This blog is going to be filled with many of Finn’s “firsts” over the months and years… these are just a few:
First Doctor’s Appointment – Stats: 9 lbs 5 oz and 21 in @ 14 days
First Easter – wearing the Easter outfit his Great Grandma Jo got him
First Bath – with the “Paparazzi Grandparents Three” observing
Honorable Mentions – First Visit to the Park and First Restaurant
We spent the last month before Finn was due working on the final touches of the nursery and ensuring that we were 100% ready (ha) for his arrival. We finished making sheets for his bassinet and made some cute little burp cloths using leftover fabric scraps from all of our various projects. Mom is also working on a quilt but it didn’t get done before Finn’s arrival, and then you all know what happened after – so we’re hoping by month 2 it will be done so we can use it as a backdrop for some more pics. If not, month 3! 
I realized that through all the months we worked on Finn’s room together, didn’t get any pics of mom hard at work – so I made sure to change that while working on these projects.
I know that I am behind on a lot of posts, but I want to make sure I at least do these regularly… I can’t believe here we are and Finn is one month old! Feels like he just got home! Well… he sort of did since the first 2 weeks were spent in the hospital. It still all feels very surreal and we haven’t quite gotten the hang of everything, but we’re working on it!
And so, at one month, Finn…
… weighs 11 lbs 4 oz (87th percentile) and is 22 3/4 in (again 87th percentile).
… still has muddy blue eyes but they are quickly changing to brown!
… has outgrown most of his newborn clothes (all those newborn outfits that were gifted barely got used!) and definitely newborn diapers. He is still wearing a few newborn onesies, but 3 month as far as sleepers go. He fits them lengthwise but is not quite filling them out from side to side. It’s only time…
… is turning into a little chubber! I have joked lately that he may just be related to the Michelin tire man, hehe! His face is plumping up as are his little arms and legs, but his torso is still pretty skinny. And I love every fold and roll!
… feeds whenever he feels like it. ;) He was on a schedule of every 3-4 hours his second 2 weeks, but the last week or so he’s been hungry every 2 hours, sometimes he’ll go 3. Sometimes he’ll want just an ounce or even a half an ounce, and sometimes he’ll want 4. We’re getting the hang of it.
… sleeps a lot, although this week he has had much more awake and alert periods than ever before and we love it! He prefers to sleep curled up on our necks with a blanket under his bottom half for security (not warmth – he’s got plenty of that on his own!).
… does very well in the warm bath.
… has racked up quite the assortment of nicknames, Mr. Turkey being one of them for the way he curls his legs up into his chest when he is swaddled and looks like a Thanksgiving Turkey with drumsticks and all!
… does not really like his swing yet, unless he’s already sleeping when we put him in it. He also doesn’t like his car seat once we get in the house – there’s no keeping him in it for any period of time! We haven’t tried the bouncer yet, and he had no interest in his play mat (yet).
… loves his mobile that hangs above his playard! It’s just black and white shapes and patterns since that’s the most he can really see at this point, but he’s started to really take an interest in it and follows it as it moves.
… has given us many pee showers.
… is extremely strong. His doctor and every nurse that’s held him has commented on how strong he is. I’ve also felt it as he’s kicked my tummy (and incision) on many occasions in order to launch himself across the room. He is lifting his head up already (though not for long) and is even on the cusp of rolling over… look out!
… is indecisive on car rides. They are very touch and go with him, and we’re anxious the whole time about whether he is going to start crying or not.
… gets a lot of attention from his furry siblings, especially Max and Penny. Angie is a little unsure about him still.
… looks very much like me still, but Dan’s looks are starting to show through more and more each day, especially his profile.
… has improved a little with the colicky symptoms since switching to soy formula, but still definitely has his colic moments. So hard to see him wriggling in pain and knowing there is not a whole lot we can do! Dan has found a good hold for him on his tummy which really helps. As does rubbing his tummy and gently patting his back as he lays upright on our chests.
… pretty much does not like to be put down. The only way we can put him down is if he is in a deep sleep. Otherwise he wants to be in our arms all the time. He loves skin on skin contact.
… loves the feeling of feathers across his skin!
… is on the verge of smiling. And not just gas smiles. :)
… hates any wetness, which is why we are still going through about 15-20+ diapers a day. Poor landfills. :(
… does the cutest little “baby dancing” where he wiggles and moves his arms like he’s conducting an orchestra. He also coos like crazy!
… is absolutely the love of our lives and we are so lucky to have had even a month with him, let alone the rest of our lives!
Looking forward to many more months, Mr. Turkey!
This next post is kind of dry – not that many pictures to share!
Where to begin… after Finn’s birth at 3am on Monday morning we spent the rest of the week in the hospital. It was really rough on me due to the surgery and everything else I went through. Dan had a test Tuesday morning so my mom spent Monday night at the hospital with me so that he could go home and study and take his test the next morning. We had a little bit of a rocky night but we figured it out thanks to the help of our nurses. The rest of the week was just us figuring everything out and getting to know little Finn. He slept a lot of the week, which was really nice for Dan and I who were absolutely exhausted. We had many visitors throughout the week which was really nice. Dan’s mom, Grandma Jo, and our good friends Jason and Julie both came that first day. Crystal left Tuesday morning. We were sad to see her go, but so happy she got to be there for one of the happiest moments of our lives! My brother, Eric, sister-in-law, Mary, dad, and brother, Jack all came to see me as well throughout the week. So good to have the support of family and friends!
Due to everything my doctor really didn’t want me to stress about breastfeeding at all. I went through a lot and with being anemic and having low platelets on top of the surgery, I was really weak and just couldn’t really deal with that right away. I tried to pump throughout the week but had a really low milk supply as well. Still working on that. So, he’s pretty much been formula fed since day 1 and I’m actually okay with that. It wasn’t in my plan, just as practically everything else (other than Finn being born) wasn’t either! I’m still just focusing on getting better as I have a long road ahead of me for that.
Finn in his "Coming Home" outfit - the same thing his Uncle Jack wore home from the hospital almost 24 years before!
We finally got to come home Friday afternoon. Dan’s brother, Tom came over that evening and made us a delicious meal of BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, and baked beans. I was feeling really exhausted that day and not myself. Dan was incredible (sensing a theme here?) and basically took care of Finn most of the day and the following so that I could rest. He knew I was pretty miserable. I don’t remember much from the next day other than that around mid-afternoon I started to get a headache. I didn’t think much of it other than maybe it was just due to all the meds and me coming off of everything from the week. Eric and Mary were supposed to come over this afternoon and I had to cancel on them because I felt so bad. I remember talking to my mom on the phone and telling her that I had a headache. I thought it was either just a normal headache or possibly a spinal headache from the epidural which I was told was a possible side effect. It persisted throughout the evening and night. At 9:30pm I texted my mom and said that I “definitely had a spinal headache.”
