Hayden's Birth Story

Nearly two weeks later, I am finally feeling human enough to turn on my laptop and write up Hayden's birth story. Granted I am doing it one handed with a newborn taking up the other arm. And it will probably be done over several days. But progress is progress, and my standards for accomplishment are low these days.

As planned, Tuesday the 27th arrived. I tried to sleep one last night with little success. I ceased eating and drinking at midnight as instructed. At 5am, my MIL arrived and we left the house full of expectation. Once at the hospital we went to triage where we discovered my blood pressure was high. Like 150-something over 100-something. It had been fine 4 days before. Urine showed no proteins. Blood work was ran and after the platelets count came back fine we moved forward with the c section.

Next up was the spinal block. I really hadn't thought much about the spinal ahead of time. Last time my epidural had been easy and effective. Unfortunately for me that was not the case with the spinal. For whatever reason I was a difficult case and the anesthesiologist had to try three times before getting it to work. The final (successful) time an electrical shock went down my leg so horrible that I cried out in pain. Poor Jeramy was sitting outside and could hear all the commotion but did not know what was going on. Luckily numbness kicked in soon after the shocks, and we were finally ready to go.

After that things moved pretty quickly. Jeramy came in. Dr. C got to work. Several minutes later Hayden entered the world screaming heartily and everybody in the room declared her to be a big girl. After she was cleaned up Jeramy brought her over for me to take a look. Lots of dark hair...more than Jillian had and darker. I think she looks a whole lot like her daddy's baby photos.

Soon afterward Dr. C told me that the blood work showed that my kidney and liver functions were impaired, which coupled with the high blood pressure indicated preeclampsia with HELLP syndrome. Considering that I had been fine when checked just days earlier, it seems that my c section was perfectly timed. Unfortunately this also meant that I had to be put on magnesium for the next twenty-four hours. Those familiar with that drug will understand exactly how much that sucked. It is a central nervous system depressant, and I have never been so horribly groggy and fuzzy in my life.

I was finally taken off of the mag by early Wednesday afternoon and began moving around. Dr. C kept me in the hospital until after office hours on Thursday to monitor my blood work. Since it was headed back to normal ranges, she released us and we got home late Thursday evening.

Hayden has been a very easy baby so far. She seems to be the opposite of her sister who from day one was very alert, did not sleep well and had tummy issues. Hayden, on the other hand, pretty much eats and sleeps. I should be enjoying this, but instead I am constantly on edge waiting for colicky behavior to set in.

Jillian has handled the transition fairly well. She picked up the word baby within an hour and usually treats Hayden with unexpected caution for an 18 month old. What has actually been tougher has been her teething. Within a couple days of arriving home Jillian developed a fever, began drooling endlessly, chewed her pacifier and became inconsolably fussy as her 4th molar started breaking through her gum. No amount of tylenol or teething tablets or orajel or ice seemed to make things better. She has seemed to be on the mend over the past few days, but will still sometimes meltdown for what appears to be teeth related reasons.

I have spent my time trying to feel normal again. Rather than tears, anxiety and a general blah feeling seems to accompany the hormonal craziness and sleep deprivation I experience after giving birth. Honestly I hate it, and I do not feel that I handle it well. Now that I am beginning to get out a little more and resume normal activities, I am finally starting to feel like I'm shaking those feelings. I think I am getting back to speed a little more quickly this time than last thankfully.

I've got lots of pictures to post, and I'll get them up as soon as I manage to get them downloaded from the camera.

Hayden Catherine Yahne

She's here!

Born 8:21am, 8lbs 14oz, 20.75 long.

Catching Up

I've been a bad blogger until this weekend, because the past few weeks have been jammed packed. And I've been exhausted. However now that pregnancy insomnia seems to be catching up with me, I'm starting to catch up on posts. I promise that Hayden will blow this destined to be short-lived trend out of the water at 7:30am Tuesday morning.

Friday was my last day of work until July. That's right. I'm treating myself to a luxurious 3 day weekend parenting just one child before Hayden's arrival. I keep warning Jillian to enjoy this situation while she still can, but she remains unconcerned and preoccupied with comparing our belly buttons. She is talking more and understanding even more. If I say, time for a diaper she follows me to the changing table. If I say time for a bath she says "bath" and follows me to the tub. If I say stop pinching Cujo, she smirks and does it again harder. *sigh* She is turning into a little person just as we are getting a new baby.

As usual, I have found that I have a wonderful group of friends and family who are also excited to meet Hayden. A couple weekends ago, I walked into the Cheesecake Factory with Jeramy thinking we were having lunch with another couple. What I found was a group of ladies gathered to have lunch to celebrate Hayden's impending arrival. Jeramy took off, and I enjoyed the surprise lunch. It was low key, with few gifts (as I'm well set for a baby girl), and it ended with cheesecake. PB/chocolate cheesecake for me to be exact. Mmmmmm....


I've been splurging a bit lately too. Pregnancy and online shopping appear to be a dangerous combination for my checking account. I bought matching personalized big sister/little sister shirts off etsy for the girls. I decided to switch out my baby wearing devices since I think I'll be wearing Hayden more than Jillian. The Moby proved way to complicated for my level of coordination, so I bought a hotsling. Then I found a killer deal on Ergo carriers on Babysteals.com. After all that I discovered that Carhartt has a new line up of clothes for little girls. I bought Jillian the cutest coveralls and jumper plus onesies for each girl. Jillian really looks like her Daddy's girl now. Now that I'm having two girls, I find myself justifying purchases for Jillian with the fact that Hayden can use it later. A very dangerous trend.

Hayden's room has been done for months. As soon as we found out we were having another girl, Jeramy was all over the painting, furniture ordering, etc. I hadn't taken any pictures until last night though, because it was rather messy. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, especially since it was done on a rather tight budget.



