Thursday, August 23, 2012
water? book? potty? milk?
Violet is not a fan of going to sleep lately so she comes up with every possible excuse to stay up. The usual routine consisted of a bedtime story followed by a kiss goodnight from mama and papa. She used to be content with that and be asleep within ten minutes or so. Now she has figured out that by making multiple requests, she can postpone bed time. At first Gene and I were slow and would give her whatever she asked for. Soup? sure! You want to poop on the potty even though you've never done so before? Sure! Thankfully, we were fools only for so long before we caught on to her game. She still manages to outsmart us by staying up and having conversations with herself until wee hours of the night. When she gets bored of talking, she sings. We watch her on the video monitor amused by all the activities she comes up with. OK, so maybe I am not very amused at her using the curtains as a Tarzan swing.
Friday, August 17, 2012
The Paci is Back!
Violet has been pacifier free for almost a half a year now. She hasn't shown any interest in it until she saw that baby Ivy had a paci. This morning she grabbed Ivy's pacifier and ran as fast as she could into her room and slammed the door shut. I walked in a minute later to find Violet in the corner of her room, holding the pacifier with both hands and sucking on it as hard as she could. It wasn't my sweet little Violet anymore, but some sort of scary pacifier fiend. Goes to show you that old habits die hard.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Life with Two
I have been trying to decide if life with two is more than twice as difficult. The jury is still out, but it's pretty darn hard. Ivy still sleeps for majority of her day and Violet is in day care full time, so for the most part it's not too bad. The tough part is the lack of sleep, hormonal changes, nursing 24/7 and trying to spend as much time with Violet as possible while still taking care of Ivy. It will get easier once Ivy is sleeping at night, but it will also get tougher as she becomes more mobile and begins to have her own demands. Luckily Violet is a really great big sister and helps out a ton. She tries to help with diaper changes and burping and even reminds me when I have to pump. Life with two might be twice the work but it's also twice the fun!
Ouch!
Gene (to me): Did you know that Violet just hit me?
Violet: Papa, it hurt?
Gene: Yes, it hurt my heart. (fake cry)
Violet: Heart hurts? I sorry papa.
Violet: Papa, it hurt?
Gene: Yes, it hurt my heart. (fake cry)
Violet: Heart hurts? I sorry papa.
Baby Sista!
Labor and Delivery (The Ivy Edition)
It all began on a rather uneventful and typical weekend. The day started off no different than any other Saturday, with Gene taking Violet to her swimming class in the morning. After coming home, we all headed on a little family adventure to Trader Joe's. I call it an adventure because at 39+ weeks, anything outside of the house was an adventure for me. I don't recall exactly what we did that day, but we probably spent most of it at home or at the park with Violet. When evening time came, we ordered some sushi for dinner and called it a night. I remember climbing into bed, cuddling up to Gene and saying, "Can you imagine, I could be pregnant for another two weeks until they would have to induce?" As soon as those words slipped out of my mouth I felt a weird sensation in my stomach. It didn't hurt, but sounded like two faint gun shots going off in the distance. "Did you hear that?" I ask Gene. At this point he was already dosing off to sleep and he groggily responded with, "no, I am sure it's nothing" before passing out. I got out of bed half expecting to see a gush of water pouring out of me, but there was nothing. I laid back down but couldn't sleep, because I had a feeling that something was going to happen tonight. Within a few minutes I began to feel cramping, which slowly got stronger and slightly more consistent. About thirty minutes later, I still wasn't sure that I was in labor but I was itching to wake up Gene...just because. I hesitantly tapped on his shoulder but he didn't even stir, so I tapped a little harder meanwhile wondering what I will tell him. He was half awake when I told him, "I think my water broke." Both of us unsure what to do next, we did the next logical thing: Googled "what to do when your water breaks". According to Yahoo Answers, we should probably head over to the hospital. Not wanting to disturb my doctor at 12:30am, I decided to see if my contractions get stronger before calling him or going to Lenox.
In the meantime, I called my mom and told her that we might need her to watch Violet tonight. I didn't want her to come just yet because I wanted to be 100% sure that this was it, but luckily she didn't listen and was at my door 30 minutes later. By this point, we called my doctor who said I was probably 2-3 cm and can easily head over to the hospital. Making the mistake of going to the hospital too early last time, I decided to labor at home just a little longer. I stood by the kitchen counter listening to Russian dance music on my iPod while mom and Gene watched me intently.
At about 2:30am the contractions were 4-6 minutes apart and pretty strong, so we decided to go to the hospital. But before leaving the house, there was one thing I had to do: my make up. A girl gotta look good for that first picture! We got into the car and began our drive uptown before quickly learning that the Brooklyn Bridge was closed. This meant that we had to take the Manhattan bridge and then drive through the LES, which was filled with drunk people trying to hail cabs. I couldn't wait to get out of the maddening traffic and onto the FDR. Every traffic light and speed bump would make my contractions feel 100 times worse. Once we were on the highway, the trip was a breeze and we were at Lenox in under 10 minutes. We pulled up to the hospital and were lucky enough to get a spot directly in front of the entrance. I leaned against the parked car waiting for my next contraction to pass as three hookers walked by and stared in disbelief. OK, maybe they weren't hookers but just girls looking for a good time.