What happened next would shock us all…
I woke up at around 4am with the worst possible headache I could ever have imagined. And I’ve had some bad ones that have even resulted in a call to the fire department, so I know a thing or two about a bad headache! That night Dan was up with Finn almost the entire night due to me not being able to help, so I was really trying not to burden him with any more than he already had on his plate by waking him up to complain about the pain. I texted my mom again at about 4:40am telling her that I needed her really bad and wondering if she could come over so that I could call my doctor and have Dan take me over to the ER. I said that I couldn’t sit or stand due to this spinal headache. Obviously, she was sleeping. I called her and my dad a few times and texted again at 9:30am that I needed her really, really bad. I texted my mother-in-law as well who was already planning on coming over that morning to spend time with us and Finn, and asked her if she could come over ASAP. She got the text at about 9:30am and came over. By that time I had finally gotten a hold of my parents and as soon as my dad answered I basically just wailed into the phone about how I needed them to come over right now and I was in excruciating pain. My dad sensed the urgency and said they’d jump in the car and be over.
Jayne showed up and we decided she was going to take me to the ER since Dan had literally been up all night and I felt he needed a little more sleep. We got to the ER and from there my memory is really fuzzy so most of this is what other people have recounted for me of the day’s events. I remember sitting in the ER hearing the triage nurse talking to some people who did not sound even close to as bad as I did. I was crying, moaning, and I know that anybody in their right mind would have seen that. They *finally* called me up and took my blood pressure which was sky high, 200+ over something. I answered her questions all the while being in the worst pain of my life. I told her I had just had a baby, and epidural, and I thought this was a spinal headache. Then my mom and dad came in and came back to where we were. Jayne told me later that she had never seen a person in as much pain as I was in at that moment. I started vomiting from the pain and then that’s when I told Jayne she should go home and be with Dan since he hadn’t slept that night and he was going to need help with Finn so he could get some sleep. I was taken back to a room and immediately given morphine. Did. Not. Help. One. Bit. This pain was pretty much unkillable.
I have no concept of how much time passed during the day. At some point I was taken back for a blood patch since they had assumed this was indeed a spinal headache from the epidural. I remember getting the blood patch and then being wheeled back to my room. About 15 minutes after that I told my mom that I had lost my peripheral vision. Then a bit later I had completely lost all of my vision and saw nothing but black. At this point I was so doped up on pain medications that apparently it didn’t bother me that much, meanwhile I found out later that everyone else was freaking out. Mom was grabbing nurses every time they passed by and she said nobody seemed real alarmed by this! This hospital, which is supposed to be an award winning stroke response center – was not concerned about this. They never even shown a light in my eyes to check for dilation or anything like that. Incredible. I don’t remember anything else from that day but apparently I had a CT Scan and an MRI and they both found nothing. And then about 5:00pm I was discharged. Completely blind. They told my parents to take me to an eye doctor that was running a clinic on another floor until 6:00pm, which they did, still in complete shock that I was discharged blind. The ER doctor (one who is going to get a stern letter) told my parents, “There aren’t always answers for why things happen!”
I was wheeled to this eye doctor’s clinic and the doctor determined that there was nothing wrong with my eyes, they were perfect and that this was an assault to my brain and I needed to be readmitted immediately. He wheeled me and my parents through the hospital back to the ER and told them I was to be readmitted.
From there, apparently it was really rocky. The triage nurse wanted to admit me as if I was a completely new patient and started going through the same process from before that I had already gone through. My mom got really upset to which the nurse got real snippy with her and said that she “didn’t have to take her hostility”. My mom responded that she wasn’t being hostile, she was being desperate, because her daughter could be having a stroke. There were no rooms in the ER so I guess I was taken back and kind of moved around until there finally was a room for me. At some point my mom and Dan switched places once he was told the seriousness of it so he could be with me and she went home and took care of Finn. I also found out days later that Eric came to be with me that night as well. The only thing I remember from the rest of the day was there were a couple times I would ask everybody to stop talking because it was hurting my head so bad. At some point Dan or my brother noticed that I was playing with my tongue and that it was bleeding. When I stuck it out there were visible teeth marks in it and it was completely numb, and stayed that way for almost a week. More signs that there was some kind of episode, and another sign the doctors would ignore.
There was never any real help in the ER that day and no doctor ever had any real response as to what was wrong with me and why the blood patch hadn’t worked and why I lost my eyesight. Apparently, the night ER doctor told Dan that I had some kind of postpartum psychosis which absolutely devastated and freaked him out. He said he was doing things like waving his hands in my face, putting his face real close to mine and then saying something which made me jump, etc. just to make sure that I really couldn’t see since the doctor had said it could be a psychosis and *gasp* that I could be faking! My parents and Dan all went home and furiously researched it and all felt that it wasn’t me, none of the symptoms or characteristics fit. And it certainly didn’t!!! Either way, I was admitted that night into the Medisurge ward (instead of the L&D or Postpartum where I should have been from day 1!!!). Dan stayed the night with me while my mom stayed with Finn.
Because I have no shame of even an absolutely horrible picture - here's me in the hospital, you can see there was just nothing in my eyes, I was in a complete daze. As my friend Nutty says, I look like I just got out of jail. And that's how it felt!
I spent the next day in the dark again, but at some point I was able to see some shapes and figures, like if somebody was standing over my bed. I laid in bed all day with no doctor’s care, just the nurses checking on me, giving me pain medicine for the headache that was still there… waiting for answers. My mom said I asked the same questions over and over again like, “Was Finn born already? What day was he born? What day is it? Where am I?” and after she would answer them, I was ask them again. I was really really devastated that I was separated from Finn. I remember thinking how I didn’t care about seeing anything else ever again, other than his face. I was afraid that I was going to be blind forever and only having 6 days with him, that his face was slowly going to fade from my memory. I thought how cruel of a world this is to only give me 6 days of seeing his sweet face. I was very upset and would break down periodically throughout the day anytime I thought of him. I was also missing him like crazy. I wanted so bad to hold him, but knew he wasn’t allowed in the hospital. At the end of the day the eye doctor from the previous day came by to check on me and checked my eyes and dilation and they were still “perfect”. Then finally, a neurologist, somebody who might actually be able to give us some answers, came in. However, at first he had no answers. No explanation. He did however say that he didn’t expect to find anything on the MRI and CT scan that the emergency room did because they weren’t the right tests for the kind of injury I may have suffered to my brain. He was going to request that I have two other scans, an MRA and an MRV which checks both the arteries and blood vessels and then we’d go from there. I can’t remember if I got those later that night or the next morning, but that was it for that day.
