Time to Meet Baby Jackson #2

August 8, 2012, started out at 2:30 am when my alarm went off. The protocol for delivering at Columbus Regional is that they schedule you to be induced but you still have to call that morning to make sure you can come in... to make sure they have a bed for you. So, I got up at 2:30 in the morning and called the hospital. They gave me the go ahead so I got showered and ready. What a crazy feeling to KNOW that in the next 24 hours, this (the pregnancy) will all be over and that big belly will result in a HUMAN BEING. Nuts.

Mary got up and took our picture before we left the house at 3:30 am. I was scheduled to be at the hospital at 4 am to get checked in.

Here I am at 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant... at 3:30 in the morning. :)

We got to the hospital, got put into our room, and got the party started. The first nurse, the night shift nurse, Ashley, was super sweet. She had a bit of a hardened exterior but once I made a few inappropriate jokes and once she found out I was a nurse, she was fabulous. They got my IV started on one stick (HOLLA) and we were ready to roll. When she checked me to see what I was dilated (the MOST PAINFUL EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE), I was dilated 2 centimeters and the baby was extremely posterior. She almost couldn't feel the head bc it was so far forward. When she called the doctor, the doctor changed the plans and ordered for me to be given cytotec...which is a pill inserted near my cervix(also extremely painful due to the baby's positioning.) So, at 6:30 am, she inserted the pill and we got the ball rolling.  We had to do frequent blood pressure checks because of my high blood pressure during pregnancy AND they had to do blood sugar checks every hour. 

At 8 am, we got to meet our wonderful day shift nurse, Jamie. She really was amazing. (I told Ashley to make sure I wasn't stuck with some wiener of a nurse for day shift. She promised she had gotten me the best.) Jamie came and got to work. Her and I discussed the plan of care and she just asked me what I wanted to do. I told her my thoughts on everything as far the medicine they were giving me and blood sugars being every hour. Her and I developed our own plan of care. At 10:30 am, Jamie checked me to see how far I had progressed with the first pill of cytotec. I was 3 cm and the baby was no longer posterior. My contractions were only like a 2-3 pain level. They were coming every 5 minutes or so. 

Updating family on the progress I had made :)

The baby's first bed :)

All of the small details...and my name plastered all over everything.

Feeling fabulous. I had already been up for 8 hours at this point :)

One last belly shot...

So after she checked me, Jamie called my doctor, Dr. McPherson, and gave her an update on how much I had progressed. She discussed our plan of care ideas to the doctor, and the doctor agreed. Blood sugars every 2 hours now and we were going to start IV pitocin to get the contractions more intense and closer together. Here we go!! This will gives us a baby MUCH sooner than the cytotec. 

Great plan Doc!!!!

To pass the time, we looked up baby girl names on the internet (we did NOT have one picked out.) Alex tried to get Jamie a good car deal bc she didn't want to drive her gas guzzling car anymore. I also talked on Skype with plenty of peeps. I talked to Charlotte who was pretty confused as to why momma was in the computer now. I also talked to mom, Mary, Aunt Kathy, Grandma Ann, Katie, Melia, Aunt Michelle, and Kyla. Since the Olympics were on, we had that on in the background the entire time. And then we also broke out the Ipod with some fabulous college tunes.

Around noon, the pitocin was finally hung and going in. The nurse kept increasing it per protocol. My contractions were becoming closer together and slightly more painful but they were only a 4 maybe for pain level. The doctor had been at the office all morning and had to perform a Csection at noon. Finally at 2:00 pm, she came in to see me. She checked me and I was only 4 cm. So disappointing. But she went ahead and broke my water to get things going. Immediately after she broke my water, the contractions doubled in intensity. My pain went from a 3-4 to a 7-8 with the contractions. After only probably 5 contractions like this, Alex said I needed the epidural. Me, I was willing to wait a big longer but Jamie and Alex just said that if I am going to get it done anyway, why even deal with all of this pain. So, anesthesia was called.

Getting ready for the epidural... I look a bit more pained in this picture, right?

And this picture was during a good contraction. Why wouldn't you want to be married to this??

