It's Been a While

It's been 6 weeks since Peanut was born. In those 6 weeks, she has gained about 4 pounds, drinks 5 ounces in one feeding and slept 7 hours in one stretch. She has been a pretty easy baby for the most part. Not as easy as Boogs was, but I'm not complaining. To be honest, in these past 6 weeks I have been getting a little cabin fever and squeamish. I can only imagine how Boogs must feel, but she is very patient, loving and helpful with the new addition around the house. I am so thankful for her and the little things she says and does throughout the day that makes me love being home with my girls.

My list of loves:

- When Peanut is crying and Boogs says, "It's okay, unnie here."

- When Boogs calls Peanut "Teanut"

- When Peanut shoots me a little smile after she was just fed letting me know she's satisfied

- When I put Boogs down for a nap and I hear through her monitor, "Mommy, Nahl Salang? (Jesus Loves Me in Korean) No, sing Nahl Salang already. Can sing to your baby. Mommy, Jesus Love Me? No, sing Jesus Love Me already. You can sing to your baby..." (she is having the conversation we have together before I leave her room, but she is saying both hers and my side of the conversation)

- Boogs feeding her little sister, getting comfortable in her corner with the boppy and always telling me, "Mommy, take a picture."

- A whole mess of other things that I can't possibly write in this limited space

My list of hates:

- No matter how much or how long I do laundry, it never seems to go away

- After one meal, I feel like I have to clean the whole kitchen, not just a sinkful of dishes

- I have less than a month before I start going back to work (although not fulltime in the beginning)

I have about 5 pounds left to lose and those seem to not want to go away. I've had about 5 pounds left to lose for the past 3 week

She's Here!

Emily Hayoung Tadema

August 28, 2010

9:44pm

7 lbs, 3 oz

...continuation of the birth story...

I sat there waiting for the petocin to kick in. It took about 4 extra doses before the contractions finally came full force. They tried to get the epidural going right away, but that too didn't work right away. Normally you can feel the relief from the epidural within about 10 minutes, but after 30 minutes, I was still feeling the contractions FULL ON. The anethesiologist came in 3 more times to up my dosage before the epidural finally starting working. An hour and a half later, I was laughing again, content from not feeling any more pain. (I don't know HOW I managed to make it through contractions for 17 hours before getting an epidural with Boogs last time...crazy, I tell ya!)

By now, we had several visitors. Yobo's brother's family, cousins, my sister, BIL, dad and Boogs were all there. The doctor came in about 1.5 hours later to check my progress before he stepped into his emergency C-section. We kicked everyone out and after he checked, he said, "Okay, you're up!"

Since I had received so many doses of the epidural, I had NO sense of feeling. The doctor asked if I could feel when I'm having contractions. Nada. He said he'd coach me through the pushing. (*warning: might not be something you expect to hear coming from a girl, but hey, this is a birth story, not a fairytale) He asked if I remembered how it felt to be pushing when I needed to poop. I remembered, but again, couldn't feel, so I tried. After about 3 minutes of pushing, our little Peanut was born.

There are lots of other little details, but really - I don't think anyone cares to read about them. And if you really do wanna know, just ask - I have no problem disclosing all the not-so-glamorous details of being prego/labor that other people just *happen* to leave out because they "forget." (Let's just be clear. You don't "forget." You just suppress them from your memory and focus on the beautiful little being that you created. But by no means did I "forget" about all the not-so-glamorous parts of being prego/labor!)

The Birth Story

I started having contractions a few days ago, but they only felt like Braxton Hicks contractions. In any case, when we started timing them, they only got to be about 30 - 45 minutes apart...not close enough to be concerned or considered in active labor. Last night, they were getting as close as 6 - 10 minutes apart and were starting to get a little more painful. But while watching a movie, (as many of you know who know me well) I fell asleep. I slept like normal last night, not waking up from any contractions and when I woke up this morning at 6:30am, I didn't feel any more contractions...or movement from the baby. I called the doctor on call around 9:30am this morning to tell him what was going on and he told us to get to the hospital right away. "If you've had something to eat and drink and haven't felt at least 10 kicks/movement in 1 hour, you should come in. If you're concerned enough to call me because you're worried about lack of movement, it's like a patient calling a heart surgeon to tell them they have chest pains." This immediately made me quite anxious (okay, hysterical). We dropped Boogs off at my mom's and rushed to the hospital.