Sometime the next day (what are we at, Tuesday now?) I was moved from the Medisurge ward to the Postpartum ward. No, not because I was actually postpartum and they thought I should be in the care of an OBGYN (as I SHOULD have been), but because they needed my room for another patient on the Medisurge ward. I was still in the care of a regular internal medicine doctor while in the Postpartum ward. Over there I was reunited with all the nurses who took care of me the first week and they all couldn’t believe I was back. One nurse said to me that she remembered my blood pressure creeping up that week and when she mentioned it to my doctor he said, “We aren’t going to worry about it”… and she put that in the chart supposedly. This day my vision radically improved. I could see most everything including color, faces, how many fingers a person would hold us, it was just really shaky and my eyes couldn’t focus on anything and I would get sick if I looked at something for too long. Again later that afternoon the neurologist came back and said that the two scans he ordered came back fine – NO STROKE. Thank goodness. He said I definitely had swelling due to an eclamptic seizure and that I had Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome and was in a Postictal State. Basically I had a seizure due to my extremely high blood pressure, followed by a coma, then blindness, confusion, and memory loss. He said I would most likely recover 100% but that it could take months and he wanted me to follow up with him in two months where we would redo all of the scans to check for any remaining brain swelling and/or damage. I asked if I would be able to go home and he said that with my blood pressure, most likely not. Bummer. So, we figured I was there for another night to watch my blood pressure.
I slept alone this night so that my mom could go home and get some uninterrupted sleep and Dan was home with Finn. At 11:50 that night several nurses came in my room and said I was being moved back to the Labor & Delivery ward and started unhooking my bed. I was feeling really jaded about the entire experience and hospital at this point that I sarcastically said, “Why, does somebody need this room, too?” and then I realized it was my really nice nurse from the night Finn was born and she told me that somebody had (finally) called my OBGYN and she put in orders to have me moved to L&D where I was going to be put on a Magnesium Sulphate drip for 48 hours to treat my high blood pressure and eclampsia. She also told me it was going to make me feel really really crappy and that because of that I would not be able to get out of bed for those 48 hours. Which meant a catheter. However, she remembered how many complications I had from the catheter that she said if I would go in a bed pan for her that she would skip the catheter. I was all for it. Apparently while on Mag, they have to monitor your output very closely to ensure that it does not build up in your bloodstream and exits the body completely. She was completely right about it making you feel crappy. My headache got worse, my vision blurrier, I was nauseaus, hot, I felt weak… I just wanted to curl up in a ball at that point and be put to sleep and not feel anything until the 48 hours were up. But I had to be strong and get through it so I could go home to Finn, I thought. I just remember feeling very sorry for myself. I texted my mom and Dan and said, “Of all the nights to be alone – they’re moving me again.” which probably made them feel even worse than they already did!
Me being pumped full of Magnesium Sulphate to lower my blood pressure and keep me from having another seizure.
The next morning the day nurse told me that I could have Finn in this part of the hospital because he was my child (not a visiting relative). HAPPY DAY! I called Dan so fast and told him to bring that sweet little angel to me right away. Dan showed up shortly after and I was reunited with Finn. Nothing else mattered to me then. I could deal with any treatment they wanted to give me because I had my little family there with me. It made the Mag not so bad. My spirits were lifted. I was on the Mag all day. Dan, Finn, and my mom spent the day with me and in the evening my dad came. It was so good to have support there with me. Being in a hospital can get really lonely and depressing so I found out how important it was to have people who care about you just being there. I can’t forget that Jayne went and picked up Penny at this point and took her to her house since Dan and Finn could now spend the night with me at the hospital. This way Dan didn’t have to worry about going home every so often to feed Penny or let her out to go potty. I was told that my blood pressure was coming down enough that they were going to stop the Mag at midnight, after 24 hours. I was relieved, I felt things were headed in a positive direction and I would be home soon. My regular OBGYN called and talked to Dan and explained that nobody at the hospital had called her about me until moments before they moved me to the L&D on Tuesday night and started the Mag. Once she heard about me, she knew it was eclampsia and said that she immediately put those orders in otherwise it could have been life and death. Another failure on the hospital’s side! I can’t believe that a woman who had just given birth 6 days before presenting herself in the emergency room with all of these symptoms, and the OBGYN wasn’t immediately called? So many times during this fiasco we felt that Google was a better doctor than anybody else there. We still aren’t sure who called my OBGYN, whether it was the neurologist or a nurse.
Me seeing Finn for the first time in 3 days. Reunited and it feels so good!
Dan had school the next day (Thursday) and I wasn’t allowed to be alone with Finn so my mom had to come early again that morning. My blood pressure was up and down all day. I was put on 2 different blood pressure medications, Labetalol and Procardia, to help regulate it. One of my OBGYN’s came in and spent about an hour talking with me and my mom and very carefully answering all of her questions. I think he could sense that we were upset and that we knew he was the one that discharged me the week before with high blood pressure. He also came back and spent just as much time or more with us on several other occasions that week. He explained how extremely rare eclampsia was this long after delivery (6 days). I had absolutely perfect blood pressure my entire pregnancy up until labor. So, really it was confusing to everybody. What they determined is that I was probably developing pre-eclampsia but since we induced on the 17th it never went through that stage and instead turned into full blown eclampsia, which is basically a seizure. They said it was a really good thing that we did induce because if I had had the seizure while Finn was still in me it could have been very detrimental for him. It was also this day that the nursing staff presented me with a little charm bracelet in a pretty little box because they felt so bad about everything I had gone through. Buying me so I don’t sue? Whatever. It’s still sitting in that box.
Eclampsia, which is considered a complication of severe preeclampsia, is commonly defined as new onset of grand mal seizure activity and/or unexplained coma during pregnancy or postpartum in a woman with signs or symptoms of preeclampsia.
The clinical manifestations of maternal preeclampsia are hypertension and proteinuria with or without coexisting systemic abnormalities involving the kidneys, liver, or blood. There is also a fetal manifestation of preeclampsia involving fetal growth restriction, reduced amniotic fluid, and abnormal fetal oxygenation. HELLP syndrome is a severe form of preeclampsia and involves hemolytic anemia, elevated liver function tests (LFTs), and low platelet count.