We walked through the halls of the hospital (assisted by the security guard from downstairs) and up to the labor and delivery floor. The front desk at L&D had about 2-3 women sitting at their computers (probably playing solitaire) and it felt like a lifetime (probably 10 seconds) before they finally looked up to inquire why we were there. They explained to Gene that he had to go downstairs to get registered before I can be checked by the doctor on call. Then they proceeded to tell me to take a seat in the waiting room until I can be examined. Ummm, sit in the waiting room? No thank you!!!! I am standing right here in front of your desk and glaring at you while I breathe loudly through my contractions in the hopes that you can hurry up and get some resident to examine me. Well, what do you know, that worked out really well because I was whisked into a room within a minute or two and hooked up to monitors to observe the baby's heart rate and my contractions.
The resident on call came in to check me and she was not only a low-talker (remember Seinfeld?) but also barely spoke any English so it took me a few moments to understand that I was 3 cm dilated and that my water has ruptured. This was good news because it meant that I will be admitted into the hospital and get some much needed drugs. After the low-talker came the incompetent nurse, who had to put an IV into my wrist. This woman was terrible! It's as if it was her first day on the job. She jammed this huge needle into my arm with lots of strength and zero finesse. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that this was more painful than the epidural and possibly even more unpleasant than a contraction. My arm was bruised for days after I delivered.
Once that dreadful process was complete, I was escorted to the room where I continued to labor and ultimately delivered. It was around 4am and my contractions were closer together, and much stronger but unfortunately I was still unable to get the epidural because I had to wait until a full bag of fluid was released into the IV. Finally, at around 4:30am, a very mean looking Indian man came in to administer my epidural. I warned him that I have very bad scoliosis and that last time the anesthesiologist had a really hard time getting the needle in. He didn't feel the slightest need to acknowledge my concern with a verbal response. Luckily, his bedside manner and skill level were not correlated and within a few minutes I was feeling the bliss that comes with the epidural. Heat surged through my body and into my legs which were numb before I knew it. God, I love modern medicine!
Gene and I napped for a few hours until a nurse came in around 7am to check how far I have progressed. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I was STILL 3cm. You're supposed to dilate about 1cm per hour but it seemed that my progress came to a screeching halt. It was about 8am when I started to feel something weird and unpleasant. The nurse kept asking me if it was pain or pressure but I couldn't tell the difference since to me they are sort of the same. She decided to ask the doctor on call to check me again and this time I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that I went from 3cm to 9cm in just under an hour. They called my doctor (who lives in Brooklyn) and in the meantime told me to "hold it in." At about 8:30am the pain was pretty bad as the epidural mostly wore off and I kept feeling Ivy go up and down the birth canal with every contraction. The nurse just kept saying, "Breathe through it. Breathe through it." I kept asking her if we HAD to wait for my doctor and for some reason she found that really amusing because she would laugh every time I asked. Finally around 8:45am, the doctor runs in and asks if he has time to change into scrubs. I tell him, "you have 3 minutes!" He rushes back, sits in front me and says, "OK, let's try pushing." One push later, and he gets a look on his face that says, "Oh oh, that baby is coming!" I don't remember much of what happened next but Gene says everyone started to frantically prepare and take apart the bed, add stirrups, and get the room ready. Then I sneezed and the baby came flying out. OK, maybe not a sneeze but another push or two and Ivy was almost out. The doctor told me to reach down and pull her our myself and then place her on my chest. At exactly 8:59am little Ivy Kat came into this world. It was very surreal as I cried tears of joy while holding her, still unable to believe that she was inside of me all this time.
My mom, brother and Gene's parents were at the hospital shortly after I delivered and when they called to see if I needed anything, my request was for a toasted whole wheat bagel with lox, cream cheese and tomato. Labor makes you hungry! That same day we also saw Vitya, Gela, Ari and Mia, as well as my BFF Shprints. Gene left the hospital at about 11:00pm and I was really smart this time (unlike with Violet) and gave Ivy away to the nursery for the night. After being up for 36 hours, I knew that I needed my sleep.
The next day I woke up and signed myself out of the hospital and we headed home excited to start life as a family of four! Stay tuned and read about all the adventures as our family continues to grow to Duggar size. Just kidding!
In the meantime, I called my mom and told her that we might need her to watch Violet tonight. I didn't want her to come just yet because I wanted to be 100% sure that this was it, but luckily she didn't listen and was at my door 30 minutes later. By this point, we called my doctor who said I was probably 2-3 cm and can easily head over to the hospital. Making the mistake of going to the hospital too early last time, I decided to labor at home just a little longer. I stood by the kitchen counter listening to Russian dance music on my iPod while mom and Gene watched me intently.
