The Hospital Stay

Well, the only problem with using the blog as a baby book is that everyone (including Reece) will know how bad I was at keeping up with it! Kennedy and Cade will never know how long it took me to record events in theirs because I didn't have to record a date each time I did it! I've been making notes in my calendar, though, in hopes that I won't forget everything before I include it here. And, of course, the blog has the added challenge of editing photos before I post them. I suppose it's not too surprising that when I actually have two hands to edit or type, they are busy eating, doing laundry, taking a shower, or sleeping. So, phone photos will have to suffice for now...

Hospital stays are never enjoyable, so I suppose that really it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be. There were definitely some things that were different about it, though! First of all, apparently even when you want the baby to "room in" they take that to mean that you should have a few hours to rest and therefore take the baby from you, whether you want them to or not. For 4 hours. The 2 mornings we were there, they took him from 5am to 9am, on the precedence of weighing him and giving him a bath. Four hours seems a bit long for that! And of course, especially on that first morning, with my child only being hours old, I was not able to relax much during that 4 hour period. I'm sure I still had some adrenaline running through my veins (I kept replaying the entire labor in my mind...yikes!), and I was worried about what he was eating and the fact that I wasn't nursing. So, not too relaxing for me. The doctor came back with him at 9am and informed us that he looked really good, but that he had spit up quite a bit after taking a bottle. He was concerned about how much and let us know that he thought he may need a chest x-ray the next day if it continued for the next 24 hours. After Cade, we couldn't possibly imagine how Reece could spit up so much that he would need an x-ray, but we decided not to worry about it yet.

Not long after he finally returned, they moved us to another part of the hospital. Apparently there is no maternity floor, just a labor and delivery ward. They stuck me in a wheelchair, got a cart to put our stuff on, and whisked us through the halls (at an alarming rate!). I had never had to ride in a wheelchair, and it is not an experience I would like to repeat! Once we arrived in our room (which wasn't too bad, by the way), I realized that again Reece was not with us. Apparently, they'd taken him back to the nursery again. Only this time, they hadn't bothered to tell me when he would return! In spite of the fact that I was now on the hardest bed ever made, I was finally able to get some sleep this time. I simply couldn't stay awake any longer.

Our friends who were watching the kids were able to bring them to the hospital to visit us that afternoon (another benefit of choosing a hospital so close to home and school). Kennedy could.not.wait. to hold her little brother, and Cade was more interested in checking out the hospital room, the food, the bathroom. Pretty much anything but his little brother. He didn't hold him at all, but I don't think either one of us were surprised by his reaction. Reece had "brought" books for each of them and Cade was totally engrossed in his as they walked out the door to have dinner and get to bed.

The "Western" menu in the hospital was not as bad as I'd thought it was going to be, though I found it strange that they had me fill out what I wanted for each meal, and then that was not what I was served. Nonetheless, Eric was not thrilled with my leftovers, so he headed out to get a pizza that evening for dinner after the kids left. After eating, we fell asleep watching men's Korean professional volleyball on TV. I was able to sleep for an hour or two before another nurse came in to take Reece for his hearing test. She promised me he would only be gone an hour because he needed to nurse again, but he was gone for 2 hours. Then, he was only back for an hour or 2 before they took him back to the nursery again. (Can you tell this stressed me out?! Kennedy and Cade never left our room unless we went with them, so this was all new to me!) I tried really hard to sleep this time, but there was a nurse coming in to check something at least every hour.

Finally, he arrived back at 9am, and the doctor made no mention of his spitting up this time. My doctor came in and said we could go home (even though most Koreans stay for 4 or 5 days), and we were ready to walk out the door at 10am when they said the nurse from the international clinic would come in to help us get discharged. It was almost noon before we were finally pulling out of the parking lot--after a long spiel from the nurse about newborn care, realizing that we didn't have the Korean birth certificate that we needed for the embassy, and finally getting the bill paid--we were finally headed home! (Well, except for stopping to get cash to pay for the parking that we thought we'd already paid for.) Hallelujah! (And praise the Lord that Reece actually slept in his car seat, after our trip to school this morning, long enough for me to write this!)