Course of Eclamptic Seizures
Eclampsia manifests as 1 seizure or more, with each seizure generally lasting 60-75 seconds. The patient’s face initially may become distorted, with protrusion of the eyes, and foaming at the mouth may occur. Respiration ceases for the duration of the seizure.
Eclamptic seizures may be divided into 2 phases. Phase 1 lasts 15-20 seconds and begins with facial twitching. The body becomes rigid, leading to generalized muscular contractions.
Phase 2 lasts about 60 seconds. It starts in the jaw, moves to the muscles of the face and eyelids, and then spreads throughout the body. The muscles begin alternating between contracting and relaxing in rapid sequence.
A coma or period of unconsciousness, lasting for a variable period, follows phase 2. After the coma phase, the patient may regain some consciousness, and she may become combative and very agitated. However, the patient will have no recollection of the seizure.
A period of hyperventilation occurs after the tonic-clonic seizure. This compensates for the respiratory and lactic acidosis that develops during the apneic phase.
Seizure-induced complications can include tongue biting, head trauma, broken bones, and aspiration.
Features of eclampsia include the following:
And that’s exactly what happened to me! Hello! I cannot believe that I had almost every single one of those symptoms and yet it took days for them to figure it out. Precious days that I could have died or worse, had a stroke that left me a completely different person, due to my blood pressure being at such dangerous levels. The hospital, Mountain Vista Medical Center, is unbelievable and I would never ever go back or recommend anybody to ever go there in an emergency. They have signs posted all over and on billboards along the freeway that talk about their stroke response team (i.e. “MVMC received its national Primary Stroke Center certification from DNV Healthcare – just five months after receiving Level IV Trauma Center designation from the Arizona Department of Health Services. The Stroke Center certification means that the stroke response staff at MVMC follows the requirements and protocols that have been established by the Guidelines of the Brain Attack Coalition and recommendations of the American Stroke Association to care for stroke patients. Such guidelines include following the required methods to fast-track patients suspected of stroke so that physicians on the medical staff can begin brain-saving treatments immediately.) They never shown a light in my eyes, never asked me any questions, asked me to smile, or anything that they tell you to do if you suspect somebody is having a stroke. Just unbelievable!
Anyways, I was continued on blood pressure meds round the clock, every 8 hours, and slowly going insane from being in the hospital for so long. My back was killing me (and still is) from sitting in that damn bed and I was just so angry at the whole situation. I lost so many precious days with Finn that I could have been spending happily at home and learning how to be a mom. Instead I was stuck in a hospital and couldn’t really do anything myself including get out of bed until the last 2 days. I’m still in complete shock about the situation and still break down about it every once in a while when I am able to somewhat grasp the magnitude of what happened. I’m so angry at my OBGYN, the ER doctors, the hospital… the only people that actually helped me were the eye doctor who insisted on having me readmitted, the neurologist who ordered the right tests and finally determined it was blood pressure related, and the nurses who cared for me. I feel like I really do have the biggest lawsuit on my hands!
I was finally able to go home on Saturday because my blood pressure had lowered enough that it was safe for me to not have to be under a doctor’s direct care (with medications). I was ecstatic to go home even though I knew the road to recovery was going to be long and hard (that’s what she said?) especially with my now 2 week old baby. As far as how I’m doing and my recovery – I’ll save that for another post. This one has been long enough.
Where to begin… life really isn’t kidding when it says that nothing goes according to plan. The way Finn’s birth went was never in the cards, but somehow it snuck in! And then it only got worse from there. But he’s healthy and happy and that’s all we really could ask for. Here goes long post #1:
Our last check up with the doctor was Friday afternoon on the 16th. Things were somewhat progressing, but not really. I think I was 2cm dilated but 0% effaced and at a 0 station (somewhere I would remain until he was delivered!). So, doctor scheduled what is called an outpatient gel induction where I would go in and they would insert a gel that would help me dilate and efface more. She called the hospital right there and scheduled it for 8pm that night. The plan was that we would go in at 8, they’d do 3 stages of the gel and if there wasn’t any progression I would go home 8 hours later and wait out the rest of the pregnancy for Finn to decide to come. My best friend Crystal was in town at this point and had been all week where she cooked and baked for us everyday. We ran some errands, picked up some green nail polish in hopes of having a St. Patty’s day baby the next day, went home, relaxed, Crystal painted my toe nails and waited until 7pm when I was supposed to call the hospital. We called at 7 and the hospital told us they were really busy that night with a lot of deliveries so they would call me when I could come in, but not to stay up because it could be in the middle of the night. We were bummed but just went with it. Finally at midnight they called and said they spoke with my doctor and so I was to come in the next morning at 7am. So, we tried to get some sleep until then. At about 3am I was getting some really bad cramps which I thought was weird. They persisted until my alarm went off at 6am. It wasn’t unbearably painful, just annoying. We got ready, got to the hospital, I changed into a hospital gown (something I wouldn’t take off for many days!) and the nurse hooked me up to all the machines and right away said, “You’re already contracting!”, me: “What? Is that what those annoying cramps are?”… lol. The gel had only a 20% chance of actually putting me into labor, so the fact that I was already contracting was good news for us. Early labor had begun. We were really hoping a St. Patty’s Day baby was a possibility.
The first stage of the gel was put in and Dan and I took a nap since we hadn’t gotten much sleep that night. Crystal came later in the morning so the 3 of us played games on our phones, talked, joked and just waited for more progress. I was told to walk the halls, move around, sit on the birthing ball, just try to get things going.
Here we all are doing our thing. I’m sure it was not very fun for Crystal or Dan to just be sitting around. Nor was it fun for me, but at least I was preoccupied. ;)
Here’s to prove that I actually did try to look presentable for the birth by doing my hair and make-up. 48 hours later, “presentable” wasn’t even in the cards! We did the next 2 stages of the gel over the next 8 hours. Dan was the best, obviously. Held my hand through any and every contraction which by this time (maybe 5pm?) were very close together but not hardly painful at all.
We thought everything was going along swimmingly because the nurse came in sometime in the early evening and said that my doctor decided to admit me. We thought it was due to the contractions being only a couple minutes apart as well as the fact that I was now 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. Boy were we wrong! Our new nurse came in at the start of her shift at 7:30pm and said I was being tested for Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) because my blood pressure readings were kind of high. Okaaaay…. whatever, do what you have to do, we thought, let’s just get this baby show on the road before midnight! I had a lot of blood work done and we continued to wait for about another hour. Then things took a turn.
