Part 2: MJ's Arrival! - Baltimore, MD. - February 2012

The story of MJ's arrival wouldn't be complete without recounting our hospital stay. I'll skip the details of foley catheters, pain killer induced paranoia, a liquid diet, and a few of the other unmentionables of the aftermath of childbirth, natural or surgical, and skip to the fun stuff.

First off we LOVE our peds group!!!  They came every day and were so gentle and loving to our sweet baby girl.  They didn't make me feel silly asking questions and gave us wonderful advice on how to help E with the transition to "big sister ".

(Dr. G. checking MJ without even waking her up.  Impressive)

This time it was fun to have a few visitors to welcome this little lady into the world,.  On day one MJ got her first visitor when Megan came by after work.

(Megan and MJ)

And on day two, Katie brought a yummy lunch from Einstein's Bagles!

(Katie and MJ)

And as one of the perks of being a hospital employee, on our final night in the hospital we enjoyed a fancy dinner brought to my room.

We dined on Lobster Tails and Ribs...

While MJ slept a few feet away.

One thing we did differently this time was that after the first night, the Hub and I decided that it'd be best for E to spend nights in her own bed so at the end of each day he picked her up from Katie's and took her home.  This gave them some really good one on one time and it gave me a chance to decompress and process every thing that had happened.  I took advantage of the nursery every night so that I could rest.

These 2 didn't actually meet until we came home because E was under 2 years old and it was flu season but when she held her for the first time I think she realized on some level that her world would never be the same.

Looking back, although there were major ups and downs, our hospital stay was good.  Thanks to a brand new food service program, the food was wonderful!!! 

I know this may sound strange, but it was nice to be "taken care of".  food brought to me, water at the push of a button, someone to make the bed while I was in the shower, it was nice.  There is an acceptable amount of fear that comes with being a new mom and adding another little one to your family.  Having people there to bounce questions off of and cheer you on feels good, especially if your family doesn't live close by and isn't able to come into town to help.  I take away a new found LOVE of Lorna Doones shortbread cookies and an EVEN DEEPER LOVE of these two.

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Part 1: MJ's Arrival! - Baltimore, MD. - February 2012

Finally, over 6 months later, I've been able to get everything down and actually read it without feeling close to tears. I'm not sad about it, it was just an extremely emotionally charged experience.  It's weird looking back at it now.  It feels like something that happened in a different life.  So here it is for all the world to see, MJ's arrival.

February 27, 2012

4am: Woke up with contractions every 8 - 10 minutes.

5am: contractions increased to 7-8 minutes apart

6am: The Hub woke up, I updated him and we decided that since it was so close to my due date this may very well be "it".

7:00am: Called our good friend Katie who would be watching E and let her know we were on our way.

7:30am: Left for the hospital with a stop on the way.

7:45am: Dropped E off.

(For the last time as a family of 3)

(Bye bye Mommy. This was the first time i'd be away from her for longer than a few hours.)

She got their before Katie's girls woke up so she had all the toys to herself.

YAY!!!

8:00am: Arrived at hospital

8:30am: Was checked by doctor 4cm dilated and 10% effaced. Was told to walk around, get something to eat, and they would recheck at 11:30.

8:30-11:30am: Walked EVERYWHERE. Contractions increased in intensity and frequency.

11:30am: Returned to L&D. Was rechecked and there was no progress. Doctor left room and we waited...

12:00pm: and waited...

12:15pm: Doctor returned. At our request she did a membrane sweep and said they weren't going to admit me yet and I could go home.

12:30pm: The Hub went to work and I drove myself to Katie's because home was too far to risk going into deep labor by myself.

1:00pm ate lunch

2:00pm: put Ellie down for a nap

2:00-3:30pm: Contractions increased in intensity to the point that i couldn't talk through them and were only 3 minutes apart.

4:00pm: called my doctor's office and spoke to my nurse. I briefly explained what had transpired that day so far. She advised me to come back to L&D and she'd let them know I was coming.

4:10pm: Katie's husband returned home

4:15pm: Katie drove me back to the hospital

4:25pm: We parked and walked to L&D. We met the Hub on the way. Katie last timed my contractions as being 1 minute 15 seconds apart and one minute in length.

4:30pm: Arrived at L&D and was put in a L&D room rather than triage.

4:45pm: was checked by same doctor from this morning and measured 5cm and 80% effaced. They were admitting me and would start an IV to run a litre of fluids and we'd probably have a baby in the next few hours.

5:00pm: Was put on monitors for the baby

5:10pm: IV tech came to start line

5:15pm: While tech was starting IV line my blood pressure dropped and the baby's heart rate dropped from 140s-150s to 60s-70s.

5:15-5:20pm: Tried bringing up baby's heart rate by rolling me on my left side, then to my hands and knees. They gave me a shot of terbutiline to slow/stop contractions.

