Saturday, September 24, 2011
Sisters
Ho Bo baby shower
Back in December when we were announcing to our family and close friends that we were pregnant, I was delighted to learn that my good friend Jennifer was expecting as well, due a week before I was. The Bobos are really good friends with Jennifer's family, so we had a joint family baby shower that was lots of fun. Here are some pictures from the event.
We had bbq sandwiches for dinner. Mmmmmm.
Lacey had cookies for dinner. Or, a few bites of several cookies which Mommy then had to finish. I wasn't complaining.
These beautiful blankets were made by Grandmother Bobo. We got to sit those chairs, by the way, because we were the "guests of honor" or something like that, and I can tell you they were way more uncomfortable than the chairs that everyone else got to sit in. Once I figured that out, I made Phil sit in my seat and I took his.
This is my silly toddler lounging across the way.
Amy Aleth Bobo, born August 21, and Kayla Renee Ho, born August 13, both about a week before their due dates.
Amy Aleth Bobo, born August 21, and Kayla Renee Ho, born August 13, both about a week before their due dates.
Lacey in a Chair--2 years later
Before and after. It's amazing how fast they grow. This is Lacey in both pictures, by the way. It just made me laugh that Lacey was sitting in her chair with the little baby toy stuck in it, and it reminded me of the first picture. She was so little once!
Playing Catch Up
So, it's been a long time since I've blogged about anything besides Amy's birth story. That's because after I posted last, life went a little crazy, mainly because we started looking for a home to buy. Then we found one and moved into it. Then we started fixing it up. Then we had a baby. All very time consuming things. So, life has been crazy. Good, but crazy.
So, first of all, our new house. Or, our 32-year-old house that we recently purchased. We moved in July 23rd, so 2 months ago now. We have 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, lots of storage and play area, and a huge back room that's totally empty cuz we don't have any use for it yet. And because it has no flooring and one corner doesn't even have drywall. I'd take pictures but...we're still settling in, really, so there's still lots of mess everywhere. It's a lovely house, though it needs some cosmetic work to really be nice. So far we've painted all the walls (except the empty room), and it makes such a difference to the feel of the rooms. Here's a fun little picture of Lacey helping Daddy prep the room for paint by sanding the wall. As you can see, the color in this room was a horrendous kick-in-the-face orange. The room next to it was a kick-in-the-face pink. Now they are a lovely relaxing minty green color.
The house also needs new carpet (which will happen in the foggy someday future), but what we have now will be ok until we can afford it. My next project is going to be furniture for our front room (which is also currently completely empty) and window treatments, a necessity since the windows face directly east and west.
I don't think we could have chosen a better neighborhood to move in to. Everyone is so nice and welcoming to us. People are delighted that we've bought the place, since evidently it was rented out for so long, with lots of turnover, and there were some weirdos here before us. That's not to say that we're the epitome of normal, but let's just say we fit in pretty well with the rest of the neighborhood. There are lots of little kids around for Lacey to play with. Lacey loves to "go for walk" and "say hi to friends." A "friend" is anyone under the age of 10 that comes into Lacey's line of vision. And usually, if we walk around the block, we can find someone for Lacey to play with for a few minutes. I love living in a neighborhood.
There will be more pictures once things are more settled. I know, it seems like 2 months should be long enough to get settled into a house, at least enough to get the rooms of mess taken care of, but try doing it 8, then 9 months pregnant, and then with a newborn. It's tough! We had a lot of help from my brother Ben and from my mom, all of which has been greatly appreciated.
So, first of all, our new house. Or, our 32-year-old house that we recently purchased. We moved in July 23rd, so 2 months ago now. We have 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, lots of storage and play area, and a huge back room that's totally empty cuz we don't have any use for it yet. And because it has no flooring and one corner doesn't even have drywall. I'd take pictures but...we're still settling in, really, so there's still lots of mess everywhere. It's a lovely house, though it needs some cosmetic work to really be nice. So far we've painted all the walls (except the empty room), and it makes such a difference to the feel of the rooms. Here's a fun little picture of Lacey helping Daddy prep the room for paint by sanding the wall. As you can see, the color in this room was a horrendous kick-in-the-face orange. The room next to it was a kick-in-the-face pink. Now they are a lovely relaxing minty green color.