When we got there, the nurse put me on a monitor and we heard the heartbeat which immediately made me start crying again, but because I was so relieved. She had me drink ice water and chomp on some ice - I FINALLY felt baby girl move. Thank GOD! After having such an easy pregnancy, it's amazing how my emotions can change so quickly with one little scare.

After being monitored for about an hour or so, the nurse wanted to check my progress. She said if I was 6 cm dilated, they'd keep me here and we'd be having a baby today! When she checked, she said, "You're at about...5.5cm" "Do you round up?" I asked. She laughed and said she thought I was actually closer to a 6. So she called the doctor to check and he said, "Yup, admit her."

I got hooked up to get antibiotics because I tested positive for Group B Strep. After the antibiotics, I got Petocin to help my contractions. And here I am, sitting in my hospital bed, waiting for the contractions to get "worse." I never thought I'd be waiting and happy for my contractions to get worse, but I REALLY want to meet this little one and she is being such a tease! Already being a pain in her mama's butt...and she's not even born yet!

This Baby is Coming!

Today I had my 38.5 week appointment and got some good news! As of last week, I was only 1 cm dilated and about 75% effaced. When I went in today, my dr. checked me and I'm at 3.5, maybe 4 cm and she said my water could break any day. She said she highly doubts that I'll need my next appointment which is scheduled for next Wednesday, 9/1. So this baby is coming sooner rather than later! (Good thing so she can get on her Beppe & Halabujee's good sides - both of whom are going out of town next week)

We are SO excited! Better go get the rest of her clothes and bassinet set up!

An Update

I know, I've been MIA lately, but have been busy with work and not diligent with the blog. I'll try to give a quick update.

It's been about a month since we've started potty training Boogs. For the most part, I would say she is potty trained. She still has an accident once in a while, but she has been sleeping through the night without an accident for about the past 2 weeks! (YAY!)

We took maternity pictures last week with Joey from jkhphoto and can't wait to see pics from the shoot!

I'm at 38 weeks with Baby #2 and SO ready for this baby to get here already! My doctor thinks she'll be early, so we're all hoping for sometime this week...we'll see.

Over the weekend, we were in Lynden celebrating our Pake & Beppe (Grandpa & Grandma in Dutch)'s 60th wedding anniversary. It was a great time for family and sharing in the legacy Pake & Beppe created. Here's a pic of all of the great grandchildren...I think there are still some missing if you can believe that!

Family Vacation

July 29 - August 2 was our annual family vacation with Yobes' family. I was a little (okay, a LOT) worried since we had just started Boogs on potty training and I wasn't sure how she would be in a different environment (as well as doing things during the day she's not used to doing, not getting her normal naps and going to bed late because of having too much fun with her cousins).

I was pleasantly surprised when she did so well! I think it was the combo of her best buddy, Noah, potty training at the same time (and giving each other high-five's when the other went on the toilet) and her sleeping in her pack & play that made the vacation/potty training easy. In the 5 days, she only had 1 accident during the night and 2 accidents during the day. I hope it lasts!

The vacation was just what we all needed. Some time away with family, enjoying the WA coast. It was chilly, but nice and relaxing. The one day we finally took her out to the beach, she started charging towards (and into) the water! She LOVED it even though it was freezing cold and did not want to leave.

Boogs cheesin' it up!

The 3 kids...soon to be 5!

Yobes chasing Boogs as she runs fearlessly into the ocean!

Two Dry Nights!

Since Boogs was waking up twice a night for the past several nights, I decided to try to wake her up to go potty during the night. The first night, I woke her up when I was headed to bed (about 3 hours after she goes down for the night). I snuggled her and asked her if she needed to go potty. In her groggy, still sleeping little voice, she said, "yeah, mommy." #1, success! Around 4:30am, I heard her through her monitor rustling around, so i woke her up and took her again...#2, success! Both times she went back down without a fuss. Wow, our first dry night since potty training!

The next night, I tried to wake her up when I was headed to bed and when I took her to the bathroom, she said, "no potty, mommy." So I put her back down, keeping my fingers crossed that she wouldn't wet her underwear. Then Yobes tried waking her up around 2am, but she again said no. I think I was only half-sleeping the whole night because I was expecting her to wake up wet, but she woke up dry again! I was so happy and proud! I hope this streak continues!