December 14th.
8:45 am – I went in for my 38 week check up feeling miserable.  Every day for almost a week prior to this day, I had had regular contractions for about an hour, then they’d subside.  My doctor told me to watch out for these contractions, because he said those who have had multiple pregnancies can get to transition (which is right before birthing the baby) really quickly.  So I went in wanting to know “how much longer”?

The week prior, I was dilated 1 cm.  My OB told me he didn’t want me to walk around at more than 4 cm because of fast transitions and because he worried about my water breaking and the cord being around the baby’s neck.  I knew nothing would happen until I had contractions, but with them being so sporadic, I didn’t know if I should call my OB and come to the hospital to be checked.  And, the baby had been so high up in my uterus that I wasn’t yet worried about her falling out.

My OB has a really great sense of humor and is very personable.  I told him that that day I was headed to Kennedy’s Christmas program at 10:30 that morning.  He told me (all the while doing the exam) to make sure I don’t miss a moment of the Christmas programs, because “it’s so important to take time to…” and then he stopped talking and his eyes got big.  He asked me, “What did I say you were last week?”  I told him 1 cm.  He said, “You’re at 4 cm right now.  Maybe even 5.” and then I started having bloody show.  He pressed on my uterus and said, “You’re having a contraction right now.  Do you feel that?”  And I said no, because I had had way worse than that.

He said I needed to go to Kennedy’s program and then get myself checked in to the hospital.  He mentioned Pitocin, which I told him I didn’t want, and he said he’d break my water, which I wasn’t opposed to doing.  So, I left his office, called Kevin, told him to cancel his plans for the day, made some other phone calls to family, went home to pack my bag, swore at myself for not folding the 5 loads of laundry I had done the night before, and went to Kennedy’s program at school.

It was pretty neat to see and tell some people “Today’s the day!”, especially parents of Kennedy’s friends and her teachers, who kept asking, “When are you due?  How are you feeling?” all semester long.  It was also neat to be able to pack my bag rather than run around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to drop off the kids where they needed to go and worry about what time they all get out of school and who would pick them up…

11:30 am – After the program, Kevin and I went to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  This wasn’t my first rodeo:  I knew the hospital wouldn’t feed me until the baby was born.  I saw some friends at CFA and they laughed at me when I told them I was in labor!  I didn’t eat a lot (because of nerves), but I did get some nuggets and an Arnold Palmer (1/2 sweet tea, 1/2 lemonade – my favorite drink)

12 noon – We arrived at the hospital.  I checked in downstairs, went up the elevators, and walked into a very empty maternity ward.  I was greeted by nurses who asked me, “Are you thinking of having the epidural?”  And I said no.  Their faces lit up as they said, “Oh!  She’s one of our kind!  We love patients like you!”  I really had no idea *I* was so rare.

1 pm – I kept laboring, much like I had labored the past week – heavy contractions for a little while, then a nice long break.  My OB came in, checked me (I was at 6 cm by that time.), then asked if I wanted pitocin.  I told him no, but I said I was ready for him to break my water.  He did break my water and Kevin said it would be 38 minutes from that time until the baby would be born.  Boy, I wish he would have been right.

1:30 pm – We took pictures, videos, and I kept laboring.  Repeat for the next 5-6 hours.  We kept getting texts from family asking “How’s it going?” or “Baby yet?” and that didn’t help me relax.  Meanwhile, every time the ever-encouraging nurses would come in to check me and I was still at 6 cm.  I kept changing positions, I tried all the things that I could possibly do with my water broken to try to get this baby out.  I told Kevin “This baby is going to be laid-back.  Not in a hurry.  She’ll get here when she gets here.”

7:30 pm – At this point, the baby was starting to move into my birth canal, but she flipped posterior so that I had extremely intense [painful] back labor and Kevin had to press really hard on my back to alleviate some of the pain.  (And because of this, I would have bruises and soreness for a week after the baby was born.)

Unfortunately, at this point I also lost my supportive nurses at this point because they went off shift. And, supportive nurses were replaced by epidural-happy nurse.  EHN came in as if I hadn’t been laboring for the past 6 hours with my water broken, asked if I wanted an epidural, and when I said no, she hung around for several painful contractions.

8 pm  - Also with EHN in the room, I remember screaming at Kevin that I couldn’t do this anymore and that I couldn’t handle the pain that was happening (with the baby being posterior).  In my mind, I was ready to settle for a c-section, just to get her born.  The pain was that intense.  EHN suggested that I could try some staidol to alleviate the pain, and then some pitocin to make the contractions more intense.  I didn’t want the pitocin because I knew the contractions would hurt like crazy.  But, since it’s standard practice to give OB patients pitocin after labor anyway, in order to help the uterus contract back to normal faster, I decided to go ahead and have just a bit.  My OB was also there at the time and told me, “We don’t have to give you too much, just enough to make those contractions come more regularly.”

So, he checked me before all these things happened, and I was still only at maybe 7-8 cm.  And I started screaming at EHN to take the monitors off of me and to get away from me.. I begged for an epidural at that point.  I’m pretty sure I wanted to rip my IV off too.. all of that is foggy because of the staidol.

