I feel like I've written this post before. Oh wait, I did... at 37 weeks when I was pregnant with Brice. These last few days are starting to seem strangely familiar.
Joel and I went to see Dr. Pendyala yesterday for our 37+ week appointment. Pee in cup, check. Blood pressure, normal. Heartbeat, 130 bpm and H2 was moving like a champion. I asked Dr. Pendyala to do a quickie internal to see if there was any progress as I've been feeling lots of pressure, pain and cramping. She checked. Nothing. Not dilated, not effaced and my cervix was still high and tight. Dr. Pendyala was happy and I was disappointed. I was hoping that all the pain and discomfort would lead to some progress, perhaps open up the possibility of moving the c-section up a couple of days. Alas, nothing.
So we wait. We go back again on Monday for our final, pre-surgery appointment and then we just have one more week to live (read: suffer) through.
Both Brice and Joel have little colds. I took Brice to the doctor yesterday just to check to be sure it wasn't an ear infection as he'd been tugging on his ear for a few days. The doctor told me his ears looked fine, his gums looked good and all that it seemed to be was a little throat irritation. They ran a quick strep test which came back negative. By the time Joel got home from work yesterday, he was feeling awful. He took some Nyquil and retreated upstairs to the bedroom to get a good night's sleep.
So, I think for the most part, we're all done. We're done with feeling like poop. We're done with being sick. We're done with sleepless nights and seemingly never ending days. I get calls from lots of people telling me to relax and enjoy these last few days of being a mother of one, but I'll be honest, there's not much to enjoy. Its very difficult for me to carry or play with Brice and within an hour, my energy is dwindling. The most enjoyable thing we do is go to the pool for family swim hour. Brice loves the pool and I love feeling weightless for a few minutes. Yes, I'm feeling the self pity at the moment. I'm ready for this science experiment to be OVER so that I can get back to being a parent, having a life and doing the simple things like sleeping on my stomach, zipping up my boots or wearing clothing that doesn't include a hefty elastic waistband.
Oh, one piece of good news! We did get a new camera. I'll upload some of the new photos this evening and post them. We're due for a 13 month Brice update!
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Well I'm Couch-Bound, Mama
So much for my uneventful last month of pregnancy. Monday night, while driving home from work, I started feeling sharp shooting pains that began at my right hip and continued down my leg to my calf. I got home early, so I asked Graciela to stay a bit longer so that I could take a quick, warm bath in the hopes that the muscles would relax and the pain would subside. The bath seemed to help, so I sent Graciela home and went back to playing with Brice. I put him to sleep and I could feel the pain as it returned to my right side. By the time Joel got home an hour later, I was limping around the house and couldn't make it up or down the steps. I tried getting on my hands and knees so Joel could massage my hip. I tried lying down on the floor with my knees up at a 90 degree angle. I tried walking around the house. Nothing worked. Finally, I gave up and went to bed. The pain became worse throughout the night and by about 1am, I was waking up every hour to get up and move.
Tuesday morning I called in to work to say I would be working from home. The pain was now traveling up my side and I was starting to feel some good contractions. I took a shower and had about two contractions while I stood under the warm water. We called the doctor and she said to try to sit still with my feet elevated. By 1pm, the contractions were coming with some regularity and I was full on uncomfortable. Another call to the doc and we were told to go to labor and delivery at the hospital for some monitoring.
We showed up at the hospital and the nice nurses there got me all hooked up to the machines. The contractions were coming every 9-11 minutes but were not getting any closer or more intense. An internal showed that I was not dilated or effaced, so the contractions were not progressing into true labor. After two hours, we were sent home and told to continue to sit and rest.
Wednesday we went back to see Dr. Pendyala for a quickie growth ultrasound and appointment. The ultrasound tech went quickly, but we were able to get a brief glimpse of our little girl. At 35-36 weeks, she was measuring at 5lbs, 12 oz. Perfectly average! Her lungs were functioning, my fluid levels were perfect, her kidneys appeared to be working and she was head down and happy. Dr. Pendyala was happy with the results. She basically instructed me to stay at home for the remainder of the week. We'll see her again on Monday and hopefully at that point, she'll green light me to go back to work. While its very relaxing being at home, I'm already a little bored and the fact that I can't do much doesn't make this "time off" very fun at all.
I'll hit the 36 week mark tomorrow and the doctors feel that if I can make it one more week, the baby will be good to go if she decides to come early. I'm all for letting her bake but this discomfort is... well... uncomfortable (and as I am typing this, I'm having a contraction!). So, we've got 25 days to go. Tick, tock, tick, tock.
