First outing

I finally braved the outside world with both kids in tow last week. Our exciting adventure? The grocery store. It is only a few minutes from our house and if it started to go horribly wrong I figured I could just abandon my cart and get out of there. And if the gods were smiling down on me, I wouldn't even see anyone I knew.

I planned for this outing like one would plan for a battle. I went over scenarios, like if Oliver poops I think I can manage to keep Zach from running away and get the diaper changed. Most scenarios ended with me leaving the store. I had low expectations.

I wore Oliver in my hipster Boba baby carrier so Zach could ride in the cart. It was going great. Ollie slept the entire time and Zach talked to everyone at the store per usual.

We are checking out and it's a bit awkward with a baby strapped to the front of me. I struggle getting some stuff out of the cart, then the mom behind me steps up and says 'let me help you' and proceeds to help put my items on the belt.

Super nice lady. Super embarrassing since I only have cheese and a case of beer left in my cart. Yes, some stranger made sure I didn't leave the store without my beer.

I laugh awkwardly and say thank you for getting my beer....which just makes things worse since Zach then keeps saying 'beer, mmmm, beer, yum'.

The woman was an angel on earth and told me 'you need that, I have 4 kids the other 3 are at school....these ages are tough'. Then I kissed her and we both had a beer in Meijer to celebrate surviving being a mom....ok not really but that would be awesome. Really I just kept saying thank you and high tailed my alcoholic butt out of there.

First outing....we'll count that as a success.

Oliver's Birth Story

I debated sharing the Oliver's birth story, but when I was pregnant I would scour mom blogs for birth stories feeling it would prepare me for labor and delivery so I figured it is only fair for me to share mine.  Just to be clear, reading others birth stories will in no way prepare you for your own, only scare the bejesus out of you.  After birth you'll trade labor stories and gross details with other moms like war stories.

I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday morning because of my autoimmune blood disorder - it has a weird name and I never remember it correctly and really can't spell correctly.  There is a very high risk of clotting in the fetus leading to miscarry or stillbirth and increased blood clotting risk in me.  The daily blood thinner shots reduce these risks and have helped me carry to 39 weeks with both pregnancies.  I can only be off the blood thinners for a certain amount of time to prior to labor to keep the baby safe and to keep me from bleeding too much during birth...it is a great balancing act.  Much like Zach, Oliver did not want to wait to be induced, and came the day before I was scheduled to go in for induction.

I had light contractions here and there starting Wednesday.  Sunday they started to gain some strength.  Sunday at 10pm I decided I better wake up Matt since they were 5 minutes apart for over an hour and getting worse....and I have a history of fast deliveries...I was not having this kid in the car.  I woke up Matt, called my parents to come over and stay with Zach and we were on the way to the hospital.

I think I was still in denial, I kept telling Matt they may send me home even though contractions were getting closer together the entire drive.  We arrived at the hospital around midnight and contractions were 2 minutes apart and I was 5cm dilated.  The nurse was surprised and so was I.

I am strep B positive so I needed to get antibiotics through my IV asap and needed to have them in my system for 4 hours to avoid increased risk of infection in the baby.  She told me to hang on until 5am and she would get me an epidural as quick as possible to slow things down.  Music to my ears, I'm all about the pain management m

I got my epidural and it was magical.  It took the guy 45 minutes and 3 tries and I would still do it again in a heart beat.  I did not have any medicine with Zach.  After going both routes I think you're crazy if you do not opt for the medicine.  After the epidural Matt and I slept until the nurse woke us up to tell us it was time....yes, slept right through labor....did I mention I think I'm in love with epidurals?

I couldn't feel anything still from the amazing unicorn magic that is the epidural, so once the doctor got there they told me when to push.  After about 4 pushes Oliver was here.  They immediately took out my epidural so I could get up and walk around faster.  I was tired since it was 5am, but overall I would say I wasn't more groggy than when I went the natural route.  The chord was wrapped once around Oliver's neck so Matt had to cut the chord before he was all the way out.  I made it just past the 4 hour goal and Oliver was born at 5:37am.