I don't think we could have chosen a better neighborhood to move in to. Everyone is so nice and welcoming to us. People are delighted that we've bought the place, since evidently it was rented out for so long, with lots of turnover, and there were some weirdos here before us. That's not to say that we're the epitome of normal, but let's just say we fit in pretty well with the rest of the neighborhood. There are lots of little kids around for Lacey to play with. Lacey loves to "go for walk" and "say hi to friends." A "friend" is anyone under the age of 10 that comes into Lacey's line of vision. And usually, if we walk around the block, we can find someone for Lacey to play with for a few minutes. I love living in a neighborhood.
There will be more pictures once things are more settled. I know, it seems like 2 months should be long enough to get settled into a house, at least enough to get the rooms of mess taken care of, but try doing it 8, then 9 months pregnant, and then with a newborn. It's tough! We had a lot of help from my brother Ben and from my mom, all of which has been greatly appreciated.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Introducing Amy Aleth Bobo
We welcomed Amy Aleth Bobo in to our family Sunday, August 21, 2011, at 5:14 a.m. I've already written one version of her birth story, but I've decided to try again with a clear head.
The Monday before (August 15), I had a regular OB checkup. Turns out I was already 5 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Most women at that point are in the hospital after suffering through several hours of labor. My doctor told me to stick close to home since labor could start any moment. I'd also been having regular Braxton-Hicks contractions for a long time (weeks), and I would occasionally time them when they seemed especially close and intense (they were 6 minutes apart for a couple hours once) but they always subsided, which really was a good thing, though frustrating. We were waiting for my mom to arrive from SC to take care of Lacey before we could really be ready to have a baby. I secretly wished every day that Baby would just COME already. It wasn't so much about wanting the discomforts of pregnancy to end as it was about the waiting and uncertainty of when it would actually happen. I did a lot of walking that week trying to help things along, which was nice since I got to know some of the neighbors that way. And really, as far as the discomforts of pregnancy go, I was extremely blessed to have had very few this time. I had very little swelling, no horrible unrelenting back/leg/hip pain, and only a hint of insomnia there at the end. (With my first pregnancy, all those things were continuously present for the last 4 weeks or so.) And I don't think that I ever got any kicks to my ribs, amazingly enough. Though that's not to say that I didn't get plenty of kicks other places.
So, Saturday, August 20, my mom got here to help out, and I think we all let out a sigh of relief that baby had waited for Grandma to come. And since Grandma was here, I decided to help with the ongoing project of painting the house, something that Phil was adamantly against before. He was sure that if I picked up a paint brush I'd go into labor. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was right...so I was excited to do some painting Saturday afternoon. We primed the kitchen and then painted the hallway and front room. It was hard work and involved a lot of bending and squatting to get the bottom edges of the wall. I probably overdid it a little bit in my zeal to get that baby out, but the hard work paid off. Not only was the front room painted, but I also woke up at 2 am the next morning with painful contractions. I didn't bother timing them--I knew it was time to go by their intensity and the fact that I was already shaking uncontrollably--just got up, got dressed, woke up Phil, told Grandma we were going to the hospital, grabbed my hospital bag, and we were on our way.
