arley evelyn | a birth story

I never understood the difference between 39ish weeks pregnant and 40 weeks pregnant until the 40 week pregnant mark rolled around and I knew.

March 25, 2015. Forty weeks pregnant.

I'm not sure I would ever ask an OB to induce me for any reason. But I really wanted to anyway. (I didn't, I didn't!)

Originally I had planned on just running to my quick 10 min  OB appt by myself (with B in tow) but last minute, R decided to get someone to cover his last class so he could go too. That ended up being a good thing.

I wasn't planning on having a baby that day but we were a little hopeful and put everything in the car just in case….

2:00 pm. During the appointment my blood pressure (which had been low all but once the entire pregnancy) was high and I had signs of preeclampsia. I was dilated 2 and my contractions were 5 minutes apart (though still nothing I could say for certain were the real deal). The OB sends me to the hospital for a medically indicated induction. She tells me they are expecting me and with my preeclampsia symptoms I need to get there right away. We agreed and headed to Jethros for an early dinner. ;)

3:15 pm. We finished up the 'last meal' and my friend Erin met us to pick up B (thanks again for being a life saver!).

3:45 pm. We get checked into Birthing Suite 3003 and gowned up. Then wait. And wait. We hang out with several nurses between births while we wait to see who we will get. I begged each one to let me walk the halls but each bp check worked against me and I was stuck (they aren't big fans of pregnant mamas having seizures while walking the halls I guess). Contractions were getting closer together but still not strong enough to text home about.

5:30 pm. Three nurses and four pokes later and I have an IV in my arm. (They blamed my ridiculous blood pressure.) I feel like a pin cushion.

6:00 pm. Dilated 3. Contractions 3 minutes apart.

6:30 pm. Start a little pitocin (that I'm not sure I got my monies worth out of because there was barely any out of the bag when it was all said and done- I'm totally not complaining though!).

8:30 pm. Water broke.

8:45 pm. FaceTime with B. He had made his way to grandma's via Erin and Hillary and we were excited to 'see' him and visit before he went to bed. Little sister must have been excited to hear his voice because as soon as he was on the line the pressure on my pelvic bone became unbearable. She was ready to get out of there!

At this point my contractions still weren't bad. I never had really bad ones with B either so this wasn't a surprise but I did make a comment about how it was weird my IV pokes hurt stronger than my contractions. The nurses said that was pretty common with people that have had endometriosis because you're comparing the pain to that. It made complete sense and validated my fear of not wanting to depend on the strength of my contractions to know when to head to the hospital. I was even more thankful we were sent in from the OB office.

That said. Don't hate me too much. That pelvic pain I felt was unbearable. There was very little I could do for it and very little anyone could help me with. This part of the story gets hard and I've only attempted to tell it once so far. (I started crying that time and never finished.) I'm not sure if I'll ever share that part here but emotionally, this was my hard spot. R was rock solid for me. The nursing team was amazing. We decided the best thing for me to do at that point was the epidural. (I had no strong feelings about it either way so this wasn't a disappointment to me.)

10:00 pm. Epidural guy joins us and tells us all about his upcoming trip to Hawaii. (And possibly does the epidural but it's hard to know.) R gives the photographer the all clear to come.

10:30 pm. Fully effaced. 6 cm. I had been having some chills but otherwise nothing bad. There was still pelvic bone pressure but emotionally I was doing better. At some point between here and pushing, the super talented Tessa from Studio T Photography arrives in time to capture the birth.

11:15 pm. I tell them I need to push. I hadn't appeared to go through transition yet (minus the chills) so I'm not sure anyone believed me. They checked me anyway and sure enough- decided they better get the OB. I get a practice push in and apparently it was a good one because they had me stop right away to wait for the OB. I try but it's so hard not to push when your body is telling you it's time.

11:30 pm. The nurse announces baby A will be born today. I whole heartedly disagree- it did take three hours of pushing with B after all. OB arrives and they let me push. I was completely and fully aware (physically and emotionally) this time. With B I don't remember much of the actual birth part. I definitely don't remember feeling the fullness of it as he was born. I feel every bit of this (again- it's hard to know how much of an epidural I actually got… I make a note to self to tell the anesthesiologist he might not want to count on a paycheck from me to fund his Hawaii trip). I remember thinking pushing this time was so peaceful. Which I know makes absolutely no sense. I hope someday soon I'll be able to put it into words.