I do not know if I pooped on the table and Matt swears he does not know either.  I choose to believe no.  Why yes boys and girls this happens a lot.  They straight up told me 'push like you're having the biggest bowel movement of your life'.  There is so much going on I would have no idea either way so we're going with no.  There is way more poop, tearing, fluids, and general weird/grossness to the miracle of life, than I knew about before Zach came along.

I am very fortunate to have quick births.  This one would have been fast too if we had not been trying to slow it down because of the antibiotics.  Although I have uncomplicated births, never tell a woman she is so lucky to have an easy labor and delivery.  The only time that is possibly acceptable is if you have also pushed a kid out your lady parts.  If you have not experienced labor and delivery and make this comment on it being so easy, you are likely to get kicked in the baby making parts while I tell you 'don't worry, this will be an easy kick to the groin'.

We have been blessed with 2 healthy boys to make our little family of 4 and we could not be happier.  If you want me to go into gory details or list the pros and cons of natural birth feel free to ask.

Amen

Today I would like to take a moment to thank God for coffee and both boys napping at the same time. Amen.

Welcome to the world Oliver!

Oliver Allen McClure was born on Monday, February 24 at 5:37am. He weighed in at 7 pounds and 11 ounces and 20.5 inches long.

Mom and baby are doing great and will get to head home tomorrow.

Everyone is already smitten with the little guy, including big brother Zach.

Cleaning melt down

Today Zach threw a fit because he wanted to clean the toilets. And then he was upset I made him wash his hands. And finally I may have freaked out when he tried to touch the toilet brush to his face.

It has been a weird day.

I also bought dill pickle potato chips, which is super weird for me....I never buy chips and rarely crave them. I blame it on the 38.5 weeks of pregnant belly. I have officially given up. Bring on all the junk food for the next week until this baby comes.

P.S. the chips are pretty good. They're like salt and vinegar chips without the vinegar.

So pregnant...and they sell make up for a reason, I should use it more often...

Happy Valentines Day!

Usually we do not do anything for Valentines day. We make each other cards like the children we are.

This year Zach and I made cookies for daddy and some other family in the area. About 5 seconds into decorating cookies Zach dropped the sprinkle shaker and I decided I may not have the patience to do valentines crafts with a 2 year old. We started moving at warp speed. Zach got to decorate and we got finished in enough time that I got to keep a shred of my sanity for the rest of the day.

Matt also brought me home flowers. I was shocked. He's pretty awesome with the random surprises but we have a strict no valentines day policy. I figured it was because he's been working so many hours and missing me. At which point a less honest man would agree, "yes dear, that's exactly right". Oh but Matt is honest Abe and pointed out I made a big deal of not getting a card last year.....which was not correct....

I made a big deal of not getting a mothers day card. I'll happily take the flowers and you better believe I'll be pissy again if I don't get anything for mothers day since I'm a brat....and ready to push another kid out any day now.

Whatever the reason I'll take it & display my flowers proudly. I like that I complained about 1 holiday & will forever more get stuff for every small holiday. I think I won out on this & do have a pretty fantastic husband.

Full Term

I am 37 weeks so baby can come anytime! This has easily been the fastest 37 weeks of my life. Zach keeps telling me 'baby sister coming soon'. I keep telling him 'baby boy or girl can hang out where they are at for a few more weeks'. We're excited to meet the new little one, but know its going to be crazy so I'm not in a hurry and just enjoying these last few weeks.

The end of pregnancy fatigue has set in and it's often family nap time instead of just Zach's nap time. I also didn't realize how little I've been cooking until I was making dinner yesterday and Zach told me 'thank you for making dinner mommy'. It was super sweet and maybe even encouraged me to cook more and not just eat Cheerios.

Zach still wants to name baby excavator, but has added on to it...baby excavator truck tractor. I've decided at the final hour I don't like the girl name we picked out...Matt was really impressed.

It's been pretty low key around here. We just keep getting tons of snow, Matt is working crazy hours, and preparing for baby....and of course Zach has decided farts are the funniest thing ever...boys...