And then, I needed to push.

Let me interject here to tell you all what a superstar husband Kevin is – he deflected all the texts and calls, he ran out of phone battery trying to get everyone up to the hospital when needed, and most importantly, he was the best labor coach I could have ever asked for.  All those intense contractions and times when I didn’t think I could even breathe on my own, and he was there holding my hand and breathing with me.  Sometimes I think he was more tired than I was at the end.  I had to go through physical pain, but he had to endure the emotional pain of watching me in pain.  There were many times when I wanted to give up, and the only thing stopping me was Kevin.  If he hadn’t encouraged me and cheered me on and prayed with me, I definitely would have ended up with that c-section.  Instead…

8:30 pm – Things got really interesting in the room; all the table setting up and taking down and nursery nurses entering and people trying to get me fully dilated. I pushed my way into 10 cm and then my OB took over.  I forgot how to push.  My OB helped me push.  Kevin helped me breathe.  I got into a position that was comfortable for me (forget grabbing my legs and laying on my back).  After a few pushes, my OB said to wait while he got the cord untangled from her neck. And then, I looked down and saw her head.

8:41 pm – Karis Mercy Grubbs was born.  20 inches long, 6 pounds and 13 ounces big.  The first thing I noticed about her wasn’t how big she was but how loud her scream was.  It was a beautiful sound.  She looked so purple but her apgar scores were 8 and then 9 (at 10 mins.)  Kevin and I cried and kissed and then he got on the phone – my parents and our kids were just downstairs; they had brought Kevin’s phone charger just a few minutes before.  The OB’s first words were, “She looks like her sisters!” and boy does she ever.  And, then he prayed with us before he left the hospital that night.

We were so blessed to have such a wonderful experience.  All things said, it wasn’t exactly how I pictured it, but it was exactly what needed to happen without too much intervention.  I didn’t have any tearing or stitching, and all of the tests they ran on Karis came back a-ok, so we got to go home when she was 24 hours old.  Everyone who took care of me did a fantastic job, and I’d highly recommend this hospital and staff to anyone looking for a great hospital L&D experience.

Other than that, all I’ll say is, “Don’t walk your infant by the elevators, or the alarm system will think you’re stealing a baby.”

And, because a picture is worth a thousand words, here are two – at Kennedy’s program, one of my last pics while pregnant; and our beautiful early Christmas present.

Just FYI – “Karis” is Greek for “grace”.  So her name means “Grace and Mercy”.  And she shares her initials with her daddy – KMG.

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How far along: 23 weeks in that pic, at time of posting 24, almost 25 weeks.
Size of baby: 1.3 pounds, “about the size of a small melon” according to my Pregnancy app on my iPhone.  I look like I’m carrying a small melon, don’t I?
Maternity clothes: My XS shirts are starting to show my belly!  I have started wearing some of my M (bigger) maternity shirts because they’re really cute and I’m tired of the XS stuff anyway.  It’s been so hot that I’ve been sweating buckets, which means I get to change clothes a lot.
Movement: Tonight Colby felt the baby kick his hand a couple of times.  I thought the look on his face was so precious because he realized what was happening!  I’ll have to get it on video… he is so sweet.
Sleep: Eh.  Not so good.  I’ve been using a couple of different pregnancy pillows and have finally just settled on my 2 king pillows – one in front, one in back.  I have no idea if Kevin is still sleeping in the same bed as I am.
What I miss: being able to run, bike, & otherwise exercise like a non-pregnant person.  I saw a billboard advertising the first-ever B/CS Marathon & 1/2 Marathon.  It will be on Dec. 11th.  There’s always next year.
Cravings: still don’t like sweets all that much, but (again) since it’s been so hot I can’t drink enough water.  Iced tea is a possible craving.  I got a new(to me) bread machine for my birthday and I made 2 loaves of homemade bread last week.  Guess I should lay off since my glucose test is in 3 weeks?
Symptoms: Heartburn!  Started taking medicine daily (just 10 mg.) and it’s definitely worse when I go to sleep at night.  I’m trying to go to the bathroom twice before I get in the bed, so I can save myself a trip in the middle of the night.  And tired.  Very tired.
Best moments of the month: I hinted at this last week, but we are excited to share IT’S A GIRL!  Colby was pretty crushed he wasn’t having a baby brother, but I am not worried at all about him loving this baby.  Plus, Carlee has already laid claim to this baby (“MY baby”).  Kennedy is having too much fun at dance and pre-K.  :)

We don’t have a name picked out yet, although I’m trying to convince Kevin of a name I really like.  He has turned down pretty much every name except for this one, so I’m holding out for it…

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This is the beginning shot of the video Kevin took, which I don’t know how to upload to the blog.  The kids are singing Happy Birthday – Carlee practiced singing to Tim all day.  The kids also made him birthday cards and in the midst of folding them up like cards, they taped the papers together so the cards ripped a little in the process.  Sad face.