The anesthesiologist was very nice. Jamie said he was one of the best they have on staff (I'm sure they say that about all of them.) But he was cool. He was dancing to our music that we had playing. He got all set up and I informed him how scared I was of needles. Jamie informed him I was a nurse. Perfection. So, the worst part of all of it is the lidocaine they use to numb you for the epidural. HORRIBLE. Got that part over with. He inserts the catheter. Gets blood back in it (not supposed to have that happen). He repositions and gets a new catheter. Inserts it. Blood returned. He informed me that I am in the 2% of the population that blood vessel cross over their spine. Perfect. He informed me we would have to move up and stick again. I asked if that meant more lidocaine. He said yes. I said curse words. So, lidocaine again. Catheter inserted again. And, BOOM, it's all good. Naturally I was freaking out that he might have paralyzed me the entire time so I moved my toes the entire procedure. He was very nice though. Naturally during the whole process my heart rate and blood pressure went up. So as soon as the epidural was in place, to my left side I had to go... Right about that time, Aunt Bare came to hang out, help out, and be the photographer during delivery.

Once my blood pressure came down (probably 10 minutes later), Jamie put my catheter in and checked me. I was 6 cms!! Progressed 2 cms in 1 hour :) At this time it was about 3:30 pm.

Most of the pain was gone, so I decided it was time to play on the internet for awhile. This picture was taken at 3:40 pm.

Since I was starting to dilate quicker, the baby's tracing of it's heart rate kept getting messed up. If Jamie repositioned the monitor once, she did it 20 times. At 4:10 pm, the nurse checked me and I was 8 centimeters dilated. She was really wanting to have this baby on her shift so that she could take credit for it :)

So she had me sit straight up in bed to try to get the baby to move down much easier. She asked if I would be comfortable enough to do that. I was like, "Um, I can't move either one of my legs at this point and all I feel is a little bit of pelvic pain. Yes, I can do whatever it takes to get this baby out."

So I sat straight up. I tended to my mullet bc the ponytail just wasn't looking good. And then Alex and I took a few pictures. 

I prefer this first one. No, that's not some creepy guy that drives a scary van with a ladder on back and minimal windows. It's just my husband.

One last picture before baby... 

I then sat and talked to Aunt Kathy on Skype for a few minutes. As I was talking to her around 4:45 pm Jamie came in and said Dr. McPherson was sitting at the nurse's station watching my strip on the computer. She requested that even though Jamie had just checked me 30 minutes ago, she wanted me to be checked again. Soooo, she checked me again. I was dilated to 10 centimeters, 100% effaced, and +2 station. This is my reaction to the news that I was complete and it was time to push.

Yeah, I started bawling. I did the same thing with Charlotte. Kind of a scary moment. An amazing moment, but a scary one. The moment I had been waiting for for 9 months was upon us and for some reason, with both deliveries, when that moment came, I felt overwhelmingly unprepared. So, while I collected myself, my thoughts, and emotions, Jamie called the team into the room to set it up for delivery. She was running around like a mad woman! Alex and Mary got pumped up and we turned the music up! We had my jams blasting again!!!

This is me getting ready for my close up. 

This picture was taken at 4:58 pm

Once the room was all set up for delivery, Jamie got me positioned...Alex on my right, Mary on my left. She had me push through one contraction. So, I pushed 10 seconds, took a breath, pushed 10 seconds, took a breath, and pushed 10 seconds. She told me to stop. She called Dr. McPherson in who was sitting at the desk. She came in, washed up, got suited up, and it was time to deliver our baby!!!!

So, deep breath and PUSH!! 1...2...3....4....5....6....7...8...9....10....BREATH...and PUSH....

1...2...3...4....5....6....7....8....9....10

The head is out. The cord was wrapped around the neck. 

Daddy sees the baby's face for the first time...

5:11 pm - One tiny push....

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

Touching my sweet little boy for the first time!

Such a perfect (no longer blue) face!!!

Took about 45 seconds, but once he started crying, he had a good strong cry!!

He's perfect.

Tears of joy. Relief. Love. Exhaustion.

Doing my own assessment while he was on my belly.

I did it :)

Time to get checked out by the nurse!

He weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs 12 oz and was 21 inches long!

He looks a little proud, doesn't he?

Already holding daddy's hand.