At about 2:30am the contractions were 4-6 minutes apart and pretty strong, so we decided to go to the hospital. But before leaving the house, there was one thing I had to do: my make up. A girl gotta look good for that first picture! We got into the car and began our drive uptown before quickly learning that the Brooklyn Bridge was closed. This meant that we had to take the Manhattan bridge and then drive through the LES, which was filled with drunk people trying to hail cabs. I couldn't wait to get out of the maddening traffic and onto the FDR. Every traffic light and speed bump would make my contractions feel 100 times worse. Once we were on the highway, the trip was a breeze and we were at Lenox in under 10 minutes. We pulled up to the hospital and were lucky enough to get a spot directly in front of the entrance. I leaned against the parked car waiting for my next contraction to pass as three hookers walked by and stared in disbelief. OK, maybe they weren't hookers but just girls looking for a good time.
We walked through the halls of the hospital (assisted by the security guard from downstairs) and up to the labor and delivery floor. The front desk at L&D had about 2-3 women sitting at their computers (probably playing solitaire) and it felt like a lifetime (probably 10 seconds) before they finally looked up to inquire why we were there. They explained to Gene that he had to go downstairs to get registered before I can be checked by the doctor on call. Then they proceeded to tell me to take a seat in the waiting room until I can be examined. Ummm, sit in the waiting room? No thank you!!!! I am standing right here in front of your desk and glaring at you while I breathe loudly through my contractions in the hopes that you can hurry up and get some resident to examine me. Well, what do you know, that worked out really well because I was whisked into a room within a minute or two and hooked up to monitors to observe the baby's heart rate and my contractions.
The resident on call came in to check me and she was not only a low-talker (remember Seinfeld?) but also barely spoke any English so it took me a few moments to understand that I was 3 cm dilated and that my water has ruptured. This was good news because it meant that I will be admitted into the hospital and get some much needed drugs. After the low-talker came the incompetent nurse, who had to put an IV into my wrist. This woman was terrible! It's as if it was her first day on the job. She jammed this huge needle into my arm with lots of strength and zero finesse. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that this was more painful than the epidural and possibly even more unpleasant than a contraction. My arm was bruised for days after I delivered.
Once that dreadful process was complete, I was escorted to the room where I continued to labor and ultimately delivered. It was around 4am and my contractions were closer together, and much stronger but unfortunately I was still unable to get the epidural because I had to wait until a full bag of fluid was released into the IV. Finally, at around 4:30am, a very mean looking Indian man came in to administer my epidural. I warned him that I have very bad scoliosis and that last time the anesthesiologist had a really hard time getting the needle in. He didn't feel the slightest need to acknowledge my concern with a verbal response. Luckily, his bedside manner and skill level were not correlated and within a few minutes I was feeling the bliss that comes with the epidural. Heat surged through my body and into my legs which were numb before I knew it. God, I love modern medicine!
Gene and I napped for a few hours until a nurse came in around 7am to check how far I have progressed. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I was STILL 3cm. You're supposed to dilate about 1cm per hour but it seemed that my progress came to a screeching halt. It was about 8am when I started to feel something weird and unpleasant. The nurse kept asking me if it was pain or pressure but I couldn't tell the difference since to me they are sort of the same. She decided to ask the doctor on call to check me again and this time I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that I went from 3cm to 9cm in just under an hour. They called my doctor (who lives in Brooklyn) and in the meantime told me to "hold it in." At about 8:30am the pain was pretty bad as the epidural mostly wore off and I kept feeling Ivy go up and down the birth canal with every contraction. The nurse just kept saying, "Breathe through it. Breathe through it." I kept asking her if we HAD to wait for my doctor and for some reason she found that really amusing because she would laugh every time I asked. Finally around 8:45am, the doctor runs in and asks if he has time to change into scrubs. I tell him, "you have 3 minutes!" He rushes back, sits in front me and says, "OK, let's try pushing." One push later, and he gets a look on his face that says, "Oh oh, that baby is coming!" I don't remember much of what happened next but Gene says everyone started to frantically prepare and take apart the bed, add stirrups, and get the room ready. Then I sneezed and the baby came flying out. OK, maybe not a sneeze but another push or two and Ivy was almost out. The doctor told me to reach down and pull her our myself and then place her on my chest. At exactly 8:59am little Ivy Kat came into this world. It was very surreal as I cried tears of joy while holding her, still unable to believe that she was inside of me all this time.
My mom, brother and Gene's parents were at the hospital shortly after I delivered and when they called to see if I needed anything, my request was for a toasted whole wheat bagel with lox, cream cheese and tomato. Labor makes you hungry! That same day we also saw Vitya, Gela, Ari and Mia, as well as my BFF Shprints. Gene left the hospital at about 11:00pm and I was really smart this time (unlike with Violet) and gave Ivy away to the nursery for the night. After being up for 36 hours, I knew that I needed my sleep.
The next day I woke up and signed myself out of the hospital and we headed home excited to start life as a family of four! Stay tuned and read about all the adventures as our family continues to grow to Duggar size. Just kidding!
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