The anesthesiologist came in at about 8:30pm and said that if I wanted an epidural we had to do it right now due to my “blood pressure and platelet issues”. ”Huh???” was our immediate thoughts. The anesthesiologist continues to explain the epidural process and got me quite anxious. Not only because the epidural sounded terrifying (but of course there was no other option, I would not give birth without it!), but I also had no idea what platelet issues he was talking about. So, after he was done talking about a mile a minute because he does this multiple times every day I asked him what he was talking about and how it affected an epidural. That’s when the nurse spoke up and explained to me that I was found to be extremely anemic and my blood platelets were dangerously low. The anesthesiologist explained that platelets are needed to help the blood coagulate, so having low platelets means that I would be at risk for an epidural hematoma which is bleeding between the inside of the skull and the outer covering of the brain (called the “dura”) and could be deadly. So, he did the epidural by 9pm and right after, I had no feeling so I felt pretty good. Because you are a fall risk while having an epidural, they don’t allow you to get up and go to the bathroom so a catheter was put in. Immediately, it did not feel right.
My mom and dad came in later that night to help pass the time. I remember saying something to my nurse several times that night about me feeling the catheter and it was really uncomfortable. She kept assuring me that some women feel them and some women don’t. As the night progressed it became very painful. I told my mom how much pain I was in due to the catheter, as well as the fact that I was starting to feel really intense contractions. I was so unbelievably uncomfortable at this point, it was not a good night. I was crying to both Dan and my parents as well as the nurse every time she came in to which she always said the same thing. Finally my mom went out to the nurse’s station to talk to the other nurses and there were several differing opinions. Some said I shouldn’t feel a thing and some said it’s possible I could feel it. We kept wondering what the point of an epidural was if I was still in excruciating pain. I could tell Dan, Crystal, and my parents just felt so sorry for me. Finally my nurse said that maybe I was allergic to latex and she was going to try a latex-free catheter. Umm no, I’d know if I was allergic to latex by this point in my life. But she did it. No improvement. At this point I was just miserable and couldn’t even think straight because of all the pain I was in. We asked her if she could just take the catheter out – I wasn’t even feeling the effects of the epidural at this point so walking to the bathroom would have been very simple. She called my doctor who agreed that it could be removed but that I still couldn’t get out of bed (don’t think it was stressed to her how much the epidural was NOT working) so there had to be “other arrangements” which I won’t detail. I should also probably mention that once you get an epidural you are forbidden from eating anything until after it wears off. So, no food since 9pm Saturday night.
It rained all day Saturday and all night and throughout the morning on Sunday. Dan and I slept at the hospital while Crystal went back to our house to feed Penny and let her go potty, etc. She returned in the morning. My parents were “on call” in case labor progressed any more on Sunday. We spent most of Sunday just waiting around. Me still feeling every contraction and not getting any answers why. My new day nurse thought it was really abnormal for me to have this much feeling and decided to call the anesthesiologist back in the assess the situation. He explained that he could take this one out and put a new one in to which I agreed because at this point I was just terrified that I would have to go through labor without one, feeling every painful contraction, push, and movement. I signed all the waivers again about how I could be paralyzed and they aren’t responsible, etc. Whatever, get rid of this pain! He really had trouble getting this next one in. The day before it took him about 5 or so tries. This time he took about 10 tries and then decided to call his partner in, another anesthesiologist. He decided to try one last time before letting his partner and it worked. I immediately felt great – again. No feeling, hooray! The nurse put the catheter back in and I couldn’t feel it. Happy day. An hour later my doctor came in and decided to break my water. This was about 3:00pm. After that it was just a matter of time. We could be having a baby very shortly that evening! Here I am right after, just sucking on ice chips with my hair still somewhat decent looking.
I don’t really remember the exact time but at some point that night, I started to feel again. Very gradually, but it was happening. Thankfully the catheter wasn’t bothering me too much this time around, it was the contractions. Since I was between 3 and 4 cm dilated and almost fully effaced, the contractions were STRONG. My support group of Dan and Crystal were great, they encouraged, consoled, and made me laugh at all the right times. Dan held my hand through pretty much every single contraction.
At about 11pm my contractions were 2 minutes apart and I was almost ready to start pushing. We said goodbye to Crystal as she waited in the lobby, thinking we were going to have a baby within the hour. Yeeeeahhh… that didn’t happen. Contractions got really strong, I was in a lot of pain, again, which shouldn’t have been the case. So, my nurse called the anesthesiologist in who injected another bolus into my epidural which numbed me up real good again. Then a bit later I was ready for some pushing.
Things start to get really fuzzy for me here as far as timing. I think we finally started pushing sometime after 12am (I think) and I did a few pushes with the nurse until she told me to stop. She told us that the baby had passed his meconium and she was going to call the doctor. I had heard of this during all my reading in pregnancy and I was a little worried. I know it can be very serious as far as causing breathing problems, but the baby is usually okay. Doctor showed up 20 minutes later and we did a few more pushes, to no avail. She said my pushing was great, the baby just wasn’t moving down at all and was still at a 0 station. With him passing the meconium into the amniotic fluid he was at risk for aspirating it and she didn’t want to take any more chances seeing as how my labor has already gone on for so long. She told Dan and we needed to do a c-section right away. Immediately nurses started coming in and prepping me before I even had a chance to say anything. The anesthesiologist came in and started getting me ready for the spinal block I was to have to completely numb me from the chest down. They threw some scrubs at Dan and told him to “scrub up”, which he did. Dan and I never even had a chance to say a word to eachother beforehand. It was the quickest process I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know it at the time, but Dan was extremely worried about me at this time. I was so drugged up and in pain that my immediate thought when she said c-section was of relief. I wanted it to be over. It was such a long weekend of so many complications that I was exhausted and just wanted to hold my baby already. So, the thought of a c-section actually didn’t sound so bad. I saw later in his eyes in this pic how distressed Dan really was. He was clearheaded and was able to grasp that I was about to have major abdominal surgery. I think now it’s probably a good thing that I wasn’t able to comprehend that because it probably would have made it much worse for me. Instead, poor Dan had to deal with the emotional trauma of that himself. :(
Moments later I was wheeled into the c-section room. Dan was told to wait outside while they finished prepping me and moved me to the surgical table which was extremely weird because my whole body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and I couldn’t feel a THING. Something that would have been very nice the rest of the weekend!