Tuesday morning I called in to work to say I would be working from home. The pain was now traveling up my side and I was starting to feel some good contractions. I took a shower and had about two contractions while I stood under the warm water. We called the doctor and she said to try to sit still with my feet elevated. By 1pm, the contractions were coming with some regularity and I was full on uncomfortable. Another call to the doc and we were told to go to labor and delivery at the hospital for some monitoring.
We showed up at the hospital and the nice nurses there got me all hooked up to the machines. The contractions were coming every 9-11 minutes but were not getting any closer or more intense. An internal showed that I was not dilated or effaced, so the contractions were not progressing into true labor. After two hours, we were sent home and told to continue to sit and rest.
Wednesday we went back to see Dr. Pendyala for a quickie growth ultrasound and appointment. The ultrasound tech went quickly, but we were able to get a brief glimpse of our little girl. At 35-36 weeks, she was measuring at 5lbs, 12 oz. Perfectly average! Her lungs were functioning, my fluid levels were perfect, her kidneys appeared to be working and she was head down and happy. Dr. Pendyala was happy with the results. She basically instructed me to stay at home for the remainder of the week. We'll see her again on Monday and hopefully at that point, she'll green light me to go back to work. While its very relaxing being at home, I'm already a little bored and the fact that I can't do much doesn't make this "time off" very fun at all.
I'll hit the 36 week mark tomorrow and the doctors feel that if I can make it one more week, the baby will be good to go if she decides to come early. I'm all for letting her bake but this discomfort is... well... uncomfortable (and as I am typing this, I'm having a contraction!). So, we've got 25 days to go. Tick, tock, tick, tock.
Monday, January 11, 2010
35 Weeks, 30 Years Old and a Trip to the Pool
First, I want to wish my wonderful husband a very Happy 30th Birthday. He turned the big 3-0 yesterday and I'm so happy that he is finally joining me in the "old fart's club." It was a little lonely being the only club member in the household. We had a wonderful dinner at Rouge last night with Allyson, Eric, Eleana, Dan, Chrissy, Rob and Simon. The food was pretty good but the company, as always, was excellent. So nice to have such a good group of friends. Oh, and I'm never going to forgive Allyson for buying Joel a video game for a birthday gift! What were you thinking? I'm sure I'll find him couch-bound at 3am playing shoot-em-up against 10-year-olds. Good times.
We hit the 35 week mark on Friday and as of today, I have exactly 28 days to go until the big c-section (unless H2 decides to bless us with an early appearance, although we're not holding our breath). I'm feeling HUGE, none of my clothes are fitting me, sleep is pretty much non-existent and this heartburn crap really needs to end ASAP. I know that I'm in the home stretch and I'm thankful to see the end in sight, but I really wish the pregnancy gods would play nice and give me a day or two reprieve. I've forgotten what its like to be able to catch my breath and see my feet and even shaving my legs is a task (a task that I am still doing every day, thank you very much).
We've got a doctor's appointment with Dr. Pendyala and an ultrasound scheduled for Monday, January 18. This is the 36-weeker so they'll take some measurements of H2, look at the amniotic fluid and attempt to give us an idea of how much she'll weigh on the big day. I went back to look at Brice's measurements from this appointment and they were putting him at 8lbs, 3oz. This was pretty accurate as they say that babies gain about 5oz per week at this point and he was almost 9lbs at birth at 39 weeks. Please feel free to place bets this time around on how big or small you think little girlie is.
Joel and I also took a major step this week and we joined the New Canaan YMCA. I figure, once this second baby is born, I really have no excuse to continue avoiding the gym as I've done for the past two years. They've got a great swimming facility and it will be nice to also take some spin and yoga classes again.
We decided we'd jump right in (literally) and we took Brice to the family swim hour on Saturday. Let me start by telling you that getting into our suits and into the pool was a workout unto itself. Joel decided to lift weights for a bit before going swimming, so I went with Brice into the women's locker room. I got him undressed and put on his swim diaper, at which point he burst into tears. I had a feeling he was getting hungry, so I pulled a bottle out of my bag and shoved it into his mouth. We sat on the floor while he ate... in his swim diaper...which is not absorbent at all. I prayed that he would not pee all over the floor. Finally I was able to get him in his bathing suit. Now it was my turn. For anyone who has spent time with me over the last few weeks knows that I move at a snails pace. Trying to get boots off, pants off, underwear off and bathing suit on while managing a 13-month-old was challenging. There was a moment when my foot became lodged in my underwear at the exact moment that Brice decided to peek under one of the changing room curtains. I'm not sure if Brice's face or my half-naked pregnant body scared this poor little old lady more as I grabbed him just as he was about to pull back the curtain.