Reece's Birth Story

The other kids have baby books, but I didn't think about picking one up for Reece this past summer, so the blog will have to take the place of his baby book. This post, in particular, may provide way more information than you wanted to know about my labor and delivery, but I tried to go for the PG version. There's no talk of mucus plugs, bloody show, or any of the other not-so-pretty aspects of delivery here. That being said, read at your own risk!

I suppose labor with Reece technically began at 4am on October 29^th. That was when I woke up to go to the bathroom and couldn't go back to sleep because of the contractions. They weren't very strong and after days of having contractions, they weren't too alarming. Nonetheless, I wasn't able to get back to sleep until everyone was off to school. I had been tempted to tell Eric that today might be the day, but I didn't want to get his hopes up. We’d been waiting for this for weeks!

The day before was the day after my due date. I decided to finally finish all of the little things that I had been saving for right before the baby came. I got up and wrote a very optimistic to do list. I had already sprinkled the baking soda all over the bathroom floor when a pregnant friend of mine texted me asking if I wanted to go on a long walk with her. I really wanted to say no, and it seemed like scrubbing the bathroom floor was a good enough excuse. Not to mention the fact that after going on a long walk, scrubbing floors was not going to be an easy task. I went anyway, though. I arrived home just in time to get dinner prepped and into the crock pot. Then, I had some lunch and laid down for a little while to rest. Eventually, I got back to work and managed to complete some of the tasks that had been weighing on me. The evening ended with finally scrubbing the bathroom floor, and then I was ready for bed.

I had written off my due date. Everyone knows that you can’t possibly have a baby on its due date, but I was hoping that scrubbing that floor would start things. It didn't happen right away, but as I said, I woke up early the next day with contractions.

I continued having contractions through the morning and early afternoon, but they weren't getting stronger or consistent. The only positive factor was that they didn't stop regardless of what I was doing: sweeping, cooking, or just laying in bed. I was optimistic. Today could be the day. I watched a few episodes of season 8 of Friends…the ones where Rachel is pregnant and waiting to go into labor. Misery loves company!

In the afternoon, I managed to get up and get a couple more things done. As I’d rested, my contractions seemed to be getting a little more consistent, so around 4:00 I finally started timing them. As I started working on finishing up dinner, they started getting stronger. I was still walking and talking through them, but some of them were definitely distracting when trying to get something accomplished.

By the time we sat down for dinner, they were getting harder to talk through, but at this point, I was afraid to get too optimistic. I laid down on the couch, reading articles about labor, certain that the contractions would slow or get weaker. They still weren't lasting much more than 30 seconds, so I didn't think labor was imminent. They remained consistent. I laid down in bed and downloaded a couple of episodes of The West Wing to distract myself. I wasn't able to get very comfortable, though. A friend texted me asking how things were going. I told her that I’d been having contractions, but I still thought I would probably make it to my doctor’s appointment in the morning. I still wasn't confident that what I was feeling was strong enough to be real labor contractions.

By 10:00 though, most of them were about 3 minutes apart and lasting 30-45 seconds long. I started to think this could be the real thing. I went in and started straightening my hair. I think that was Eric’s first inclination that we would be going to the hospital that night. He laughed at me, but I didn't want to have to worry about washing my hair for the next day or two. You know, the important things! He took some time to clean up the house a bit more. It took me a ridiculously long time to straighten my hair, though, because every 2 or 3 minutes I would have another contraction and have to lean against the bathroom sink to get through it. I was almost done when I decided that I should lay down for a few minutes to see if they started to slow down. There was one 5 minute gap at one point, but it didn't take me long to realize that it didn't matter what I did, they were going to continue!

I finished up my hair (quickly!) and had Eric pack the last minute stuff and start loading the car around 11:30. At 11:45, I told him he needed to hurry. He called our friends who had agreed to watch the kids, and started loading them into the car. He had been moving pretty slowly, taking his time, as I hadn't given him any reason to think we were in a hurry. I had just been straightening my hair moments before, after all. At this point, he started jogging as he loaded the kids and loaded the car.

After helping me to the car, we were finally ready to leave. In the last hour, I had no longer been able to remain silent during my contractions, and I had started to worry about how I was going to be able to keep quiet in the car in front of the kids. After waking them up at midnight, listening to their mother yell in pain did not seem like a good way to drop them off with friends. I didn't want to terrify them! Thankfully, I was able to keep quiet (from what I remember) and tried to focus on breathing instead. Cade still asked me if I was okay, so I definitely wasn't hiding my pain, but I don’t think he was scared.