My view during the surgery was of this big blue sheet. I know I look(ed) terrible, but for posterity’s sake – here I am as my lower half was being cut open and a human being removed from my body! Dan was sitting right beside me. It felt like it was only seconds later that I heard these little cries, which sounded more like coughs of a baby. My baby. He was born at 2:58am on the 19th. I heard exclamations of “Looks like mama!” and I remember just sitting here fighting off the zzz’s as I was so tired from the whole weekend and on top of it all of the narcotics I was on. I wanted to see my baby before I finally fell asleep. I remember wondering why they weren’t bringing my baby over to me to see. Every c-section story I’ve ever read or video I’ve seen they immediately bring the baby for mom to see. Turns out Finn had aspirated some of his meconium so they were over there shoving tubes down his throat to suck it out of his lungs and cleaning him off. Oh and the reason Finn wasn’t budging every time I would push and remained at a 0 station the entire time? The cord was wrapped around his poor neck! Doctor said it was good that we did the c-section when we did for that reason.
Dan got to cut the cord and moments later Dan showed up at my side holding Finn all wrapped up in a blanket with tears in his eyes and said, “He looks just like you.” It was a wonderful moment that I really will cherish forever. I had to continue to sit there while the doctors and nurses sewed me back up. The pediatrician took Finn back from Dan and continued to do their thing.
We got back to our hospital room in the Labor & Delivery ward and I was told that due to my anemia, low platelets, and loss of blood during the c-section I was to get 3 blood transfusions, so that was started as well as the continued fluids I had already been getting all weekend. I was so completely numb I barely knew I still had a lower body. I held Finn very briefly until my arm got too tired and I was afraid of dropping him or him rolling out of my arms off the bed. Dan was just beaming. His face and eyes that night were unforgettable. He was so happy. As was I! I couldn’t believe it was all over (so I thought) and we were now a family of three! I couldn’t wait to be more awake so I could cuddle my little Finn and just be a mommy.
It wasn’t over from there… the pediatric nurse took him once we were done with our first pics and she weighed and measured him and then gave him his first bath to ensure there was no other meconium on him. He was 8 pounds, 2.6 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long! He was a big healthy boy, thank goodness! Due to me having a c-section and my body being under so much stress he was fed formula right away because I was just too weak to even attempt to breastfeed, my doctor didn’t want me to even think about it that first night. And she still doesn’t want me stressing about it 3 weeks later!!!
Once we were alone in the room it was time to call our parents and go find Crystal out in the lobby. Poor girl left at 11 thinking we were gonna have a baby within the hour and over 4 hours later she finally found out all that had happened. Dan called my mom who was noticeably upset to hear that her daughter had just had major abdominal surgery. She said she would be over first thing in the morning after a few more hours of sleep for all of us. Which she did. Dan and I tried to get some sleep, but believe it or not, even with how tired I was I could not fall asleep. So I basically laid in that bed and watched Finn in his little bed until my mom showed up about 8am-ish. Dan had been snoozing off and on but he had a hard time due to having to comfort Finn each time he needed it since I was still unable to walk. When my mom got there she took over and let both Dan and I get a few hours of sleep until we finally woke up and were all able to visit and enjoy our new little one!
And that’s just part one… what happened over the course of the following week just blew all of our minds and I am so thankful and lucky to be here!
It feels like a whole lot, but really it’s not. Thought I should update this before Finn comes and things are just too hectic to update on a regular basis. I’m staying home from work today to relax due to a rough night of (fake) contractions as well as a killer allergy attack. My ears and throat have been killing me due to all the congestion and drainage. And good thing I’m home today because there’s a severe pollen warning for my city as well as bad air quality all around for the metro Phoenix area! Can’t see my precious mountains in my backyard. :(
Okay, so here I am at 37 weeks. This was last Friday. Technically full term, meaning if he were to come now they wouldn’t do anything to stop labor. He could just come. And boy do I wish he would! I’m so tired lately. Tired of working, tired of trying to roll myself in and out of bed all night to pee, tired of getting winded just walking up the stairs, tired of having to contort my body just to get in and out of the car, just tired! So many things I never thought I’d feel and so many things I thought I had “escaped”. The first being swollen feet. I have very narrow, slim, nice feet normally, and I hadn’t had any swelling the entire pregnancy so I thought I was one of the lucky ones to escape that. Wrong! About 2 weeks ago they swelled up like the best of ‘em and haven’t really gone down since. It’s uncomfortable. Not painful, just this tight, uncomfortable feeling. It’s worse after I’ve been sitting at my desk for 10 hours at work. What else? My trips to the bathroom have dramatically increased since the baby dropped at 35 weeks. That’s no fun considering my desk at work is very far from the bathrooms, and trying to roll myself out of our bed (with no frame) 3-4 times every night is quite the task. Dan says I speak my own language of grunts and sighs now. About the only thing that really makes me feel better anymore is a hot bath, except I can’t get in and out of it myself! Dan has to do all the lifting and sometimes even start the bath and plug the drain because bending over is too much. Crazy. I feel like an old person! I forgot to mention the swelling in my hands in addition to my feet! I woke up one morning with full on carpal tunnel syndrome. Turns out, it’s common in pregnancy due to the swelling pushing on that nerve. Really painful every morning when I wake up. Have to run my hands under hot water every morning or soak them in the scalding shower so that I can even make a fist!
As far as baby business, we are done with our childbirth education classes. We did those 2 Saturdays in a row at the hospital across the street where we are going to deliver at. Didn’t learn much more that we didn’t already know, but it was good to reaffirm that we’re pretty ready as far as that goes and also good to hear what this specific hospital’s policies and procedures are. We are pretty much done in the nursery. Mom ended up surprising us with the most beautiful “mobile” for above his crib made of these gorgeous fabric and ribbon jelly fish. I know she spent so much time, effort, and money on them and we are just thrilled. They turned out adorable and I really think she could make money selling them on Etsy or something. I’ll post pics of those in another entry. We finally did our maternity shoot this past Sunday and so far are really happy with the few preview pics we’ve gotten back. I will definitely post those as well once we have them back, which I hope is soon! So glad we did that, we may decide never to have another kid, so having these to look back on of me pregnant will be really nice mementos! We deep cleaned our house 2 weeks ago, got the air ducts/dryer vents cleaned last Friday, are having the carpets cleaned on Tuesday, finally found a solution for the bassinet mattress pad so he has a place to sleep when he comes home, almost done with my little project I started on the burp cloths (again, I’ll post about that later!), and mom is also starting on the quilt she wanted to make for Finn. My mom’s the best, have I said that before? Well, she is. She’s been such a huge help. I know she would do this for anyone that asked, that’s how amazing she is. I went to my mom from the beginning and told her I wanted her help with all these different projects and of course she was happy to do them. I’m so lucky to have such a talented, giving, creative, and fun mother – she’s already the best grandma to my 2 nieces, and I know she’s going to be equally as good to her new grandson. I still need to work on baby announcements to fill and send out once he is born… so that’s another thing on the agenda. Anyways, Crystal is coming on Saturday (I think?) and I really hope Finn decides to come while she’s here. Baby dropped at 35 weeks, I’m dilating, other things happening, so yeah, things are progressing. It’s so exciting and overwhelming all at the same time to think that Dan and I are going to be parents sometime in the next 16 days. I hope sooner! Today is good for me, Finn… just FYI. ;)
I’ve been at GoDaddy almost 4 years and 3 of those 4 years have been at our downtown Phoenix location. When we first moved there we were a team of I believe, 17 people. We are now 50+ and in 2 states. Meaning we’ve grown considerably and now the time has come that we must split the team up into multiple locations. I am going to Gilbert, which I am thrilled about (for reasons you’ll see below). But there’s still some things I will miss. So, if you don’t work with me this list probably won’t mean that much, but I feel I must reflect on the nearly 3 years I spent at our Phoenix location. It really feels as though I’m moving to a whole new dept, but I’m not – just a new location with mostly new people. Here goes.