11:45 pm. After a short and easy 15 minutes of pushing only when I felt like it (again- don't hate me- remember I pushed 3+ hours for B?), Arley Evelyn is welcomed into the world. She reaches her long fingers up towards mine and grabs ahold as if to say 'nice to meet you.' My heart explodes. Tears flow from my eyes as we embrace and she snuggles into my chest. I can hardly believe my little girl is here.

She scores a 9 and a 9. She's weighed in at 6 lbs 8 oz (she was later measured downstairs at 20 1/2" long).

12:50 am. We snuggle in for skin time and I'm surprised when she quickly (and very strongly) latches on. She nursed for quite awhile on both sides and before we left the birthing unit I even had colostrum coming in for her (again- completely different from my experience with B!). Our sweet nurse comments that we're pros and don't even need her. It was sweet of them to say but I was surprised when everyone actually left and we were left to hang out with our new baby girl. It was a sweet moment. We cheers in celebration.

2:00 am. We pass all our post delivery checks and hop in the wheel chair and head out. We go over the same bump into the same elevator that made B cry and she also isn't a fan. I comfort her with my hands and voice as I hold her close and another sweet baby is mine. Another sweet baby has a place in my heart. Another sweet baby teaches me it is possible to love beyond anything I knew the heart was capable of.

My heart is so full.



(Some images by myself or R but most images by Tessa from Studio T Imagery. We were so blessed to have her there to capture these moments for us.)

Other things I don't want to forget- 
-Our nurse was a former Creston student (in fact R was her health teacher and she still wanted to be a nurse)- how crazy is that?! 
-With B, we had a room full but this time it was just R & myself. I loved it. 
-The chocolates were because once I hit the date I thought she would be born I started doing everything I could to make things like they were before B was born. He had chocolates so we made her some too. The sparkling pink lemonade and basket were gifts from friends and I loved feeling a little fancy celebration for our girl.
-I'll add more here but we are so ready fro bed right now…. ;) 

Arley Evelyn Hicks

She's here! And we're smitten!

Arley Evelyn Hicks

3.25.15 - 6lbs 8oz - 20.5"
A little bit of dark hair and a whole lotta perfection.
We're in love!

friday night surprise!

No.. not the surprise we were waiting on… but a huge, awesome, amazing surprise nonetheless.

And I literally had NO idea.

I'm still in shock.

So my friend Ashley and I had casually made plans to hang out tonight (in case we were still on baby watch. which we are.) because she knew I'd be going a little stir crazy right about this time.

So when I got home from errands today I changed into sweatpants and had no plans of changing out of them- I knew she would show up in sweats too, it was all good. Until she showed up looking all cute and definitely not in sweats. She said something along the lines of 'hey lets go!' To which I responded with something like 'is it somewhere I need to wear pants to?'

I'm so glad I put pants on.


So she picks me up and whisks me away to another friend's house where we find a house full of amazing ladies with amazing food, thoughtful cards and amazing gifts.

Did I mention I'm still in shock?

I only had tears three times. Okay four. And didn't even really cry until I got home. But when it came it was a big cry. We'll pretend it was a Nicholas Sparks movie cry and not an ugly one.



You guys. I'm so blessed.

I don't know how or why God has blessed me with such a supportive and amazing group of women to call 'my people.' I'm just so thankful He has.





Some the amazing ladies in my life….

Some of the amazing cookies my talented friend Mary made for the occasion (you can find her here at Sugar & Butter on fb!)….

And one of the sweetest gifts in the history of ever… A handwritten book by T….

Like I said. So blessed.

Baby girl, you are so loved by so many. And lots of us are ready to meet you anytime now. ;)

our family of three

I put together this little video of B waiting to be a big brother. He said, "hey! That song is about us!" Yes, sweet buddy, it is. :)

You'll always be the one that made me a mama.

waiting

Before I start this post… let me just say that I am SO thankful to be carrying this baby girl. I love feeling her wiggle and kick and stretch (especially when she's doing her best to get as close to her brother as she can… melt my heart!). Since week 35, I've actually been feeling pretty good but even before that I was (and am) fully aware of what a blessing this pregnancy is.