Thankfully, our friends were out on their doorstep when we arrived. Eric was able to get the kids (and all of their stuff!) handed off quickly without even having to run up to their apartment, and we were quickly on our way again. I was with it enough to give him directions out of their neighborhood and to the hospital the quickest way, which was a saving grace. The contractions were never more than 3 minutes apart now, and I wasn't quiet now that the kids were out of the car. I remember staring at the clock through each contraction, knowing that each one would end.

My biggest fear about going into labor naturally was that we would end up at the hospital with a false alarm (or two). I did not want to have to get the kids out of bed in the middle of the night, get them excited that the baby was finally coming, only to return to get them a couple of hours later. At this point, I was pretty confident that this was not false labor, but I was still concerned that I may not have labored at home long enough. I told Eric as we neared the hospital that I was going to be really mad if we arrived, and I was still only 4 cm.  I wanted to be admitted. And I was ready for an epidural! I remember clearly that it was 12:25am as we drove down the hill toward the hospital. We were probably walking through the parking lot (with contractions) at 12:30.

Eventually, we made it up to the 3^rd floor maternity ward. I’d made it. I was at the hospital. We walked in the door and the admitting nurse had us change our shoes. I was ready to hit her over the head with mine. I could barely hold myself up (I leaned against the door jamb), but she wanted me to change my shoes! It didn't take her long to figure out I wasn't going to be able to do it myself. (This is one of those "only in Korea" moments--no one wears their outdoor shoes indoors here, and apparently that applies to L & D rooms, as well. Soon, I was laying on a bed in a room. I was ready to relax, but of course, that wasn't going to happen. For some reason or another, a couple of minutes later, they made me move into a different room.

I laid down, and the doctor informed me I was 8 cm already! Apparently I’d labored at home long enough! Of course, now my second biggest fear was a reality: I was too far along to get an epidural. The doctor had first told me that I would see my baby before the morning, and I was terrified as to how many more hours I was going to have to endure these contractions. The morning was still a long way off as far as I was concerned. Soon though, she said it would be 45 minutes to an hour before baby arrived, and my doctor would have time to get there. Not long after, she said it would probably be closer to 15 minutes and wanted to know if I wanted to wait for my doctor to arrive before I pushed (as if I had a choice at that point!); waiting was not an option! Eric had been down in the emergency room getting me admitted for much of this time, so I was relieved when he finally returned. The wall was all I’d had to hold onto during contractions that seemed back to back, and it wasn't very comforting.

Without getting into any gory details, I will say that I remember squeezing Eric’s hand during contractions in the beginning and quickly realizing that wasn't going to do it. The nurse kept trying to get me to do these obnoxious breathing techniques that I thought were a giant waste of energy. She was so stinkin' calm! I was content to scream. Soon, I had Eric in a headlock, as that gave me much more to hold onto and squeeze to try to counteract the pain. I think Reece ended up coming out in about 3 pushes, but I’m pretty sure I started pushing before I was supposed to, so who knows? I just remember feeling a huge amount of relief when I finally felt him slide out. After 5 minutes of screaming that I couldn't do it, he had finally arrived. I’d done it. Our baby boy was here!

Welcome to the World!

Reece James arrived at 1:15 am on October 30th, weighing 8lbs 2oz and 20in long! We are so excited to welcome the newest member of our family!

More pictures and details to come as soon as things settle a bit around here!

My First Photoshoot

My husband keeps mentioning this blogger he knows that doesn't really blog much these days. Apparently, he doesn't think she has any excuse for it (not yet anyway)...I keep telling him that if the laptop wasn't stuffed under the bed and if I could reach the keyboard across my belly a little better, then maybe I would be a better blogger. Maybe.

Anyway, this has been sort of a rough week. Something about actually reaching my due date has made me a little grumpy. I worked hard early last week to try to induce labor. Lots of walking. So much walking that it felt like I accomplished little else. After returning to the doctor and finding that I was still only 3cm and 70% effaced, I decided that all of the walking wasn't really worth it if it meant I couldn't get to the laundry or didn't have the energy to make dinner. So, I gave up.