What I will miss:
Ok now for the things I won’t miss and things I’m looking forward to about Gilbert:
Overall, I’m just looking forward to change. I’m going to miss many things, others I won’t, but most importantly it will be a nice change for me. Maybe I can actually build up relationships with my reps now that I am in the same location as them? To my coworkers – if I’ve forgotten something, feel free to let me know in the comments!
First of all, we have some of the most incredible, thoughtful, giving friends and family in this world. No offense to anyone else – but they really are.
To all our friends and family – thank you thank you thank you. Endlessly and forever. For all of you who traveled to come to our shower regardless of the long drive or traffic and gave up an entire Saturday to be with us. For all the gifts that were far beyond any expectations. To Julie who spent weeks planning this celebration for us and hours executing it like magic. Your dedication to this and attention to every little detail did not go unnoticed. To my parents who put so much time and thought (not to mention $!) into the food preparations and making sure that it was as huge of a hit as it was. The entire day was absolutely perfect and we couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate Finn’s arrival. And to all of you who stuck around to clean up the park with us so that Julie and my parents didn’t feel stuck doing it all themselves, as well as all the guys who helped Dan pack our car full of all the wonderful gifts. You are incredible. We love you all so much.
I will say, in the midst of us all having such a fabulous time (and Dan and I sitting so high up on cloud nine) – we did not get hardly any pictures of that day. That was the only bummer of the entire day. I remembered about half way through to snap a few pics with my camera, of course that meant there were no pictures of me, though, and the beautiful tablescapes that Julie set up were already well enjoyed (i.e. moved around). My Aunt Andi took a picture of me posing with my giant belly at some point and I am hoping that I can get her to email it to me so I have at least one picture of me that day! But alas, none of Dan and I, the happy couple posing to commemorate this truly amazing day. But that’s okay, we still have many mental pictures of it in our hearts.
So, the details – I’ll do my best to narrate with what few pics I do have:
Theme: Underwater, whales, and the nursery colors of aqua, yellow, and coral.
Decorations: Yellow, aqua, and orange table cloths covered in confetti, vases filled with water, aqua marbles, and real GOLDFISH, vases filled with sand that had pictures of our nursery mounted on sticks stuck in them, our coral tree (from the nursery), whale plates as well as yellow & aqua ones, and little cupcake toppers with the same whale theme as the plates, save-the-dates, and confetti.
Location: Under a 9 table ramada that sat on a lake (with ducks, geese, and fish) at Discovery Park in Gilbert, AZ.
Food: Taco buffet! We had ground beef and chili verde pork tacos (corn, flour, and crunchy). All the fixins’ – cheese, authentic Mexican salsa, homemade guacamole, sour cream, cheesy bean dip, tortilla chips, tomatoes, lettuce, etc. For dessert, instead of traditional cake we ordered cupcakes from my co-worker (Pirate’s Booty, Peanut Butter & Chocolate, & Margarita to go with the Mexican food theme) and Julie and Jason lovingly made and decorated a few dozen delicious sugar cookies. Drinks there were soda, water, lemonade, and iced tea. Everything was sooooo good.
Games: Baby Bag Mystery (essential baby items like pacifiers, etc. were put in brown paper bags and numbered and people had to guess what was in each one – Dan and I got to keep the loot!), Clothing Decoration (people decorated onesies and bibs using fabric paint, permanent markers, and puffy paint – Dan really got into this one!), and the Celebrity Match Game (using an online program, each of our faces were combined with a celebrity [or animal!] and people had to guess which one – this was a hard game but so awesome!) – I *believe* prizes were gift cards but I could be wrong as I didn’t participate in the games since my prize was all the loot on the gift table! hehehe
Guest Participation: On the invitation we asked people to bring a book to start Finn’s library and we were so thrilled with all the books we got and can’t wait to read them to him!
And we got gifts galore. We were seriously stunned. Every time I looked around at the whole set up, I wanted to cry. We had all of our closest family and friends there and they all were just as excited about Finn as we were that they spoiled him rotten. It was remarkable. Here I was, afraid nobody was going to even come (shows how much I think of myself, eh?) and I think there were over 30 adults, 1 kid, 3 babies, and 1 dog who showed up! We have a lot of great, loving, and special people in our lives – we are so lucky. We did sincerely wish that our out-of-town relatives could have been there, too. Having my grandparents from Georgia, and all my mom’s sisters’ family (my aunties, uncles, and cousins!) there, Dan’s aunts, uncles, & cousins from Colorado, Chicago, and Texas – and of course my BEST FRIEND FOREVER, Crystal – really would have topped this day and probably sent us over the moon to where we’d still be stuck up there!
Things We Got:
It was a happy ending to the very somber week we had losing Dan’s grandmother.
Today I am finishing up sending the rest of our “thank yous” to everybody. I just love handwritten thank you notes, there’s something about them. I sent out about half throughout the week, filled out a few each night when I got home from work and mailed the next day – now today I just need to finish them up. And then of course do something special for Julie, Jason, and our parents as an extra special thank you for creating such a special and truly memorable day!
Okay, it’s finally (almost) done. Dan is still working on his last 2 pieces of artwork; one for above the bed (a whale submarine painting done in his style) and one on our art collage wall (the obvious black picture at the bottom of the collage). We have one more shorter shelf to hang under the long shelf above the dresser, which requires a long drive to Ikea, and then we need to pick up this cute little submarine caddy for diapers to put on said shelf from Target. We have a brass boat port window with a mirror in the middle of it instead of an actual window that my mom gave us, or as we like to call it, Finn’s submarine lookout mirror that we also need to hang, but Dan’s sorta putting it off because it’s so heavy. You’ll just have to see it once it’s hung – it’s perfect. Either way, it’s looking really done so I think it’s finally time for a full tour of Finn’s small submarine/underwater/whale/sherbet colored room!
