our hospital stay

There's one thing they never told us in our childbirth class. They never told us exactly how many times we would be woken up/interrupted in the next 48 hours! I had Bryson at 1:23am and we were in our new recovery room in the Mother/Baby Unit by 4:00ish. Right away, people started coming in every 2 hours to check on one of us, so there was no rest for the weary!

I was exhausted and sore, but I was also on some kind of adrenaline high and had a hard time sleeping. Which was kind of a bummer, because Bryson was sleeping like a champ after all he'd been through. However, the poor little guy kept being woken up for all kinds of things. He had blood tests to make sure my gestational diabetes hadn't transferred to him (it hadn't), he had a hearing screening, several checkups, they taught us how to give him a bath, and other stuff too. We also took that time to figure out breastfeeding, diaper changes, and putting clothes on him, which wasn't easy because he was so small and wiggly!

My heart breaks because the seams would bust on this outfit if I tried to squeeze him in it now!

The plan was for him to be born BEFORE the Notre Dame game the previous night, and he was going to wear this. He had his own plans though, and came well after the game was over!

We also had some special visitors, which was fun.

Mostly, I was just ready to get home and start figuring out our new life. My blood pressure was still higher than it should've been, so they kept us an extra day longer than I'd have liked, and I was not pleased. But ultimately, it gave me some extra time to recover, and allowed the doctor's to figure out that Bryson had jaundice. Since we were there longer, I think it gave them extra time to figure out how severe the jaundice was so that we could take the correct measures to get it under control (see my next post.) What I saw as a complete inconvenience turned out to be a huge blessing in that regard.

After losing a lot of blood due to my uterine atony, I was extremely weak. I didn't want to admit it to anyone, but it was extremely difficult to get up out of the bed and just walk to the bathroom. I was terrified of taking a shower because I wasn't sure if I could stand that long. But I used that extra time in the hospital to work on getting some strength back. I was encouraged to walk the halls of the Mother/Baby floor, which wasn't easy, but necessary.

We were finally discharged on Thursday at noon, after checking in the previous Sunday night. I was MORE than ready to get home. (Hospital beds and pillows are just NOT comfortable.)

First time in his car seat. Not a huge fan.

I think Ty was terrified of driving with Bryson in the car that first time, but we made it home totally safe. My parents were there to greet us and recorded us coming home and bringing Bryson into his first home. We showed the baby to Abby and Bubba, who were both a bit leery, but did a great job.

I'm so thankful for my experience at our hospital. If I had to do it all over again, I would choose the same hospital and all the same staff members. They took excellent care of us, and we couldn't be more pleased. 

bryson john- a birth story

If you checked out my last post, you'd know I left off with checking into the hospital to be induced with my son at 37 weeks due to high blood pressure. We knew it was coming, so we'd had weeks to prepare. An anxious person by nature, I appreciated the fact that I knew exactly when it would be happening, instead of waiting around for something to happen.

We checked in at 9:00pm on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2019. I was in my room and in a gown by 9:30.

In order to get things going, the nurses were going to give me a few doses of Cervadil and then start pitocin the next morning. Before they could start anything though, I had to have an IV. I'd never had an IV before, but I normally don't have any problems getting blood drawn, so I didn't think it would be a big deal. Boy, was I wrong! It took 3 different nurses FOUR tries to get an IV in. They eventually just put it in my hand, and left my arms looking like this:

(it was the talk of the floor...every single person who came in my room the next several days said something about it!)


I finally got my first dose of Cervadil around 11:00 and then we settled in to sleep for the night. They came in to check me around 3:00am and gave me one more dose. Around 6:00am, I woke up and went to roll over and my water broke. The nurse came in to check it out and told me I was in active labor, and moved me to the labor and delivery room. Since I went into labor on my own, they decided not to do pitocin unless I would need it later. We called our parents and told them there was no rush, but that they could come whenever they'd like.

I had contractions for HOURS and they steadily increased. It was Labor Day (fitting), and there was a Notre Dame football game on that night at 8:00pm. The doctor and a few nurses told me I would definitely have him by the time the game came on. Well the game started. No baby.

I believe about halfway through the game I decided to get an epidural. I was really anxious about it, and needed some major convincing, but I did it. It was painful, but it worked for awhile, and allowed me to get some sleep while I had relief from contractions. The thing I'd been most anxious about in regards to the epidural was not being able to feel my legs. I was actually able to both feel and utilize my legs the entire time (which was good for my anxiety, but meant that my pain must not have been completely managed.)

The Notre Dame game ended around 11:30pm. Still no baby.