Wouldn't you know it? As soon as I decided to just relax and forget about it, I started having contractions. Lots of them. Every 5 minutes for hours on end. The only problem was, they never got stronger. They never got longer. They never got painful. And then, of course, they stopped. That was Thursday. I've continued to have some contractions since then, but nothing consistent at all. Days of false labor is not my idea of fun, just so you know.

I know. They say he'll come when he's ready, yet strangely there are a lot of inductions these days! Hopefully we won't have to go down that road again, but I don't think my doctor will let me go too far past 41 weeks, so we'll see what the next week brings.

These are obviously the pictures that I took for my friend last week. I actually set them up in the spot where I took my least favorite picture of my kidlets, but I knew that I really liked the light in that spot and that it would give the boys room to run around while still having a nice background and bokeh opportunities.

I arrived early enough to get things set up...a blanket that I moved around about 10 times trying to find the right light, my camera settings, and white balance. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do the whole session on manual so soon after my class, but I went for it, knowing that with a little help in post processing, I would have a better chance of getting what I wanted if I just left it in manual.

I left my friend, Kristin, in charge of the posing for the most part, so that we could be sure to get the shots that she wanted, and I was worried that I would be too focused on the technical aspects to do the posing. It worked out pretty well. I was able to get about 60 shots that I was happy with in the 45 minutes before the rest of our friends arrived. And, most importantly, she loves them, so I'm counting it as a success!

Any day now...

No, there's still no baby...

For about the last 5 days I've gone to bed feeling crummy...feeling like at some point in the middle of the night contractions will wake me up. Needless to say, it hasn't happened yet.

Last Thursday when I saw my doctor, she said that she thought she'd see me sometime in the next week, before my next scheduled appointment. Even though I was only 2 cm, I let her optimism get to me.

I thought a new baby would be about the best birthday present a girl could get (even if it meant labor and delivery on my birthday!). My birthday also fell on the 39 week mark, and considering the first 2 were born at 39 weeks, I was optimistic!

Of course, they were both induced, but both times I was already 4 cm and my doctor was pretty sure that I would go into labor spontaneously before I showed up for my induction. It didn't happen then, and it doesn't appear to be happening this time.

My doctor asked me how many hours a day I was walking, and I kind of laughed. Does back and forth from the kitchen to the couch count?? I have been trying really hard to do more walking.

I took the kids to the mall when it was raining yesterday and this morning I walked around the park near our house with my friend who is due the week after I am, even though it was still raining. We're motivated.

The nursery is ready, except for the rocking chair we just ordered because the school has apparently run out...too many babies around here! We picked up the bumper at the Seoul Swap, where we were trying to get rid of stuff. We have ended up with a whole lot of blue and green in there, but that's what happens when you don't buy any of your own stuff. I'm not complaining. I ordered the Instagram prints from Prinstagram, and I love them. We had to pay a lot for shipping, but I think it was worth it. They're really sturdy, and I love the simplicity and lack of permanence.

(The above is weeks 18, 28, and 38.) We had a baby shower on Sunday at church, along with 3 other women who are all due in the next week or two. Do I look uncomfortable in this picture? I am.

Without sharing any of the gory details, I can tell you that my body has been preparing itself for labor. All that's left is to have my water break (wouldn't that be a miracle?) and of course, the consistent contractions. Any day now, baby!

A Trip to the Park

On Saturday, I took the kids to Yongsan Family Park during Eric's baseball game. We actually just took the kids here a couple of weeks ago for a picnic. I had planned on this particular park because there isn't a lot of walking involved, but by the time we arrived, the parking lot was full, so we had to park down the road. We ended up with what I consider a long walk these days. I had Braxton Hicks contractions walking both directions, so I guess that's good. But, that was weeks ago, and I'm still not feeling any closer to labor.

We arrived early on Saturday, though, so there was plenty of parking. And no contractions even though by then I was 37 weeks...almost 38. Come on, baby!

I wanted to check out the light and take some pictures of the kids because on Monday morning, I was going to have my first shoot of someone else's kids. I was a little nervous!