5:20pm: After all attempts to bring the baby's heart rate up failed, I was rushed to the OR for a stat c-section under general anesthesia.

5:23pm: MJ was born

5:25pm: Daddy called E to tell her she had a baby sister.

The Big Sister

(Anika reading to E and telling her all about what it's like to be a big sister.)

5:31pm: Delivered to daddy in the recovery area

8:10pm: I was brought to recovery

8:14pm: Lili holds MJ for the first time.

8:20pm: MJ get's a well deserved bath!

"From the fullness of His grace we have received one blessing after another." -John 1: 16

I know it's a little late, but welcome to the world baby girl!

Till Next time,

Bon Voyage!

Note To Reader: To read more see Part 3: MJ's Arrival!

We Miss The Olympics - Baltimore, MD. - August 2012

I know the Olympics are long gone but I have to say, I REALLY miss having them to watch. I finally deleted the final gymnastics performance I had saved on our DVR, (Yep it was winning gymnnastics gold) and I feel a bit sad that we'll have to wait another 4 years to see more.

(via)

The last time I blogged about the Olympics I made fun of the more "questionable" Olympic events, and although this time there are some that definitely fall into that category, I'm going to take the high road.

In an effort to cope with our Olympic withdrawl the Wandering family has been working on a few events of our own and I thought I'd share.

MJ is a natural at gymnastics with her specialty apparatus being the "crib exercise".  Much like the floor exercise, one must demonstrate flexibility...

(Notice her foot is IN her mouth)

Travel the entire length of the apparatus ...

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(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Must make eye contact with the judges...

And at the end of the routine the athlete must scream at the top of her lungs...

(the redder the bar the higher the scores)

***

Moving to the pool. We continue to be impressed at the Monkey's comfort in the water and all joking aside we think that water sports are in her future if she so desires. For now though her Olympic event is "Father Daughter Synchronized Swimming".

Her entry into the water is flawless...

She and Daddy prepare for the big stunt... Up... Up...

The jump... Look at the height she gets out of the water!!!

And hardly any splash upon entry!

The judges deliberate...

What will it be?  The head judge delivers the scores 

 and I think they're happy with the results!

***
Finally, we bring you to our coverage of Rocking Horse Equestrianism.  Over the summer we discovered we have a budding Equestrian in our midst. We first discovered her talents at the beginning of the summer at the playground on these fun spring loaded ride on animals.

According to our little monkey, this is a "Gog"...

This is a "Fog"...

And thanks to our friend Tong and the loan of this fun ride on toy she has pretty much perfected the talent.

Meet the"hurse" named "See-buh"

The intensity of a girl in training...

In our tiny living room we had to move furniture during training sessions because, as you can see from the photos, she actually gets so into it so much that she moves across the floor.

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She even learned how to say "yee haw!!!"  So much fun!!!

***

Some other sports we've been working on for Rio - 2016 are:

Power napping...

Speed diaper changing...

&

competitive laundry folding...

(Are those really such a far stretch from speed walking, dirt biking, & canoe racing)

I know I said I'd take the high road but I couldn't resist!  See you in Rio!

Till next time,

Bon Voyage!

Currently - Baltimore, MD. - August 2012

(Welcome back.  As it often does the summer has taken us lots of places so I thought I'd share a little bit of what we are "currently" up to.)

Loving: the blessing of being able to stay home with our girls. AND my new dishes!!!

Reading: Just Finished...

Just started...

Waiting for: the Cloth Diapers to Dry

Excited about: special friends visiting in October.

Missing: my baby sister, currently serving in the U.S. Army deployed to Afghanistan. 

Trying to: get motivated to workout with THIS.

Working on: my book! After it disappeared over a year ago to a crashed hard drive I can finally think about it without getting sad. Hopefully this time it will be even better (and I'm printing as I go)!

Enjoying: Spending time with the Hub and the girls at the pool.

Using: e-Meals (more to come on this)

Wearing: lots of Gap Jeans and tank tops and a lot of stripes. Hair in a pony.

Planning: our BIG move here.

Singing: Eric Churche's "Springsteen" and the "I Love You ... Morning, Noon, and Night" song that the Laugh and Learn Puppy sings.

Needing: a manicure and pedicure.

Learning: patience! The course is taught by my 2 year old and meets daily! 

Listening: to my babies chatter back and forth in their beds and loving that they are sisters and have each other.

Wishing: my dryer lint trap would stop eating the buttons of my husbands dress shirts and the straps off my "wash and wear" sun dresses.

Doing: a lot of de-cluttering and making lots of trips to Goodwill.

Praying for: Lucy * Sarah * Suze * Robyn

Dreaming of: Taking THIS blog class.

So this is me.

Want to play along? What are you currently up to?

{this "currently" post idea is borrowed from one of my favorite blogs Jones Design Company; Fun Monthly paper printables, life, and a great eye for all things pretty. Check her out!

Till Next time,

Bon Voyage!