I believe it was around this time that I was stuck at 8cm and they finally decided to start the pitocin to get things going. I'd been in active labor for over 12 hours. Then, the baby got stuck in my hip bone, and the epidural seemed to start wearing off. It was incredibly painful. The nurses had me getting into all these awful and very uncomfortable positions to try to get the baby unstuck. I'm not entirely sure how long it took to get him out of my hip bone, but it felt like hours. It was excruciating. I cried. I screamed. I said I couldn't do it anymore. Finally, one of the positions worked and he moved into position. I started to get the urge to push, and they got the doctor.

**This is where I will give a major shout out to Ty and my mom. They were with me the entire delivery, and they were working too! My eyes were closed most of the time, but at one point I looked around and my mom held one of my legs, Ty had the other (and an oxygen mask he was holding up for me to breathe into), and they were both encouraging me. I have no recollection of anything they said, but I know that they helped me get through it. I couldn't have done it without them.**

While I was pushing, the monitor wasn't picking up Bryson's heart rate as well, so they had to put a monitor on his head while he was still inside me. His heart rate dropped to a level they were a bit concerned about, and told me that I needed to breathe through a few contractions and not push. Breathing through those contractions and not pushing was also excruciating. I screamed and yelled all kinds of swear words that I would never say in front of that many people. I really didn't think I was going to make it. I pushed for about 30 minutes and he was finally here! The doctor had called NICU in to check him out since his heart rate had dropped earlier. They were still my room though, and Ty went over to be with him while the doctor finished up with me. Bryson didn't really cry, but he was very alert and looked around at all the lights. I was also told that when I said something, he turned his head toward my voice (heart. melted.) His oxygen levels weren't quite where they wanted to be, and they were talking about taking him from the room for extra support, when he finally got his levels up on his own. He was able to stay with us the whole time and didn't need any other help.

Bryson John was born at 1:23am on September 3, 2019. He was 7lb 2oz, and 20.5 inches long. He had a full head of brown hair and he was absolutely perfect.

While they did all the newborn stuff with him, I was losing a decent amount of blood due to a condition called uterine atony. To this day, I believe that was the worst part of the entire experience. I'll spare anyone reading the gory details, but it was incredibly painful and I still feel a little traumatized when I think back to it. After awhile though, they got it taken care of and I was finally able to hold my baby.

I had never known anything was missing in my life until Ty placed that baby in my arms. My heart was finally complete.

Never been more exhausted or happy in my entire life!

It was over. I was instantly in love with my sweet baby.

And hungry. It had been nearly 24 hours since I'd eaten anything. At 3:30ish in the morning, all I wanted was a cheeseburger and fries. My dad ran out to Burger King at that ungodly hour and delivered food to us. To date, it may be the most satisfying meal I've ever eaten.

It was then time to move to the Mother/Baby Unit. But not before a visit from my favorite nurse, Alleah (who'd been with me since before my water had broken all the way up until getting the epidural.) She was coming back to work for her next shift and couldn't believe we were still there! She wanted to come check on me and meet the baby. The nurses I had during labor and delivery were absolutely phenomenal. I literally cried each time one of their shifts ended and they left me. They were the most amazing girls, and just like Ty and my mom, I wouldn't have been able to do it without them.

So that's Bryson's birth story. It was long and painful at times, but it was also amazing. We are so grateful for the experience and are so blessed by Baby Bryson.

so, i had a baby...

We're just going to go ahead and ignore the fact that it's been exactly two years since I've posted a blog.

 But I'm back (hopefully for the foreseeable future), and I'm dusting off the old bloggity blog to start documenting our lives again. The reason I'd like to start doing that again is: I had a baby! Kind of a big deal, right? And I've become one of those annoying mothers who is totally obsessed with their new sweet babe and incessantly posts about them on social media. I post basically nothing else. So I figure this is a place where I can literally drop all the pictures, post about every adorable little face he makes, and every stinky poopy diaper he has and all that, and no one can complain. (And I highly doubt anyone still follows this blog after my two-year hiatus anyway!)

So without further ado: welcome back to XOXO, Wife (& Mommy)

I'll dedicate my first post back to my pregnancy. Pregnancy...what an incredibly miraculous, yet weird thing for your body to go through.

Ty and I found out I was pregnant very early on at just 4 weeks. It was January 17, 2019. I'd planned how I was going to tell him about a year earlier, and already had what I needed. So literally 20 minutes after I took the test, I presented him with a little gift, which he promptly dropped on the counter and nearly broke!

(Literally the second I found out I was pregnant. Still in the bathroom, eyes red and watering! It was a crazy 20 minutes being the only one who knew this insane news!)

We kept the secret to ourselves for a painstaking TWO WHOLE WEEKS before we shared the news with our parents and Ty's brother and sister-in-law. I also told my boss and my closest friend at work, and then we waited until the 12 week "safe" mark to announce it to everyone else.