I have a friend who is also a mom with a camera (actually her gear is a lot better than mine having benefited when our HS photography teacher made the switch from Nikon to Canon!), so we agreed to trade services this fall.

I'm hoping to have our pictures done before the end of November because soon after, all of the leaves will disappear and it will be too cold to be outside for any length of time. I'm not really sure how feasible it's going to be with everyone's schedules, though.

I didn't want her to have to wait through my postpartum recovery, so we just decided to do hers now, even without the fall colors.

She has 3 boys, ages 3 and under, so shooting my own kids isn't exactly great practice for shooting hers. Mine can do things like stand on fences and sit still and look at the camera (when bribed with lunch afterwards!).

Nonetheless, it was a good exercise for me in finding the light I wanted, and I was able to show up to the park yesterday with a pretty good idea of where I wanted to be and how I wanted to set things up, so I was happy about that.

After getting the pictures done (and then letting them play for awhile), we headed home and then walked into Itaewon for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. It was a tediously slow walk for the kids, since I'm not moving too quickly these days. I had done the same walk the night before, so I was even slower than normal. Now that it's cooled off, I'm trying to walk as much as I can, though.

We have all had colds for the past week, which is bearable, but not much fun, of course. Secretly, I'd prayed that we would all get sick now, rather than in a few weeks with a newborn around. We've never made it through a fall in Korea without at least one of us getting pretty sick, and it seemed unlikely this year. I just wanted to get it over with.

Saturday morning, I had actually woken up thinking that I couldn't believe how quickly this cold had passed for me. I'd had a stuffy nose and a slight sore throat for a few days, but I could tell I was on the upswing already. Until that evening. Suddenly, a sore throat hit hard. I was also developing a cough.

I won't provide you with all of the hairy details, but suffice it to say that a sore throat and a cough were not mixing well with my 37 week pregnant body. The heartburn that had disappeared the week before came back with a vengeance when I started coughing, bringing up acid that had no business being brought up. I spent Saturday night trying not to cough or throw up. Obviously, I didn't have a lot of control over that.

Sunday, I skipped out on church, having slept very little the night before. Cade offered to stay home and take care of me, but not surprisingly when I threw up all over the living room floor (I was determined not to throw up!), he went running into his room and closed the door. After showering, I had to figure out a way to get down there and clean it all up without throwing up again! Eesh. Thankfully, after sleeping semi-upright Sunday night, my sore throat was gone Monday morning, and I am feeling much better at the beginning of week 38!

The 8th Month

It's crazy to me that I still can't see a difference in these pictures from week to week, or even from the beginning of the month to the end, but it's clear that I've grown quite a bit in the past 9 months!

Throughout September, highs were in the low to mid 80s, and I was hot most of the month. I wasn't using the AC anymore in the house, but I was fooling myself every time I walked out the door thinking it would be cool. It wasn't.

He flipped in the middle of September, so I started getting more of those stronger kicks to the ribs, and there were a couple of weeks where my ribs just ached all the time. Even when he wasn't actually kicking me.

By now, he's moved down further, and while I still get the occasional jab in the ribs, the painful movements are much, much lower now. I can feel his movements radiate at the tops of my thighs. Eesh. There's a lot of pressure on my bladder, of course, and I was surprised to begin feeling pelvic pressure at only 36 weeks.

I went to the doctor every two weeks in September, but because she is out of town this week, I am going three weeks between appointments this time, just when I would have expected to start going every week. Oh well. I don't mind not trekking to the hospital every week.

My appetite has been cut significantly in the past month, which I'm fine with. I'm not really on board with the whole "never stop eating" thing. I experienced some pretty miserable heartburn in the past month, causing me to lay awake for hours, or taking Tums again just seconds before throwing up. Nasty. Another benefit to him being lower now at 37 weeks is the drastic reduction of heartburn. I haven't had any Tums in 2 days!

I have had some Braxton Hicks contractions in the past few weeks, mostly when I'm doing a lot of walking or stair climbing or something. Now that it's cooled off, I'm able to a bit more of that, which is good. This kid will never come out if I spend all my time laying around!

We now have his room set up, all of his clothes washed, and hospital and diaper bags packed, so as soon as my doctor returns on Friday, we'll be ready for this kid to arrive!