09 June 2014

landon arrives: our birth story

my sweet, sweet, sweet landon jakob. I don't even know where to begin when describing our birth story. our labor & delivery was crazy fast, a blur. but there was so much anticipation & gratefulness for landon. I was really curious what he would look like. I couldn't wait to see in what ways he would be similar to & different than ruby. 
like most pregnancies, it flew by & crawled by at the same time. typical sick & tired first trimester, a better second trimester (full of nesting, I don't think I ever washed so many dishes before), & ready-to-meet-my-babe third trimester. I knew that our labor & delivery would be quicker than ruby's & mine, but I wouldn't have guessed in a 100 years that it would go the way it did. here it is.

at 35 weeks, my doctor checked me for dilation & there was none. I said I didn't want to be checked again until 39 weeks & time carried on. 

at 39 weeks, my doctor checked for dilation again. 3 cm! I was very happy with that since I really did not want to be induced & if I did have to be induced, I hoped I wouldn't be starting from 0. my doctor warned me to not wait too long to come in when I started having contractions, since I was already 3 cm. so that was on Thursday, April 17th. my due date was the 22nd. 

the next day (the morning of the 18th), I woke up & noticed that I'd lost some of my mucus plug (and yes, that is every bit as disgusting as it sounds). no contractions, felt like I usually did. I went to work & got everything on my list done. I left work around 4:30 & picked up ruby at her friend Ava's house. Noticed I'd lost more of my plug, but still no contractions or anything. So we decided to stick with our plan to meet T & go to dinner in Racine (about 45 minutes from our house.) 

Dinner was wonderful, on the lake, & everything was tasty. It was at a restaurant owned by the brother of one of T's close friends & they showed us around the place just before we left. I had my first contraction while we looked at their outdoor patio, didn't say anything to anyone, but got anxious to go. It was about 8:15 at that point. 

We got in the car & I was driving about 5 minutes when I had a much more noticeable contraction. We switched seats and got back on the road. It was about 8:30 then. 

Almost immediately, the contractions got stronger and consistently closer together. I was having to breath through them after the first couple. Terence hauled some serious booty (speed limits broken, may have ran some red lights and stop signs, and drove in the bus lane. desperate times, people, and thou shall not argue with a laboring woman. you just drive. calmly. and quickly.) We got back into Milwaukee at about 9:00 & went straight to the ER.

*Just a side note that Ruby was in the backseat this entire time. She was watching Disney Jr on my phone and asking me questions, which I tried to answer as calm as possible. I was super stressed that she was there but I knew if I showed how much I was feeling the contractions she'd get freaked out, so we carried on on our crazy drive to the hospital (and called T's sister and husband to pick up Mom to meet us at the hospital!) *

When we got to the ER, my contractions were about 1- 2 minutes apart. They took me right up to labor & delivery & I got checked into a room. By that time it was about 9:15 & the contractions were one after the other. T left the room with Ruby to wait for our entourage, who were almost there. That left me to labor for a few minutes with our nurse. She was a wonderful woman, very calm, supportive. After a few minutes of laboring, she asked if I felt any urge to push. I replied that I did so she helped me over to the bed to check me. 10 cm. It was about 9:30 by then.

My wonderfully supportive, calm nurse then began to page everyone and anyone who was free to help with delivery. My doctor was off for Easter weekend so they paged the on call doc, who thankfully lived about a mile away. (I later ground out that his wife drove him to the hospital so he didn't above to waste time parking. God bless that woman, too.) 

it was about this time that the room started to fill up with residents and doctors & also T came back to the room, leaving Ruby with his sister, her husband, and my mom. and the nurse told me I could start pushing anytime (that's pretty much the first thing T heard when he retuned to the room. welcome back, honey! I'm about to start pushing. glad you made it! :) ) 

My contractions were nonstop & my body was doing it's own thing. I had a very strong one, I pushed, and my water broke...all over T. sorry, honey. aren't ya glad you showed up just in time for that?! ;) About this time Dr. W (on call doc) showed up & Landon's heart rate dropped a lot, quickly. It became a bit more hectic in the room. Dr. W said it was important that Landon come out quickly and that he'd assist with forceps and I needed to push as hard as I possibly could. So that's what I did. Two pushes (and about 15 seconds) later, Landon was born. All 8 lbs 7 oz of him. it was 9:55 pm. an hour & a half after my first contraction, he was here. and he was perfect. 

he was brought to me right away. He stayed with T & me the entire time they worked on me & I am so grateful for that. then we were brought up to the mom & baby floor & ruby & some of our family got to visit. it was wonderful. I was exhausted but so happy & relieved to have him here, safe & sound. 

ruby loves Landon something fierce. she talks to him & covers him in hugs & kisses. I am in love with watching them grow together. T is an incredible dad, again. no surprise there & I'm so grateful for all his support in the busy couple of months it's been. and I know he loves having another boy in the house to even the male:female playing field. 

