that this person was going to buy our house and we were going to close on the 26th of June.  It's all just a blur of working, cleaning, a few moments of fun here and there for birthdays, and then boom...we sold our house.

And while selling our house was quite the blessing, it  also was a bit scary because we had to immediately switch gears from moving out of our house, to finding a new place to live.  We didn't want to feel rushed into buying another house, so we planned on renting for a little while.  We struggled with finding a place because of our dogs (two big does is a bit tricky when looking for a rental FYI).  But we managed to find a place and moved in a few weeks ago. Ian's done a lot of work getting us all settled into our place, and it's starting to feel like home.  I'm not sure the dogs agree since we lost the fenced yard, but there is a BEAUTIFUL dog park not to far from our apartment.  So I think as long as we take regular trips there, they'll forgive us.

Sprinkler fun

And now, I get a moment to actually sit and relax and enjoy where life is taking me.  That's been very difficult to do lately.  I've been very focused on job transfer and housing stuff I've had a very hard time connecting with this pregnancy and the fact that we're having another child.  It's been difficult for me emotionally to feel excited about this pregnancy.  That's been very hard for me to admit and accept, and has caused all sorts of other feelings of guilt in me.  I didn't personally feel 'ready' to be having another child and I wasn't sure if we as a family were ready.  There's so much that comes with adding another family member into the mix and I felt like we had just started talking about having another child and BOOM, we found out we were expecting.  It was a lot to process all at once-especially for a type A person who likes to have some thought go into things before a major change is enacted.  Within the last 6 months, we've had a lot of change.  We found out we were adding another member to our family, we were going to be selling the first house we bought and made into a home together (where lots of memories were created), I was going to be leaving the office and coworkers I genuinely liked being around on a daily basis for another location, we were moving 50+ miles away from our friends in Omaha, and we were going to be moving into a small apartment which meant a HUGE lifestyle change.  So much in our lives looks different today than it did 6 months ago, and I had no idea that THIS many changes were going to be happening all at once.  All of that just amounted to a gigantic amount of feelings (both happy and sad) that I had to work through.

My beautiful first born

And now I feel like some of the processing has been done and I can actually sit back and enjoy the fact that in a little less than 3 months (ack!) Rowan is going to be a big brother.  We're going to have another baby boy in our family!  While that means twice the diapers, messes, sleepless nights, and tears it ALSO means twice the smiles, laughs, hugs, kisses, and precious moments.  And I get to see Rowan and his brother develop their relationship.  I'll be honest, Ian and I were both a little bummed we aren't having a little girl...but for me, all that 'disappointment' went away when I realized Rowan is going to have a brother 2 years younger than him.  They'll get to have adventures together.  I'm sure they'll get into a lot of mischief, but that's what kids do.  And at least they'll be doing it together.  Still have no idea what we're going to name him, but I suppose we have a few more weeks before we have to get that figured out.

So here's to 2014 being the year of changes in our family.  Life does move pretty fast, and I'm beyond grateful right now that I have a chance to sit...relax...and enjoy where we're at.  Life is good-I just need to remember that even in the midst of craziness.

Chess pieces bigger than him

My Brithday List

One of the reasons I love birthdays is that we as a culture choose to celebrate them...often times in grand fashions.  They are happy occasions.  (Oh yeah, and there's usually cake)  My family would always let the birthday person choose dinner that night, make them their favorite dessert, and of course give presents.  We usually got to bring treats to school too to celebrate with our friends and have a birthday party.

My birthday is next week (the 15th), and I'm super excited for it!  I usually celebrate a birthday month, but I'm a bit behind already so I'll settle for a week or a half month.  But I have to admit, as I've gotten older, it's been harder and harder for me to answer the question "what do you want for your birthday?"  I have always liked the surprise of gifts-not knowing what it could be and finding out what people think I would like and/or use.  Well this year, I have complied a list of things I want for my birthday.

I want people to do something good for another person or the world.  I want my friends and family to perform some service to help make the world a better place.  I would LOVE it if among all my friends and family (and whomever they share this list with), all of the 29 things (in honor of me turning 29) on this list are done sometime next week.  Most of them are pretty small.  Some are a bit bigger.  A lot don't require much (if any) money.  But I can promise even the smallest of gifts on this list can mean the world to some people.  So will you please help me get everything on my birthday list sometime between now and the 19th?

I am going to do all of these sometime between my 29th and 30th birthday.  I want to make sure I've done my part to help make the world better.  If anyone wants to check off all 29 with me, that would be the best birthday present ever! 

Now in the spirit of full disclosure, I can't say I came up with this idea all on my own.  It's been a compilation of quite a few different people and things in my life, but I would really love if my friends and family would help me give some of these gifts next week.  It's really all I want for my birthday.


Thank you, and happy giving!