This of course makes me realize that I never showed pictures of Jillian's room at our new house, which she moved into late last summer. It is basically the same design with a little darker brown on the walls than in her old room. We moved the changing table to Hayden's room to make room for toys. Jillian's room definitely looks more lived in or I guess I should say played in. When we first moved she was in the room Hayden will be in now, but after we added our master bedroom this room was created from a portion of our own bedroom. It is a good thing that we added on so soon too...otherwise we would have been short one bedroom and the kids rooms here are pretty small.



Oh and how do you like the pictures? I told Jeramy that I wanted a new camera, and well that is all it takes to get him shopping. He really could take on a career as a personal shopper. After researching online we decided on a Nikon D5000. I've spent most of my time reading the manual and Jeramy has been using it. Standard operating procedures for both of us.

Now less than 12 hours until some very much anticipated sleep deprivation.

Gorgeous Blanket

Believe it or not, I do still knit. I haven't been very good about posting my finished objects, but I assure you that there were some during the second trimester. Third trimester...not so much.

Wednesday nights I get together with a group of gals to knit. It is my one night out each week, and the break is always much needed. Our knitting group has also been quite productive in the baby department lately as well as one recently had a baby and three (including myself) were due between May and June. We worked together as a group on baby blankets for everybody. One gal has an online yarn shop (check it out here) and she provided all of the yarn, and we each made squares. They surprised me with Hayden's blanket last week, and I must say it is absolutely gorgeous. This picture doesn't come close to doing it justice.

I'm so lucky to have met such a great group of ladies. And Hayden is such a lucky little girl to get such a beautiful blanket.

Family Photos

I love the results of our latest photo shoot with photographer Keren Fenton. She can do wonders with a camera and is a ton of fun. I'm not the least bit photogenic, but I'm always happy with the results. If you are in the Seattle area, definitely check out her website here.

18 Months

Jillian turned 18 months old on Wednesday. It is hard to believe that we are halfway between one and two, and this next month will be one that will bring a whole lot of change for all of us. Unlike Jeramy and I, Jillian is blissfully unaware of her little sister's impending arrival. She has only noticed the new functionality of my stomach as a stepping stool and place to place the pile of books she wants me to read.

She continues to be quite the little monkey. "Monkey" has actually been Jeramy's nickname for her for many months, and it is quite appropriate. The other day he turned around to find she had climbed up her high chair and was standing at the kitchen counter. Soon I'm afraid she will be scaling the baby fence placed strategically to block access to the fireplace and dining room.

She talks constantly. Now it is pretty difficult to understand what she is saying, but she seems to comprehend her language perfectly well. She'll run into the kitchen and point at a cabinet..."blah, blah, blah, blah, blah". And if you can't decipher what she wants based on that, it turns into tears. Admittedly it is a frustrating experience for all involved. It is often easier just to pick her up and let her show you want she wants herself. Gradually the blabbering seems to be turning into real words. Recent additions to the vocabulary include duck, book, and "e-i-e-i-o" from Old McDonald. I'm told by both sets of grandmas that she says thank you as well, but I have yet to hear it. I guess we are just not as big on manners at my house.

I find that she is a little hard on her mama these days. She greatly enjoys pulling my hair, pinching, and grabbing parts of my face. Not anybody else...just me. Perhaps it is because we've sang a little too much "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" together. Who knows. But it hurts like hell. I try to express that something hurts me (which she doesn''t quite understand) and then if it continues set her down on the floor, which seems to be the worst possible punishment I can inflict. I am really hoping this is just a phase that passes soon.

Another phase I would like to see pass are night terrors. She has often been waking up about an hour after going to bed screaming and screaming. She isn't awake but she'll sit or stand or walk as if she is (basically like sleepwalking). There is nothing you can do to console her either, and it is absolutely heartbreaking. At her check-up Dr. M said the usual cause is being over tired, so we've been trying our best to stick to the usual bedtime regardless of whether she seems sleepy.

Both Jeramy and I agree that she has reached such a fun age between her expressions and laughter. She loves going places and exploring. On Tuesday, he took her to the Seattle Children's Museum with his mom, niece and cousins from Iowa (I'm always missing the fun when I'm at work). It looks like they had a great time though based on the pictures:

Easter

I don't remember much about Easter last year. I couldn't even find a blog post to remind me. I'm pretty sure it was pretty low key especially since Jillian wasn't old enough to understand any of the fun stuff.

Well this year was different. Between last weekend and this weekend she participated in three egg hunts. Well at her age it was less about hunting and more about picking the eggs in plain view up. It was also her first introduction to competition and a glimpse into our future as soccer (or whatever sport) parents. I stood on the sidelines snapping pictures as Jeramy held her basket and tried coaxing her to pick up eggs. She did pretty well at the first church-sponsored egg hunt, where there was only boring grass to distract her. At the community-sponsored egg hunt they put the under 2 section in an area filled with pea gravel, and let's just say that the gravel was far more interesting than the eggs. When we did one at home yesterday she decided that playing on her jungle gym would be far more fun than picking up those silly eggs.





She also got her first Easter egg basket this year. She got a few toys and candy. I found her trying to consume the candy packaging and all several times. She knows what is inside...opening it is the hard part!




Later in the morning we had some family over for brunch, which is pretty much my favorite meal ever to eat and consume. We had crepes with fruit and whipped cream and plenty of breakfast meats including steaks that Jeramy BBQ'd. His cousins from Iowa were in town so there were 4 kids total between one and three making for a noisy but fun time. Jeramy got out Jillian's new bubble machine, which they found highly entertaining.


It was a very fun Easter. Granted this pregnant lady was exhausted by the end of it all (especially since our Saturday had been very busy as well). But it was well worth it. Holidays really are more fun with kids.