My contractions got progressively worse during the 20-minute drive (which we were very glad happened at 2:00 in the morning instead of 5:00 in the afternoon when it would have taken twice as long), and by the time we reached the hospital I could no longer walk or talk through the contractions. And whoever designed the main entryway to the hospital was not thinking of laboring women in wheelchairs when they put down that uneven brick. By the time I got into the delivery room, I was 100% ready for an epidural and beginning to feel like it would never come. The nurse checked me and guessed that I was at 7 cm--a guess because she didn't have time between contractions to find both sides of my cervix (the doctor had the same problem). I was definitely in the worst pain that I've ever had in my life, and it got much worse when the anesthesiologist had me lie on my side to administer the epidural. This part is kind of fuzzy because I was just trying to make it through the contractions. I think I was experiencing some back labor as well, that didn't come and go with the wave of the contraction. It was just always there and extremely painful. I'm not too keen on being in agony, so it was a relief when the epidural kicked in and I could relax for a little while. The nurse was then able to accurately check my cervix and declared me to be at 9 cm, to which the anesthesiologist replied that he knew something like that was up (probably based on the moaning and inability to follow his instructions on my own).
Shortly after that, my doctor showed up looking like we had drug him out of bed (which I'm sure we had). He broke my water and informed me that I was ready to push, but as long as I was reasonably comfortable, he would go take care of paperwork first. And that was fine with me, since a little rest sounded nice before the hard work started.
Pushing commenced at 4:00 am and continued for an hour and 14 minutes. It turned out that Amy was posterior (most babies are born facing down, but Amy was turned to the side), which made her very difficult to get out. The epidural didn't completely numb me, which I found to be very helpful so that I could push more efficiently. It numbed me enough to make the pain bearable, but left me feeling just enough. Kudos, by the way, to those who do/have done this unmedicated. I'm afraid I'm just NOT interested.
So, as I said before, Amy Aleth Bobo was born at 5:14 am, after 3 hours of labor, including an hour and 15 minutes of pushing. She was placed on my stomach while they dried her off (not skin-to-skin, cuz, you now, babies are gross when they come out), but after they took her away and cleaned her up a little, they brought her back for some skin-to-skin. It's a very special moment, to hold your newborn baby to your skin for the first time. Once she stopped crying (she was easily calmed), Amy opened up her eyes and was very aware and content for a few minutes. We were able to nurse, and I was absolutely amazed when she latched on immediately. (Her older sister was a terrible eater for the first few weeks.)
Meanwhile, the doctor stitched me up (which he later said was like putting together a puzzle) and informed me that my tailbone was very likely cracked, and that I was so swollen that I would have to have a catheter for 24 hours. None of these things are fun things. Needless to say, recovery has been long and rather painful, but I am improving. I'm ready to get on a schedule wit h Amy, but I know that that takes time, so I'm trying to be patient, sleep when I can, and get things done when I can.
I can definitely say that my two little girls are my pride and joy. I love to watch them grow and change (it's amazing how much newborns change even in 2 weeks). It's an adventure--let's hope I'm up to it all!
The Monday before (August 15), I had a regular OB checkup. Turns out I was already 5 cm dilated and 100% effaced. Most women at that point are in the hospital after suffering through several hours of labor. My doctor told me to stick close to home since labor could start any moment. I'd also been having regular Braxton-Hicks contractions for a long time (weeks), and I would occasionally time them when they seemed especially close and intense (they were 6 minutes apart for a couple hours once) but they always subsided, which really was a good thing, though frustrating. We were waiting for my mom to arrive from SC to take care of Lacey before we could really be ready to have a baby. I secretly wished every day that Baby would just COME already. It wasn't so much about wanting the discomforts of pregnancy to end as it was about the waiting and uncertainty of when it would actually happen. I did a lot of walking that week trying to help things along, which was nice since I got to know some of the neighbors that way. And really, as far as the discomforts of pregnancy go, I was extremely blessed to have had very few this time. I had very little swelling, no horrible unrelenting back/leg/hip pain, and only a hint of insomnia there at the end. (With my first pregnancy, all those things were continuously present for the last 4 weeks or so.) And I don't think that I ever got any kicks to my ribs, amazingly enough. Though that's not to say that I didn't get plenty of kicks other places.