Measurements....shots... blood sugars... blood draws.... assessment...

Dr. McPherson with her newest delivery!

Our wonderful southern belle of a nurse, Jamie.

Check out his long fingernails!!!

He totally got the crying thing figured out right away.

Alex got to give Sawyer his first bath.

And then the nurse put Sawyer's footprints on his under shirt.

That is one proud daddy.

Little man LOVED getting his hair washed.... just like Charlotte did.

After about 30 minutes of off and on talking about it and watching him, we decided to name our baby boy Sawyer Weber Jackson.

His first mohawk. 

He had hair just like Alex... but Mary didn't get Alex's hair in the picture :) (Nice try, Mare)

The entire delivery process was perfect. The nurses were awesome. They knew I was a nurse (I didn't wear a badge, sticker, or tattoo that said it, it just came up in conversation.) They respected my opinion and involved in my plan of care from start to finish. In fact, Sawyer's delivery/transition nurse was trying to talk to me about what was going to happen after he was born and my nurse cut her off and said, "She knows. That's her specialty. She's got it. She was a Level 2 nurse." So funny. I was so nervous to deliver at a hospital that I had never worked at and where I didn't know anyone. But it turned out to be amazing. I loved every person I came into contact with. It was fabulous just being another patient... not one of their own. I would not change a single thing about our delivery. Everything was perfect.

And now we have a brand new baby boy... Sawyer Weber Jackson.

Charlotte Month Update: 18 Months Old

Date: August 8, 2012

Weight: 22 lb 5 oz

Height: 30 inches

She is in the 20th percentile for her height and weight both. The doctor said she is very proportional... just petite. Well, she definitely got the petite thing from the Jackson side of her genes :)

Clothing: Our sweet girl is wearing 12 month clothes. Her shoe size is size 4. FINALLY. She is finally almost to the really cute shoes that come in boxes in the shoe section of Target!!! She will soon be able to wear the size 6 Nikes that Uncle Chad got her when she was born :) Charlotte is a girly girl still. She LOVES her sparkles shoes, purses, and dresses. She even loves tutus. She also loves to wear makeup. I usually have to put eye shadow on her everyday when I put it on myself.  I do love picking out her clothes to wear everyday. Most days, since it is so hot out, we usually do a dress. She is just too adorable with them. She is actually starting to leave her bows in her hair more too.

Sleeping: Oh, the sleep war continues. Well, Charlotte DOES sleep in her bed. However, it takes forever to get her to sleep. At 9 months pregnant, I rock her for a few minutes, lay her in her bed, and then lay on the floor next to her bed. There are nights that I lay there for an hour waiting for her to fall asleep. There are also many nights that I fall asleep myself. She usually wakes up sometime between 3 and 6 and then comes to bed with us for the night. I have decided to give up the fight with the sleep. Now that we have a baby coming, there is no point in fighting the sleep. She will sleep when and where she wants. I will let you know how this theory pans out :) All I can say is it has been a long 18 months of not enough sleep and the cycle is going to start over...

Teeth: Well, Charlotte is up to 11 teeth. ELEVEN! We are getting there!! It was brutal when she had four coming in all at once. The molars were pretty brutal. However, we made it through. Her smile is a bit lopsided right now. She just got her a new one in on the bottom to the left of her front teeth on bottom. It's just crazy seeing her smile with all of these teeth! She looks so grown up. It makes my heart hurt...

Health: Charlotte has been so healthy! She has had low grade fevers off and on with the teething. We have given her motrin and then we have used orajel. They seem to help some. However, this teething is also hurting the whole sleeping situation. She is still in love with the pacifier but we are still keeping it just for sleeping and car riding purposes. The way I see it, there is no point in taking it away when we have a new little one on the way. But really, Charlotte continues to be healthy and do amazing.

Talking: Charlotte is really trying to mimic the words that we are saying. We are working on "baby" and "big sister" and we are working on getting her to count. She will count to three with us and say "duh duh duh". It's so funny. Whenever she mimics a word, she mimics the syllables but not the actual sounds. It's so cute. Once she says a word enough times, then she actually tries to make the correct sound. Instead of saying "please" she always says "more". She refuses to say "please." REFUSES. She said it a few times to Alex right when we really started working on it but refuses to say it again. Instead, you just get a "more". So funny. Her vocabulary is just continuing to expand.