We made our way out to the pool. I sat Brice on the side and hopped in. Joel was right. Feeling weightless was WONDERFUL. I brought Brice into the pool and we bopped around for a few minutes when once again, he started to cry. I was determined to get him to spend some time swimming, so we sat on the side for a bit while he calmed down. One of the nice lifeguards brought over some rubber duckies for Brice to play with and I'm not sure what the connection was, but all of a sudden, he was all smiles. We played with the duckies, dunked our heads under, he jumped off my shoulders into the water and even held on to the kickboard. He was a real champ in the water and Joel and I were so proud of him for being fearless. My plan is to try to take him once a week going forward so that by the time we go down to Florida, he's a real swimming master. Yes, this is part of my master plan to breed a future Olympic swimmer.
So, we'll update more after our doctor's appointment next week. Let's hear it for big, healthy babies!
We hit the 35 week mark on Friday and as of today, I have exactly 28 days to go until the big c-section (unless H2 decides to bless us with an early appearance, although we're not holding our breath). I'm feeling HUGE, none of my clothes are fitting me, sleep is pretty much non-existent and this heartburn crap really needs to end ASAP. I know that I'm in the home stretch and I'm thankful to see the end in sight, but I really wish the pregnancy gods would play nice and give me a day or two reprieve. I've forgotten what its like to be able to catch my breath and see my feet and even shaving my legs is a task (a task that I am still doing every day, thank you very much).
We've got a doctor's appointment with Dr. Pendyala and an ultrasound scheduled for Monday, January 18. This is the 36-weeker so they'll take some measurements of H2, look at the amniotic fluid and attempt to give us an idea of how much she'll weigh on the big day. I went back to look at Brice's measurements from this appointment and they were putting him at 8lbs, 3oz. This was pretty accurate as they say that babies gain about 5oz per week at this point and he was almost 9lbs at birth at 39 weeks. Please feel free to place bets this time around on how big or small you think little girlie is.
Joel and I also took a major step this week and we joined the New Canaan YMCA. I figure, once this second baby is born, I really have no excuse to continue avoiding the gym as I've done for the past two years. They've got a great swimming facility and it will be nice to also take some spin and yoga classes again.
We decided we'd jump right in (literally) and we took Brice to the family swim hour on Saturday. Let me start by telling you that getting into our suits and into the pool was a workout unto itself. Joel decided to lift weights for a bit before going swimming, so I went with Brice into the women's locker room. I got him undressed and put on his swim diaper, at which point he burst into tears. I had a feeling he was getting hungry, so I pulled a bottle out of my bag and shoved it into his mouth. We sat on the floor while he ate... in his swim diaper...which is not absorbent at all. I prayed that he would not pee all over the floor. Finally I was able to get him in his bathing suit. Now it was my turn. For anyone who has spent time with me over the last few weeks knows that I move at a snails pace. Trying to get boots off, pants off, underwear off and bathing suit on while managing a 13-month-old was challenging. There was a moment when my foot became lodged in my underwear at the exact moment that Brice decided to peek under one of the changing room curtains. I'm not sure if Brice's face or my half-naked pregnant body scared this poor little old lady more as I grabbed him just as he was about to pull back the curtain.
We made our way out to the pool. I sat Brice on the side and hopped in. Joel was right. Feeling weightless was WONDERFUL. I brought Brice into the pool and we bopped around for a few minutes when once again, he started to cry. I was determined to get him to spend some time swimming, so we sat on the side for a bit while he calmed down. One of the nice lifeguards brought over some rubber duckies for Brice to play with and I'm not sure what the connection was, but all of a sudden, he was all smiles. We played with the duckies, dunked our heads under, he jumped off my shoulders into the water and even held on to the kickboard. He was a real champ in the water and Joel and I were so proud of him for being fearless. My plan is to try to take him once a week going forward so that by the time we go down to Florida, he's a real swimming master. Yes, this is part of my master plan to breed a future Olympic swimmer.