1. Pay for the order of the car behind you in the drive through
2. Offer to babysit so new parents can have a night out
3. Send a real card or letter in the mail-not for an occasion, but just because
4. Donate blood
5. Call a friend or family member you haven't spoken to for a while
6. Volunteer to help out a neighbor (yard work, cleaning, cooking, running errands, etc)
7. Become a mentor to a youth
8. Donate clothes/house hold items
9. Recycle!
10. Plant a tree/flowers/garden
11. Bring dinner to someone who may need a night just to relax
12. Tip generously and/or leave a note of thanks
13. Thank uniformed personnel for their service
14. Say sorry to someone you've hurt, even if they don't deserve it or you didn't do anything wrong but because they were hurt
15. Donate toiletries to a homeless shelter, diapers to a women's shelter, food to a food bank, pet food to a humane society, and/or money to a charity you support
16. Do a chore someone in your household HATES to do
17. Go out to lunch/coffee with a friend to hear their story
18. Take public transit
19. Donate books to a school or daycare
20. Plan a date for your significant other around their favorites
21. Make something (yarn crafts, fabric crafts, art, etc) for someone
22. Visit a nursing home
23. Give someone flowers or a plant
24. Take your dog to the dog park (aka Doggie Disney Land)
25. Give someone who needs it a hug
26. Let someone jump in line ahead of you at the grocery store
27. Buy local
28. Frame some art done by your child to proudly display on the wall
29. Turn off devices for a night to really 'be with' your family

Old MacRowan had a farm

Guess Rowan has managed to pick up a few animal sounds along the way. No idea where the pig came from though...

Oh yeah...

...and then there's this:

Daddy duck, mommy duck, baby duck, baby duck!

Yup!  Rowan's going to be a big brother!  Again, this baby 'ruined' my plans for running a half marathon in Kansas City in April, but I guess I won't complain too much.

We're due towards the end of September, about 2 weeks after Rowan's birthday.  I guess when Ian and I had talked about having kids 2-3 years apart, we decided to shoot for almost exactly 2 years apart.

Generally I've been feeling good.  All the pregnancy symptoms I had with Rowan are nowhere to be found.  A whole new host of them are.  I am SUPER crabby about 14 hours of the day (thankfully that's getting better...I don't know how Ian would deal with 25 more weeks of a crab-a-potamos living in our house).  If I don't eat, I start to get some major gagging and dry heaves going on.  I was ex.haus.ted. during the first trimester.  My energy is coming back now that we're about 15 weeks long, but it's still not 100%. I am also feeling way bigger way faster than I did with Rowan.  I looked at my profile today and saw a definite belly.  Looking back at 15 weeks with Rowan and I BARELY had a belly.  At this rate, I'll be the size of Texas when we're due.  Oh well.  Give me reason to break out the maternity clothes a bit earlier I guess.

Ian and I are really excited to see Rowan become a big brother.  He loves little babies though he does have a hard time sharing mom.  He had a hard time waiting to be held when I was feeding my newborn niece or nephew, but I can't say I blame him.  He'll adjust as we all will when another little one joins our house.  And who knows, maybe by 2 it will be a little bit better.  It may be worse, but at this point we'll just have to take it day by day and see what the sibling relationship develops into.

18 months

Oh, that mess?  Yeah...I did that.

Well, Rowan is 18...ok almost 19 months old.  He's quite a busy little boy, though his favorite games are to dump toys out of buckets and spread them around the room.  Then you do the same with books.  Then the same with the trains in our bins.  Then you pull things off the couch or table.  In other words, we like to make a mess.  He's pretty good about cleaning them up when you direct him to...some of the time.  Ok,  he's better about it for me than he is for Ian, and he really only listens if I help him clean up...but I'll take what we can get.

He is breaking into toddler hood quite well-including the hesitation to share his toys, shaking he head no, screaming when he doesn't like something, and hitting when he doesn't get his way.  He's definitely testing his boundaries, but responds well to redirection.  That or if we take something away for a few moments he gets mad, but then behaves when he gets it back.  Guess this is where the 'real' challenge of parenting begins huh? 

Goofy little boy

Rowan's still a peanut-weighed in at 21 lb 3 oz at 18 months.  He's pushing 22 pounds now, but he's just a little guy.  Skinny as a rail, but generally eats well.  He'll go in spurts where he eats a lot, and then go in spurts where he boycotts food.  We can usually get him to eat cheese and popcorn during his boycotts though. Well balanced I know, but on a day where he boycotts food we figure calories are calories.  We know in the next day or so he'll be back on track eating and he'll get a good balance of food in. 

Walking at the zoo

He has JUST started to walk.  He's a real stubborn little boy when it comes to walking.  He'll happily walk along with you holding one or both of your hands, but he's real hesitant to walk on his own.  This week (a week before he turns 19 months) he has started to walk on his own for more than 3 steps at a time.  We still have to walk near him or give him something to carry as a distraction, but he's taking a lot more independent steps.  I'm sure we'll have a runner on our hands soon though.  Then it will be time for park days and playing outside...come on spring!!!!!

His words are coming too.  He says please, up, out, mama, dada, nana, banana, cheese, eye, hi, and help.  There are a few other words he 'says' that don't sound right at all.  His word for 'cookie' is WAY off base, but he knows what he's saying and kind of makes the sign along with his word (thanks Rena!).  Most of his words are mostly vowels or soft consonants. But my goodness does that boy jibber-jabber.  We have NO idea what he's saying, but he certainly tells stories.  He tells jokes too.  Ian says he'll be jabbering along and then start to laugh...so whatever he said had to have been hilarious.

Rowan loves Church.  Church...tolerates Rowan.

We did make the decision to get tubes put in his ears this week.  He had back to back double ear infections in February.  That, paired with his struggle learning to walk, limited vocabulary, and constant fluid in his ears-we figured tubes wouldn't be a bad thing.  He handled the surgery well, but was MAD AT THE WORLD when he woke up.  He managed to calm down fairly quickly, once we got back to the room with mom, dad, and a little Elmo on TV.  It's only been a couple of days, but we're looking forward to seeing the changes in his balance and talking. 

So that's that!  We're still pretty amazed by our little boy.  Cannot wait for the nicer weather so we can play outside more!