Eating: Charlotte LOVES her donuts, mac N cheese, and juice. I finally got her to drink milk throughout the day. She loves her chocolate milk (which she still refers to as juice.). She loves fruit, ice cream, and popsicles. She likes to eat turkey sandwiches when I eat them but if I give them to her, then she will just tear them apart and not eat the meat and barely eat the bread. So I usually have to tear them up for her to eat them. She loves to drink water from the her swimming pool, her water table and the bath tub. She would probably drink it from the toilet if I would let her. She eats all day long but never really eats a BIG meal. And as soon as she gets into her carseat in the car, she starts yelling "NACK! NACK" I then hand her a bag of fruit snacks....which she will eat all of....then ask for another... 

Favorites: Charlotte has so many "favorites" for her toys and her activities. She loves water table and swimming pool. She still loves to be outside and anything with water is pretty much the best day of her life. She talks about "wah wah" all of the time. As we cross over bridges and overpasses, she always says "Wah wah?" Her favorite movie is Toy Story 3 which she affectionately refers to as "dah dah". She knows what is going to happen before it happens in the movie. Every morning she wakes up and sits in her little chair/couch and sits and watches it. She loves bubbles, pushing her stroller, and playing in her kitchen. She also loves to put her blocks together... but she loves just dumping out the bag of them even more. She will drag the block bag from room to room....just for fun. Whatever keeps her busy!!! And even though Max passed away a week or so ago, Max is still her favorite. She calls for him. When she hears a sound in the kitchen or somewhere in the house, she thinks it's him. She keeps asking, "Where's Max?" We just tell her that he is in Heaven and we point to Heaven. We tell her he is with Jesus.

Personality: Charlotte is still crazy! She is a lover. She can be a fighter. She still bangs her head when she doesn't get her way or when she gets in trouble. She gets put in timeout multiple times a day right now...but maybe some of that is bc I am tired, crabby, fat, pregnant, and don't have enough patience. She spits and sometimes hits when she is mad. But she is so funny. She knows all of her body parts and likes to point out them on everyone else... esp their butts and cha chas. She has a fake laugh and a real laugh. I love when she is telling me a story and she fake laughs at herself. She still loves loves loves little kids when she sees them. She is all over them and all about them. She is starting to get a bit weirded out with strangers which she used to go to just about anybody. But she is truly a joy. Everyday is an adventure with this crazy child. She is amazing.

And so the journey of the Life of Charlotte continues...

The Day Before Baby #2

We woke up bright and early on the morning of August 7, 2012. Gigi and Papa were on their way down to see us and prepare for baby Bean. They arrived around 7:45 am. It was so cute. They rang the doorbell and Charlotte went running. She's always talking about "Papa" and she was so excited to open the door and see her "Papa" standing there!

August 7, 2012, is not just the day before our second child is set to arrive, BUT it is also our THIRD anniversary! Yep, three WHOLE years!! It's crazy to think how fast it has gone!!! Happy Anniversary, my love. The ride just keeps getting better!

The day started off with an appt at the doctor's office. I had to get my last nonstress test. So, Mary went with me. She got to sit and listen to the baby's heartbeat with me for 30 minutes. She got to meet the sweet, sweet lady Lynn who was in charge of doing my nonstress tests twice a week for the last 5 weeks. Lynn has become one of my only friends here in Columbus. She even offered to take care of Charlotte or come to the hospital with me if I were to go into labor and we weren't able to get family here in time. So nice..

After my dr appt, I ran a few errands and then took lunch to Alex at work. We had a romantic anniversary lunch while his work phone rang, people were called over the loud intercom system, and salesmen and managers ventured in and out of his office asking him questions. It really was romantic :)

While I was out and about, Charlotte stayed home and played with Gigi and Papa and Bare.

I love this series of pictures of her looking at dad while they played.

She gives him the sweetest looks.

So proud of her tower!

So proud she felt she needed to move it across the room.

UH-OH. BOOM.

On my way to get a pedicure with Mary. 

Here is what my 38 wks and 4 days pregnant belly looks like.