That said...

We're a little tired of waiting. ;)

Her official due date is Wednesday but I had in my mind she would come when B did (14 hours ago). So this is officially the longest I've ever been pregnant. Add on top of that other pregnancies and post miscarriage pregnancy hormones taking for. ev. er. to leave my body- since September 2013 there's only been two full months in there where I haven't had pregnancy hormones in my body. Did you catch that? That's a whole lotta months of being a hormonal hot mess.

So yeah. I love being baby A's mommy and I love being the one to carry her. But this mama is a little tired. Slightly easy to annoy. And getting a little uncomfortable.

So project 'distract me from thinking about my water breaking at any second' is in full force.

I've snapped pics of B I've been wanting to get before he's no longer my only baby (but he'll always be my first). And put together this video using some of them… because seriously cute.

I've set up some studio set ups for baby girl. Because cuteness.

I've worked on uploading some future posts for work and here.

I've tried (though maybe not as hard as I should be) to get caught up on email and everything work related. (To be honest, part of me is keeping a little work to do for when I need to 'lock' myself in the basement with a do not disturb sign cause mama's working.) ;)

I finished some little projects I'd been wanting to get done.

I've tried to get as much time in with my boys (as a family of three) while I have the chance.

I've walked and walked. and walked.

And (because several have asked where we're registered and the answer is nowhere…), I moved some stuff from our big giant amazon wish list over to a baby girl list so if anyone asks again I'll be prepared next time. (In case you asked me before and I didn't have anything for you- here's the list. But seriously, do not feel like you have to visit it! : Baby Girl List ) It has odds and ends and a few things I'd never buy myself but would super love (like this stroller) and a couple fun things that are too stinkin' cute… like these adorable milestone cards. Not found on amazon but kind of hilarious anyway… the mess-ups + milestone cards (found here)… which include cards I would hope to never have to use like this one…

Ha.



So I've been trying to stay busy.

But I haven't cleaned. (Maybe that's what she's waiting on?!)




So that's what we've been up to. How is your spring break going? :)

Summer '14 Road Trip (part 2)

After leaving the city (see part 1 for more on that)… we headed towards the beach! There's something about the sand and the water that speaks to my soul. I can't get enough. And yet I live smack dab in the middle of the US. Go figure. That said, the lake isn't too far of a drive and if you don't think too much about it, it totally feels like you're at the ocean. I'll for sure be back.

We stopped at Indiana Dunes before making our way up to Michigan. We stopped along several little Michigan spots and parks and stayed at the Grand Marina in New Buffalo. The loft was awesome and I kinda wanted to live there. It was definitely bigger than any apartment we've ever lived in.

Anyway…. the beach pics kinda speak for themselves. Sorry for the overload of pics here. ;)

Summer '14 Road Trip (part 1)

This post may be a bit overdue…. Our summer road trip… Part 1: Chicago….


R is a city boy. Sure he grew up in smallish town Iowa but he feeds off the city's energy. Chicago is his jam. He's been several times but this was our first family trip there. I loved watching him show B the city. And as much as B is like me, he LOVED the city like his daddy.

Some Chicago highlights:

-Navy Pier (probably my favorite Chicago spot). The people watching is top notch here. And there's all kinds of little parks nearby for the (then) two year old to explore. We rode the ferris wheel (even though it says not to if pregnant, sorry A!). It was way too high up there for my liking. :| B's favorite part was maybe the fire station we visited on the way back… they let him get in and 'drive' the truck and learn all about how very different a Chicago fire fighter's life is than an Iowa fire fighter's (and how very different it is from what we see on tv). ;)