Landon is the perfect addition to our family. I already can't imagine life without him & I can't remember what our life was without him in it. it's like he's always been with us. 




08 April 2014

some memories

hey there little neglected blog, how are you? it's nice to see you again. let's move passed the awkwardness of me ignoring you for months and move on to some memories to be documented, shall we? 

in February, we went on our second annual family weekend away. when ruby was diagnosed with SMA last year, we went to a resort (the same one we got married at) for a weekend. it was great to get away, spend some QT (quality time, in T Sun language), swim, and just relax. this year, we thought we should continue the tradition and decided to take in a weekend at the Dells and do some indoor waterpark fun. ruby loved it, of course. it was, indeed, fun to get away and have some uninterrupted family time. 

when we were at one if the kiddie pools the second day, ruby was playing in the water & I was watching her watch all the other kids run around and splash. I suddenly got so, so sad. I was probably completing projecting this on her & she was likely just happy to be sitting in the water, crawling around. but I told T that I wondered if she was wishing she could be running around, too. and all of the sudden, I was in tears. Terence was amazing, like he always is. he went and got ruby & they played like crazy in the water, for a good hour. she was laughing so hard and loving every minute of it. I said back and cried, feeling thankful for what a great dad T is and also recognizing that my 7 month pregnant hormones were also at play here. eventually I relaxed & just enjoyed watching them play. they were running under these huge buckets of water that would fill up & the eventually dump out on their victims below. a dad came up to me & said "what a brave little girl you have there! my 7 year old won't go anywhere near those." I smiled and remarked that that is ruby's natural way. she is always looking for more fun, something new, and she doesn't let anything hold her back. it was a godsent moment for that guy to remark that ruby is brave, though. I needed to hear those words, even if he had no idea the impact they had on me in the moment. 

that was also the first weekend that we took ruby out with just her wheelchair and no option to push her in the stroller. she wanted to use her chair so that's what we did. on our way back on Sunday, we stopped by an outlet mall and ruby got to do some shopping, independently, in her chair. it was so much fun to see her roll around and look at the things she wanted to check out (disney toys, hair accessories, sunglasses) without asking me to take her "over there, mama! look over here!" I got a sweet pictures of her checking out some headbands and I love how it shows her slowly figuring out her own ways to be independent. 

some moments are hard. some memories are like a punch to the guy. but overall, we are so grateful for ruby's health and pray that baby boy coming in just a few weeks will be given respiratory strength and a fighting spirit, like his sister. I have no doubt she will teach him all sorts of things that their dad and I can't. I know they will fill a spot in each other's lives that no one else can fill. and I know that they both do that for their dad and me. 






22 January 2014

then & now

one year ago today, we had ruby's first neurology appointment. two weeks later, two days before my 30th birthday, we got her diagnosis of SMA. 


earlier this month, I was having a lot of anxiety & flashbacks to those days last year, when I just knew something was really "wrong" & then feeling like we were living our worst nightmare. 


a year later, some days are really painful, but those days are few & far in between. this is our life & it is wonderful. it's not what we imagined it would be. it's so much more. SMA & all that comes with it has taught me so much about perspective, about gratitude, and about faith. 


in just a few months, we will welcome another baby. this time we will know from the beginning that he will also be affected by SMA. we won't worry for months about how best to help him, we will know how. we won't experience a "diagnosis day" like we did with ruby. we will have a team of people and support in place from the get-go that we trust to help support him when the time comes that he needs the extra support. 


when we got ruby's diagnosis, I felt like everything had changed in an instant. but almost as quickly, I realized that nothing really ever changed at all. we are raising our kids, just as we would if SMA didn't affect our lives. instead of living in constant fear of what the future may bring, I live each day, focuses on being thankful for what we have.   


"may your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears. - nelson mandela