So, we'll update more after our doctor's appointment next week. Let's hear it for big, healthy babies!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Oh the weather outside is frightful
We're leaving for Bethesda tonight for Christmas and while I'll try to make one final post before 2009 concludes, these days, I make no promises.
The Harvills (north) survived the first "blizzard of the century" from last week. After two days of waiting, Joel and I estimate that we got about 9-11 inches of snow which doesn't really qualify as a blizzard in my book. For Connecticut winters, it was nothing major to us. We paid some guys to shovel our driveway, we made a fire and thanks to our new Jeep, we weren't even locked in the house for too long.
We did have our first Cosby kids moment with Brice during the snowstorm. My parents sent us spiffy new snow pants for Brice so we figured we'd test them out by taking him out in the snow. My theory has always been that I dress my kids as I dress myself. For snowy conditions, this means pants, socks, snow pants, long sleeved shirt, sweater, jacket, gloves, hat and boots. I really feel for people who live in chilly conditions year round with children. It took me and Joel approximately 30 minutes to get Brice into his various layers and then it took another 15 minutes of me, sitting in the floor with my back up against a wall and Joel pushing with all of his might to get my snow boots on. How I manage to be swollen when its 10 degrees outside is beyond me. So, we finally got Brice out into the snow, made it halfway around the block and he started to cry. His nose was running, his cheeks were rosy and he was clearly not happy. By the time we got back to the house, he was hysterical. Its amazing how it can take 30 minutes to get a kid fully dressed and only take 30 seconds to get them back down to a diaper. As soon as he was back in the warmth in normal clothes, he was happy again. Joel made it all better by taking him in the bubble bath with the jets on. Brice is definitely my child. He could have played in the tub all day!
I had my 32-week check up appointment with Dr. Pendyala on Monday. We've tentatively scheduled the c-section for Monday, February 8 although I could go into labor earlier or an emergency could push us back. Regardless, its nice to have an end date to look forward to and as of this Monday, we'll have 6 weeks to go until we meet baby H2. The 50-day mark never looked to good! I miraculously gained another 3lbs putting me at parity to where I was with Brice at the 32-week mark. I guess the weeks of throwing up that I suffered through during the start of this pregnancy were no match for my keen ability to eat and gain. Sigh. I lost the weight once and I guess I'll have to do it again! Otherwise, we listened to H2's heartbeat (fast and strong), measured my belly (perfect) and scheduled our last ultrasound for January 20. Its weird to think that I'm in the home stretch now and that we'll be a family of four in just over one month.
Last night we drove up to Brewster to pick up our new car. A shiny used Ford Edge! Woo hoo! We are now a 2-SUV family. The Ford is only on lease to us for one year so by next Christmas, we'll determine what our needs really are. All I know is, I'm happy to be getting rid of the Saab. While it was my favorite car to drive from a sportiness perspective, it sure is uncomfortable to sit in with this damn belly in my way.
When we got home last night, Graciela was waiting for us to tell us the bad news. The gutter in our TV room had frozen and created a dam of ice. The melting ice and snow had nowhere to go so instead of running down the gutter and into the yard, it was running over the side of the gutter, into our window and all over our floor. The entire sliding door looked like a waterfall and had already soaked through the floor mat and several towels. Joel once again donned 35 layers of clothing, grabbed the ladder and went out into the ice and snow with a hammer and a chisel to attempt to remove the block of ice from our gutter. Ah, the joys of home ownership are never-ending.
So, we're outta here tonight. As I've mentioned on Facebook, I am praying for the following:
The Harvills (north) survived the first "blizzard of the century" from last week. After two days of waiting, Joel and I estimate that we got about 9-11 inches of snow which doesn't really qualify as a blizzard in my book. For Connecticut winters, it was nothing major to us. We paid some guys to shovel our driveway, we made a fire and thanks to our new Jeep, we weren't even locked in the house for too long.
We did have our first Cosby kids moment with Brice during the snowstorm. My parents sent us spiffy new snow pants for Brice so we figured we'd test them out by taking him out in the snow. My theory has always been that I dress my kids as I dress myself. For snowy conditions, this means pants, socks, snow pants, long sleeved shirt, sweater, jacket, gloves, hat and boots. I really feel for people who live in chilly conditions year round with children. It took me and Joel approximately 30 minutes to get Brice into his various layers and then it took another 15 minutes of me, sitting in the floor with my back up against a wall and Joel pushing with all of his might to get my snow boots on. How I manage to be swollen when its 10 degrees outside is beyond me. So, we finally got Brice out into the snow, made it halfway around the block and he started to cry. His nose was running, his cheeks were rosy and he was clearly not happy. By the time we got back to the house, he was hysterical. Its amazing how it can take 30 minutes to get a kid fully dressed and only take 30 seconds to get them back down to a diaper. As soon as he was back in the warmth in normal clothes, he was happy again. Joel made it all better by taking him in the bubble bath with the jets on. Brice is definitely my child. He could have played in the tub all day!