First the view from the door as you walk in:
The wall (#1) to the left as you walk in:
The crib wall (#2):
The window/closet wall (#3):
The art collage wall (#4):
And the opposite view of the room as you look out, where the entrance is:
Now for some close-ups and more details. I’ll start with the bed since it’s the focal point of the room. As I said, it’s looking pretty bare above the bed because Dan’s not quite finished with his art portion. Oh and we’re still working/thinking about the mobile above the crib. No ETA on that!
Here’s another picture of the unbelievably perfect matched blanket that my mom found at Goodwill months ago:
And a close up of the crib bedding, just so you can see the detail. Dan tied these bows: :)
Now we can move over to wall #1, the dresser/changing table wall. Another shorter shelf is going to go on the right side under the top shelf for storing the diapers, and the submarine lookout mirror will be on the left above the pad:
Corner shot. To the right of the dresser (better seen in the above pic) we have our former stainless steel kitchen trash can that we’ve recycled to use as the diaper pail. In it I have a Planet Wise diaper pail liner which can go right into the wash with all his cloth diapers. And of course the, again, upcycled coral tree decoration that was from our wedding back in 2008:
Close-up of the tree corner:
Okay let’s see, details of the shelf above the dresser. These old books were given to us; the Opie Sendak one was given to us by my mom, which was given to her by her mom, and the Huckleberry Finn book (from 1957) was given to us at our shower this past weekend by a very dear family friend, Isabel. Perfect for Finn! The picture frame my mom gave us and we plan on putting a picture of Finn in it once he’s born. Or perhaps one of my belly from the yet-to-be-done maternity shoot:
Close up of the beautiful handmade lamp. My mom made the shade with Dan’s help and I glued the pom pom and ribbon trim along the bottom (to go with the detail on our curtains) as well as stuffed all those tiny little shells each in almost one by one:
And then of course, our beautiful handmade invitations that our good friend Julie made for our shower, I just had to frame! And the baby book Dan got me for Christmas, and a picture frame Dan made in 2004 with a pic of him on the beach in San Diego (I guess that’s better seen above, too). Oh and the wooden train my mom gave us (again):
Here’s a view of the window and curtain valance my mom made. Fabric is the same as the crib bumper, crib skirt trim, and changing pad trim. Added a coral ribbon with yellow pom poms at the bottom to incorporate our “polka-dot” accent and coral color, and then my mom made the buttons at the top by hand. She painted them, drilled holes in them, and threaded them – just because it needed a little bit more oomph! Love it:
It was hard to get a good view of the valance due to the window being backlit:
Aaaaand the art collage wall. The grand finale. Again, the lighting is messed up and I’m not real good with figuring out how to fix it with the camera:
Along with the start of his book library and toys:
Now an explanation for the artwork. Most of it was “found art”. For the big piece, we picked out some cool scrapbook papers together that we liked and sat and folded them into little origami whales together one night while we watched a Suns game. We then toyed with their placement and direction and came up with this:
This was a little thing my mom gave us at the beginning of the pregnancy, “101 Ways to Praise a Child”. A good thing to remember in ensuring that Finn has a good, positive, self esteem. We placed it on the aqua/yellow dot fabric that we used around other parts of the room:
I really wanted to have pictures of us when we were babies so that we could compare his little face to ours as babies. Here’s Dan’s model pose that hung in his hometown Sears & Roebuck in Kenosha, Wisconsin:
And my “ganger” pose from the hospital nursery in Denver, Colorado at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center. Dan says I couldn’t decide whether I was East or Westside with the gang signs I was throwing up. Looks like Westside won:
This is a drawing Dan made months ago of a bunch of little whales in the shape of one large one (as you can see). My mom gave us these huge bearclaw clam shells which her and I drilled holes into so that they could hang by this pretty little aqua ribbon (also from our wedding!):
And now for the super “found art”. The underwater and alphabet print is scrapbook paper we liked. We still plan on getting some letters to put over the alphabet with his name. The seahorse print is wallpaper my mom found months ago which we picked out our favorite part of, framed, and added the little clown fish on the frame just to give it some texture:
And this unfinished shadow box frame will be where we display Finn’s hospital bracelet, along with Dan and I’s – which both of our mothers just so happened to save! For now, ours are sitting in that pouch protected and I just threw that little picture of Dan in the hospital nursery for now (won’t be there later). We’ll finish this once we have Finn’s to add to our family hospital bracelet picture:
Wow! Almost done. Now, for some “behind the scenes” stuff. The closet. I’ve done my best to keep it as organized as possible. For now. I know eventually it will be a mess like the rest of our closets, and that’s okay. Here’s a picture of all of his clothes. In case it’s not obvious, he has plenty of onesies. And everything from 0-6 month clothes. He does however still need 9-12 month clothes of all kinds if anybody still wants to get him some clothes. I just had to share how adorable they all look organized in his closet! I love coming up here and looking at them, no matter how many times I’ve seen them all and memorized every little onesie/outfit – I still could sit here and stare at them for hours dreaming about the little person that is going to be wearing them soon:
And now side-by-side shots of the closet. Side #1 with our SUPER EXPENSIVE supply of diapers and wipes that I am told will last us maybe a month until he’s big enough to fit his cloth diapers (YIKES), as well as the clothes, remainder of the amazing diaper cake our friends, Christian & Renee got us at our shower, the box of bottles, baby carrier, and diaper bag with wet bags. And on the bottom is our still boxed pack ‘n play and part of the car seat for Dan’s Jeep:
And on the right is my attempt at organizing at the top. Mom gave me these bins. I have all his extra crib sheets, some blankets, extra boppy pillow cases, and junk. More clothes and at the bottom our Maclaren umbrella stroller (from England!) that my mom found us at Goodwill. Normally $180, she got it for a steal at like $30! Love it. And the boppy pillow and bumbo seat (w/ tray) that I bought used off of Craigslist:
Almost forgot – the other “behind-the-scenes” stuff, which I’ve already posted about, but this post wouldn’t be complete without ‘em! Our closet organizers (for clothes sizing) and our cute little drawer liners:
And there you have it. For now. As we finish the last few things I have mentioned above, I’ll be posting more pics. Hope you enjoyed reading about Finn’s nursery as much as we enjoyed creating it! Now we just need a little baby to complete it.
Stay tuned for updates on the shower last weekend. I’m still trying to track down like ONE picture of me at the shower.
Chandler, AZ