-Shedd Aquarium. B asked about a million times last year if he could go to a shark aquarium. So Shedd had to be on the list. He was a little tired/cranky that day and didn't seem to be a huge fan of most of it but he STILL talks about it so it must have been a hit anyway. I'll never forget the bird that attacked us at lunch (it literally landed on B's head and started pecking away- in a mom of the year moment, I froze! Sorry, B!). :( Or the 4D show we tried to watch… He freaked when the animals 'spit' water on us. He literally ran out of the theater with me right behind him. He ripped off the 3D shades and started telling the patrons waiting, "Don't go in there! It's scary! It's a bad trick!!!" I wasn't sure if it was an appropriate time to laugh or not but we definitely do now.. (Again, sorry B!) ;)

-City Walking. Giordianos Pizza. The Bean. All the big highlights crossed off the list. It was a lot of walking for this tired mama but was glad to see some of the must see sights on the list. B was a huge fan of all the fountains in the city.

-Cubs game. This was for R's birthday. He loves Wrigley. It was my first trip and I'm glad I got to go. Unfortunately B didn't last too long and he, mom and I ended up taking a cab ride back to the hotel a little early. R and Max stayed forever (about a million overtimes… uhhh… extra innings? later I think Chicago ended up winning).

-United Center. Because R and B HAD to see Michael Jordan while we were in town.

As we bid farewell to the city, we asked B what his favorite part of this leg of our trip was. His answer: "The race car ride!" I was confused and asked him what he meant. "You know, the race car ride back to the hotel." Apparently the Chicago taxi cabs made quite the impression on him. Also, it did feel like a race car ride. :)

Dear Chicago, You're fun. And even though I much prefer a beach (more on that soon) to you, I'm sure we'll be back someday if R has anything to say about it. :) XOXO, H

updates (aka the post about how we nearly met our deductible in a week)

So the last 7 days have been a bit crazy here.

We started last week with an EEG for B Diddy. It's possible he is having absent seizures and the goal of the EEG was to rule out that they were from anything serious (brain tumor/brain damage). (We were able to rule those out- hallelujah! We weren't able to pinpoint the type of absent seizure it may be so he goes back for a 24 hour test in June- not so yay but something we can deal with.)

Anyway, overall there isn't much awesome about keeping your 'needs sleep like his mama' boy up most of the night then spending most of the day at the hospital but there were some sweet moments throughout the day I don't want to forget…..

While the nurse was taping the sensors to his head, he was wincing his face in pain and trying hard to be brave. I said, "You're doing great buddy. She just has to put these stickers on your head before they can start." Through a pain filled face he said, "Oh thank you. I like stickers." (Tears.)

Later, after the bandage was on, it was really hurting his head. He apparently didn't want to cause a fuss because he wouldn't tell the nurse but once she walked away he buried his head in my shoulder and whispered "It hurts mommy. It really hurts." as he and I both tried not to cry (I totally did though). 

He was super brave and rocked his test. That said, the thought of doing a 24 hour one with a newborn scares me a little. Prayers definitely appreciated.

Mid-week I had my regular OB check up. I had fallen off the growth curve so we got a surprise ultrasound peek at Miss A. She's measuring small but doing good. She looks to be at the top of the charts for height (no surprise there) so that thankfully helped her weight. Measurement wise though she's a peanut and hopefully she's grown this week so we don't have to worry about inducing or anything. (Grow baby, grow!)

And to finish the week with a bang… I came down with a nasty stomach bug. In an effort to avoid tmi let's just say I used stomach muscles in all directions in ways I haven't in a long time. The stomach bug cranked up the contractions and it was pain. ful. I was not brave at all and told R I was gonna need an epidural right now. I really didn't care if she was two weeks away. I just wanted an epidural. Finally we decided we should call the OB and we ended up with a room with a view at the hospital. The big things were they needed to stop the contractions (no need to kick start labor as long as baby is still growing- with her size we want to give her as much time to grow as we can) and I needed to be hydrated. After bags of fluids and some drugs, I eventually was well enough to go home. Exhausted but doing SO much better. Filled with fear about what labor might be like though (cause that was not easy) and ditching any plans I had of skipping the epidural this time. ;) 

Just for fun… baby girls heartbeat…

SO our week was eventful. Hopefully this week will be a little less crazy and filled with a little more 'getting things done before baby comes.' Cause I'd love to have that to do list complete soon. :)

Happy Monday. Hoping your week is less crazy than ours seem to be lately. :)