The meatballs were yummy and Tim really liked the brownies we made him. Usually I make brownies from a box but I found this recipe for Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies.  I had all the ingredients on hand, and I don’t know if I’ve ever made brownies before.  My not-pregnant self would absolutely love them but this pregnancy I’m not a fan of sweets OR chocolate – I know, gasp!

Happy Birthday, Tim!

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About a month ago, I bought this and then I sent the following email to my mom, my sisters, and my friend Leah, who owns a Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag.  If you don’t know that I love bags and purses, you should know i love bags and purses.

Had to share my latest find…  I wanted a new diaper bag for this
baby so I got on amazon to check them out. Well the ones I liked were
running 70-80$, so I decided to wait a little while. Plus, I like to
put my hands on a bag before I buy, to see if it’s big enough, etc.

Today I went to TJ Maxx and found this petunia pickle bottom bag
(google them if you want). It’s red silk and has a zillion pockets, &
comes with changing pad and wipes case. Plus the handle unclips to
hook it around your stroller.

The “original” price onthe tag was $145. TJ Maxx marked to $59,
but they red-line clearanced it at $29!!!

I know Kevin is thrilled (yeah, right) abt this, but I thought the
rest of us girls would be pleased.

Oh, and even if it’s a boy, I’ll drop the dipes and wipes off if I
leave him at church or whatever – this bag stays with me!!  ;)

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Our closet houses the gift wrapping supplies.  Why?  I really have no idea, other than the fact that the wrapping was stored in a bedroom closet [Colby's] in our old house, so I just moved it into our closet, which is the size of a college dorm room, no joke.

Here is a picture of the gift wrappings I’ve accumulated in 8.5 years of marriage.

A big mess.  There’s an extra-large Ziploc bag full of wrapping paper and bows and boxes, 1 underbed storage box full of baby gift bags, 1 box full of tissue paper, and 2 hanging organizers full of birthday/gift bags.  Too many containers.  And, I haven’t touched some of the stuff in the Ziploc bag since we moved 18 months ago.   I was inspired by my favorite new blog – iheartorganizing – and I realized I didn’t want all those containers to take up valuable real estate in our closet.  Yes, we have room in that closet, but the space wasn’t being used efficiently.

So, I combined and threw away some things (just a few, but remember when you want to organize, you must always purge some).  I definitely got rid of any tissue paper that was torn or bags/bows that were smushed.  Here’s a picture of my [ever faithful, ever "present" - ha!] helper, Kennedy.

And, here’s my finished product.  Ta-da!

I condensed 5 containers into 3 small ones and OH LOOK – I found a red bucket in that XL Ziploc bag – I totally forgot I had that bucket and now it holds the kids’ bath soaps.

Here’s an up-close picture of my success.

What I did:

1.  I chose a longer box that would hold the wrapping paper rolls and the tissue paper.
2.  I put the gift bags in the hanging boxes (not pictured in the close-up).  Baby bags in one, birthday in the other.
3.  I separated all the tissue paper  into gallon-sized Ziploc bags, according to color.  ROYGBIV worked for me!
4.  I only spent 45 minutes, start to finish, and ZERO dollars to complete this project.

I’m proud of my accomplishment – even though it might not be life-changing, it feels good to be organized.  I can’t wait to show pics of some other projects I’m taking on.

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Here’s a little pic of what happened when I was horizontal with the flu.  We gave the kids lots of games this Christmas and they had great opportunities to play!  They (and I) didn’t leave the house for 6 days.  Kevin took off work for 3 days because I simply could not take care of the kids.  Or myself.  I couldn’t even watch the Aggie basketball game on the tv in the living room because I couldn’t get out of my bed.  I told someone on Facebook I felt like I had a combination of: strep throat, mono, high fever, sore throat & cough, postnasal drip, lost my voice, nausea & vomiting, delusional & dizzy…. it was awful.  I am glad that last week is now over.

I went to the doctor about 24 hours after I started feeling really bad.  He put me on high dosages of Tamiflu and also the kids and Kevin on the same medicine, preventively.  I also slept for about 18 hours of every day last week.  I’m still just now getting over the cough from my post-nasal drip.  Yay, fun.

I am suddenly a big fan of the flu shot and I think I’ll be getting it from now on.  I never want to be that sick again.

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His writing is something that has just come to light with his entrance to Kindergarten.  I have always been a good speller but when I was little I’d look up a word in a dictionary or ask how to spell it.  Colby hasn’t figured that out yet – he spells everything phonetically, not asking for help but being very sure in how he’d like to get his point across.  Consider, items A&B.

Colby wrote the names of many relatives & friends:  Ally, Tyler, Colby, Grandmom, Ryan, Keith, Kennedy, Alicia, Granddad, Cooper, McKay (the biggest head-scratcher “muka”), Carlee, Belle, Doc, Ben, Dad.

Colby also wrote the names of vehicles:  planes, cars, helicopters, trucks, hot air balloons, balloons, stacks (whatever that is).

So great.

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So, here’s a picture of a very pretty princess to brighten my day.  She is always a helper, but today she helped me hop to the bathroom, change my ice, and keep me fed.  I am so thankful for my kiddos and that they have such kind hearts.

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