So, Saturday, August 20, my mom got here to help out, and I think we all let out a sigh of relief that baby had waited for Grandma to come. And since Grandma was here, I decided to help with the ongoing project of painting the house, something that Phil was adamantly against before. He was sure that if I picked up a paint brush I'd go into labor. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was right...so I was excited to do some painting Saturday afternoon. We primed the kitchen and then painted the hallway and front room. It was hard work and involved a lot of bending and squatting to get the bottom edges of the wall. I probably overdid it a little bit in my zeal to get that baby out, but the hard work paid off. Not only was the front room painted, but I also woke up at 2 am the next morning with painful contractions. I didn't bother timing them--I knew it was time to go by their intensity and the fact that I was already shaking uncontrollably--just got up, got dressed, woke up Phil, told Grandma we were going to the hospital, grabbed my hospital bag, and we were on our way.
My contractions got progressively worse during the 20-minute drive (which we were very glad happened at 2:00 in the morning instead of 5:00 in the afternoon when it would have taken twice as long), and by the time we reached the hospital I could no longer walk or talk through the contractions. And whoever designed the main entryway to the hospital was not thinking of laboring women in wheelchairs when they put down that uneven brick. By the time I got into the delivery room, I was 100% ready for an epidural and beginning to feel like it would never come. The nurse checked me and guessed that I was at 7 cm--a guess because she didn't have time between contractions to find both sides of my cervix (the doctor had the same problem). I was definitely in the worst pain that I've ever had in my life, and it got much worse when the anesthesiologist had me lie on my side to administer the epidural. This part is kind of fuzzy because I was just trying to make it through the contractions. I think I was experiencing some back labor as well, that didn't come and go with the wave of the contraction. It was just always there and extremely painful. I'm not too keen on being in agony, so it was a relief when the epidural kicked in and I could relax for a little while. The nurse was then able to accurately check my cervix and declared me to be at 9 cm, to which the anesthesiologist replied that he knew something like that was up (probably based on the moaning and inability to follow his instructions on my own).
Shortly after that, my doctor showed up looking like we had drug him out of bed (which I'm sure we had). He broke my water and informed me that I was ready to push, but as long as I was reasonably comfortable, he would go take care of paperwork first. And that was fine with me, since a little rest sounded nice before the hard work started.
Pushing commenced at 4:00 am and continued for an hour and 14 minutes. It turned out that Amy was posterior (most babies are born facing down, but Amy was turned to the side), which made her very difficult to get out. The epidural didn't completely numb me, which I found to be very helpful so that I could push more efficiently. It numbed me enough to make the pain bearable, but left me feeling just enough. Kudos, by the way, to those who do/have done this unmedicated. I'm afraid I'm just NOT interested.
So, as I said before, Amy Aleth Bobo was born at 5:14 am, after 3 hours of labor, including an hour and 15 minutes of pushing. She was placed on my stomach while they dried her off (not skin-to-skin, cuz, you now, babies are gross when they come out), but after they took her away and cleaned her up a little, they brought her back for some skin-to-skin. It's a very special moment, to hold your newborn baby to your skin for the first time. Once she stopped crying (she was easily calmed), Amy opened up her eyes and was very aware and content for a few minutes. We were able to nurse, and I was absolutely amazed when she latched on immediately. (Her older sister was a terrible eater for the first few weeks.)
Meanwhile, the doctor stitched me up (which he later said was like putting together a puzzle) and informed me that my tailbone was very likely cracked, and that I was so swollen that I would have to have a catheter for 24 hours. None of these things are fun things. Needless to say, recovery has been long and rather painful, but I am improving. I'm ready to get on a schedule wit h Amy, but I know that that takes time, so I'm trying to be patient, sleep when I can, and get things done when I can.
I can definitely say that my two little girls are my pride and joy. I love to watch them grow and change (it's amazing how much newborns change even in 2 weeks). It's an adventure--let's hope I'm up to it all!
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