Love this sweet child. Can not wait to meet this bean.

Mary and I got pedicures and ran a few more errands, then we headed home for some dinner and quality time with the Goose.

Getting ready for bed. Look at that hilarious look on her face!

Such a ham!

Our last picture as a family. Right before bed. I was very anxious about putting Charlotte to bed for the last time. I tried to rock her to sleep but with all of the excitement going on around the house, she would not fall asleep. SO we let her get up and run around. This picture was taken around 10 pm :)

Last kiss goodnight before we add to our brood..

Good night, sleep tight :)

And while I went to bed to prepare for a day of being in labor, the rest of the crew stayed up (including Charlotte) and watched TV. I believe I heard her running around still after 11 pm :)

Everytime I did anything during the day, I kept thinking that life was going to change tomorrow. It was completely bittersweet. I also kept thinking throughout the day that people were probably looking at me wondering if the baby was going to fall out of me. Less than 24 hours until we will be holding our sweet angel!!! :)

Aunt Bare In The House!

Celebratory breakfast! Aunt Bare made it to our house! She drove through the day on Saturday August 5, 2012 to come be with us (and because mommy was having contractions and was worried the baby would come a few days earlier than planned.) So, we had a big 'ole breakfast to celebrate Mary driving all by herself from Illinois. 13 .5 hours in the car. Charlotte loved her chocolate pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, and tator tots.

After breakfast, we did some much needed yardwork. 

That, my friends, is our hill. That is our backyard. At the top of the hill is half of our yard...in a heavily wooded area. Alex needed to trim the bushes. They were a bit nuts.

That was a weed. Our yard was out of control.

Charlotte was so helpful! She loved being right in the middle of everything. She is rocking her new dress that Aunt Bare brought her. It's from the clearance rack at Walmart. So cute.

One of our last family pictures of three. Don't be hating, I look plain gorgeous in my preggo get up :)

Naptime on the morning of August 6th. Charlotte loves her Aunt Bare

This kid is crazy!

Photoshoot on the couch...

Aunt Bare is SOOOO FUNNY.

Side pony tails are still in.

Love that grin :)

I love how she is looking at Mary in this one. It's like she is idolizing her. And look at Mary, why wouldn't you idolize that???

I love that "cheese" face!

48 hours from now, we will have another little baby!!!

I spent Monday August 6th running errands and finishing getting ready for baby. Mary stayed at the house with Charlotte while I ran some of the errands. The hospital I am delivering at has a Pampered Pregnancy Program and one of the perks is getting a free prenatal massage. So, I cashed that in :) It was a fabulous 30 minutes!
We are so very thankful that Mary came early. The stress level in our house went from extremely high down to nothing. Now, if baby Bean tries to come before scheduled, we are ready!

Last Few Days Before Baby

As getting ready to have the baby gets closer, everything feels a little bitter sweet. It is crazy to think that in a few short days, Charlotte will no longer be an only child. We have been preparing her and telling her that she is going to be a "big sister". She has absolutely no idea what we are talking about when we say this, however, she seems pretty excited :)

Trying out the new double stroller! She is checking out her new ride...

That, my friend, reminds me of a bus :)

In preparation of the baby coming, we have had many jammie days. There are a few reasons for this...

1. My belly is completely huge. GINORMOUS. Going anywhere with the massive belly and Charlotte just sounds completely and utterly exhausting.

2. It's about 105 degrees here in the woods of Georgia. We barely go out in the backyard these days.

3. I've been having contractions and the last thing I want to happen is for baby Bean to decide to come before induction day.

4. When you are huge, pajamas are pretty comfortable.

So, since I am having jammie days, so is Charlotte!!!

I guess she was tired of wearing just plain 'ole jammies. So, she switched it up and made it a one shoulder deal.

I have no idea how she got her arm out of the neck hole.

This sweet girl is just beautiful.

She loves her kitchen. Here she is using the microwave to heat up her juice.

We can't leave out our time with daddy!! Alex got home early last night so we were able to play for awhile. 

This girl loves her books!! She is so funny. She loves Christmas books for some reason.

Oh, she loves her daddy...

It's crazy to think how soon things will change. We are so excited to have a new little gem join our family. Two times the kids, two times the love...