At exactly 8 weeks on the dot, I began throwing up. Every morning around 7:00am, right before leaving for work. I was exhausted, could hardly eat anything, and was losing weight. Not to mention that the sight of anyone eating any kind of chicken made me gag. (And remember, most people didn't know yet!)

At 11 weeks, my doctor had me go in for an early glucose test due to my weight and the fact that my mom had gestational diabetes with me. Lo and behold, I was diagnosed with the condition at 11 weeks pregnant and literally flipped out. I begged and begged the nurse to allow me to take the 3 hour test so I could try to pass it and she declined, because my numbers had been too high to begin with. It was not my finest moment. I just couldn't get my mind around the fact that I could barely eat the foods I liked, let alone nasty plain meat and veggies. However, I think the whole thing was a fluke, because I was able to keep my diet completely the same and not have any issues due to the diabetes. Other than pricking my finger 4 times a day, I really didn't have any other inconveniences...even in the summer when I would eat ice cream for dinner.

Shortly after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes, I began having some issues with high blood pressure. We began to go in for weekly appointments until we got that under control around 15 weeks. Then at 19 weeks, we were finally able to go in for our anatomy scan to find out what the gender of our little chicken nugget. We were both pretty convinced it would be a girl, and we had the name Emersyn Bryce picked out for her. The appointment was at 3:30 that afternoon, and it was the longest day of work EVER!

We were so happy to hear that everything looked great with our sweet babe's development and that we would actually be having a BOY! We were shocked! As soon as the appointment was over, we promptly went to Target to pick out a baby boy outfit (or two)! We also announced that he would be named Bryson John.

Things were pretty smooth sailing after that, besides my continuous vomiting. I threw up nearly every day from 8-18 weeks and then about 1-4 times a week after that. I especially had trouble when eating, and quickly learned that I needed to eat VERY slowly. I even had to run out of a restaurant during breakfast one morning and vomit outside the door. Also not my finest moment. I continued to lose some weight, but Bryson was still growing and all was good. My belly finally popped at 18 weeks and I began feeling my sweet boy wiggling around soon after that!

We continued to monitor my blood pressure and gestational diabetes, and around 28 weeks I began going in for weekly appointments to make sure Bryson and I were both okay. It was inconvenient to go every week, but we got to see him in an ultrasound at every one of those appointments, which was great. He was a bit of a stinker though, and didn't give us a good picture of his face or profile after 13 weeks! He was a big wiggler and was always facing my back. We did learn that he had a lot of hair (thanks heartburn!), and always liked to have his hands up by his head.

At 30 weeks, my doctor sent me from the office straight to the hospital for my high blood pressure. It was super scary because they were worried about preeclampsia, and I was worried the baby would have to be delivered too soon. We were able to get my blood pressure down, and with some medication adjustments, we were able to keep him cooking in my belly until he was big enough to come on out. The doctors told me that we would induce at 37 weeks because of those blood pressure concerns. And that is exactly what we did. I checked into the hospital to be induced the day I turned 37 weeks.

-To be continued...

xoxo, wife (& mommy)

Date Night During Hunting Season

Our marriage has evolved quite a bit in seven and a half years. There was a bit of a learning curve in the beginning...especially in prioritizing our time. I'm an introvert and a homebody by nature, and love nothing more than spending nearly all my free time at home...or shopping! But I married my total opposite. Ty loves to be out and doing things often, especially his favorite hobbies: hunting and softball. We've both become better at prioritizing the important things in the last few years. I've come to accept (and even enjoy) that he will spend a good chunk of the fall up in a tree stand, and he's been better at making time for me when he's not.

A couple months ago (before hunting season even started), he told me to keep November 5th free. He had gotten tickets for us to go see Whose Line Is It Anyway at a local theater.

"But that's during hunting season, " I said.

"I know. I purposely planned it that way. I wanted to make sure I made time for you and we did something fun even during prime hunting season."

It may not seem like a big deal to most. But to know that he'd thought about it ahead of time and purposely planned it meant a lot to me. And it was a good time.

 

Couples Survey

What are your middle names?
Matthew and NiCole

How long have you been together?
Since April 2007

Who asked who out?
I kept hinting that I wanted him to ask me out, but I think he was chicken! So I finally asked him if he wanted to go out to dinner and a movie over Christmas Break. He was the one that asked me to be his girlfriend though.

Do you have children together?
No

Pets?
Abby and Bubba

Did you go to the same school?
Different high schools, same college.

Who is the most sensitive?
I think it depends on the day and the situation. We can both be pretty sensitive.

Who has the worst temper?
He does. Unless it's a certain time of the month...then I probably take the cake in the temper department haha!

Who does the cooking?
We don't really like the same foods, so he cooks his own food, and I cook my own food. On the rare occasion that we eat the same thing, we kind of take turns on who cooks it.

Who is the neat freak?
Unfortunately, neither of us. I think I get on him more often though about cleaning up after himself. "Just put your dishes IN the sink instead of NEXT to it" is something I feel like I say quite often. I'm better at cleaning as I go. He's better at deep cleaning all in one day. I notice clutter. He notices dust and cobwebs.

Who hogs the bed?
Abby! She sleeps wherever the heck she wants to...including on our pillows. She likes to lay with her head on my pillow, and her butt on Ty's. Now if you ask who the blanket hog is...that would be me haha!

Who wakes up earlier?
Me (unless it's hunting season...then he's up way earlier than any human should be.)

Where was your first date?
Ty picked me up and we went to see "We Are Marshall" at the movie theater, and then we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner afterward. We had to wait so long for our food to be served that they gave us a certificate for a free Bloomin' Onion.

Who has the bigger family?
Ty

Do you get flowers often?
Yes :)

Who eats more?
Ty definitely eats more...I definitely eat worse.

Who does the laundry?
Me...he'll help out occasionally as needed. He's the only one allowed to do his hunting laundry though!

Who's better with the computer?
Ty

Who drives when you are together? 
Usually Ty. Unless he doesn't know how to get where we're going...then I'll drive.

Who picks where you go to dinner?
Me. I'm picky...Ty will eat pretty much wherever. He normally gives me some parameters though, "No Pizza Hut, no Fazoli's."

Who's the first one to admit when they're wrong?
Usually Ty.

Who wears the pants in the relationship?
I think it's pretty equal.

Who has more tattoos?
Ty has more.

Who eats more sweets?
ME.

Who loves who more?
I love him more. Just kidding :)

Pedicures

Ever since I got my first pedicure, I've been begging Ty to go with me to get one. I knew he would enjoy it, if for no other reason than the foot/leg massage. But every time I asked him, he said no.

Then the other day he told me that on Saturday, I could pick whatever I wanted to do, since hunting season is about to begin and he won't be around as much, especially on the weekends. I started thinking of going to a movie, or something like that. But he said, "So if you want to go get a pedicure or whatever, I guess I would do that."

Ding ding ding! Finally!

Well when Saturday morning finally came, I was super tired and did NOT want to get out of bed. But then I realized that this may be the only time he would ever offer to go, so I promptly got out of bed!

He was reluctant (especially when I wanted to take a selfie outside the salon), but he was a good sport. When we walked in, he was amazed at how huge the place was, and also made a comment about the smell of the chemicals and nail dust and stuff.

He turned his massage chair on and seemed to enjoy that. Then he noticed that there was football on the tv and said, "I might be able to get used to this!" I had to laugh when the lady who was doing his feet had to go back into the back room and get an industrial cheese grater thing for his calluses! We joked about it for awhile. They asked us if we wanted to do a paraffin wax treatment, because it would be good for his heels, and we decided to go ahead and try it. He really liked that part, and the massage part...which I've been telling him for years that he would love.

I asked him if he would go again. He said, "I wouldn't want to make a habit out of it, but I'd go every once in awhile."

A Stitch in Time

Yes, I know it's been over a year since I posted anything.
No, I don't have any great excuses.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's move on, because there's a lot of "life" that needs to be documented around these parts.

Last Saturday was a rough day. We got a phone call that morning about the sudden and tragic death of Ty's younger cousin. Later that day, Ty wanted to go work in the woods, because that is the place where he can de-stress and talk to God about stuff.

I had just run to the grocery store and was putting the groceries away when he called me and said that he had been in a tree cutting branches (or something like that) with his saw when he slipped, and the saw cut his thumb. He had only been out there working for about 25 minutes.

He came home and we tried to decide if he actually needed stitches, because it wasn't bleeding anymore. I finally talked him into it, if for no other reason than he obviously needed a tetanus shot. So we headed out to urgent care, which turned out to be not so urgent about caring for us. We were there for almost 4 hours by the time all was said and done. I'm proud to say that I sat there and watched the whole thing and didn't even pass out! The worst part was when he got the lidocaine shot in his thumb...that was kind of hard to watch.

Because the cut was on his thumb, he had to wear a splint while the stitches did their thing. Then after 7 days, we were able to go back and get them taken out. This time thankfully, we were moved to the front of the line because all we were doing was removing stitches. So we were in and out within 20 minutes.

The doctor said it looked really good, and to keep it wrapped and wear the splint a few more days while the scar continues to heal. Hopefully the scar will be a good reminder to use one of the 10 pairs of work gloves he has in the future.