I had my 32-week check up appointment with Dr. Pendyala on Monday. We've tentatively scheduled the c-section for Monday, February 8 although I could go into labor earlier or an emergency could push us back. Regardless, its nice to have an end date to look forward to and as of this Monday, we'll have 6 weeks to go until we meet baby H2. The 50-day mark never looked to good! I miraculously gained another 3lbs putting me at parity to where I was with Brice at the 32-week mark. I guess the weeks of throwing up that I suffered through during the start of this pregnancy were no match for my keen ability to eat and gain. Sigh. I lost the weight once and I guess I'll have to do it again! Otherwise, we listened to H2's heartbeat (fast and strong), measured my belly (perfect) and scheduled our last ultrasound for January 20. Its weird to think that I'm in the home stretch now and that we'll be a family of four in just over one month.
Last night we drove up to Brewster to pick up our new car. A shiny used Ford Edge! Woo hoo! We are now a 2-SUV family. The Ford is only on lease to us for one year so by next Christmas, we'll determine what our needs really are. All I know is, I'm happy to be getting rid of the Saab. While it was my favorite car to drive from a sportiness perspective, it sure is uncomfortable to sit in with this damn belly in my way.
When we got home last night, Graciela was waiting for us to tell us the bad news. The gutter in our TV room had frozen and created a dam of ice. The melting ice and snow had nowhere to go so instead of running down the gutter and into the yard, it was running over the side of the gutter, into our window and all over our floor. The entire sliding door looked like a waterfall and had already soaked through the floor mat and several towels. Joel once again donned 35 layers of clothing, grabbed the ladder and went out into the ice and snow with a hammer and a chisel to attempt to remove the block of ice from our gutter. Ah, the joys of home ownership are never-ending.
So, we're outta here tonight. As I've mentioned on Facebook, I am praying for the following:
- Brice sleeps the entire car ride
- We can find a Wendys or a McDonalds with luke warm (at least) french fries
- By some miracle, I am able to hold my bladder for longer than 30 minutes at a clip, otherwise I fear Joel will make me attempt to pee in a Gatorade bottle (long standing Happy Harvill joke).
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
We've come a long way, baby.
Joel and I took Brice for his one-year check-up with Dr. Lialios on Monday. He weighed in at 26lbs and was 31.5 inches long, putting him between 90-95th percentile for both height and weight. We saw the nice curve on Brice's growth chart, which let us know that he's pretty much remained consistent in his growth throughout the year. We were given the go ahead to start the transition from formula to whole milk (yay!). Dr. Lialios also recommended that we give Brice the swine flu shot as the children that he had seen to date that had been given Tamiflu to combat the swine flu were coming back at a high rate with pnemonia and bronchitis or other issues. So, minor hysteria from Brice and a few minutes later and our child had his two shots and we were on our way with our next checkup scheduled for early March.
We brought Brice home, dropped him off with Graciela and headed off to work. When I arrived home around 5:30 p.m., I sent Joel and text message letting him know I was feeling a little nauseous and I asked him to come home quickly to help with Brice. The waves of nausea came and went, and I was able to keep food down despite a couple of close calls. Joel put Brice to bed and we took up our normal places on the couch for some Monday Night Football-watching.
At around 10:30pm, we heard it. The lights on our baby monitor lit up and then we started hearing loud, bizarre noises coming from Brice's room. Since I was sitting and these days it takes me about 10 minutes to get to my feet, Joel went to investigate. I stayed comfy and assumed that it was just a bad dream and our little guy would be back to sleep in a few minutes. Then, I heard Joel's voice thru the monitor.
"Mommy, we're going to need your help in here. Throw up central."
Ugh. Let me just note that my child is not a puker. He was never a big spitter-upper (except for some reason whenever people were dressed in expensive suits or coats). The last time he spit-up was when he was still predominantly taking the bottle and some purees, so the liquid is relatively easy and painless to clean up. Not the case anymore. I went in and we found Brice pretty much covered in vomit. His blankets, sheets, pajamas... everything needed to be changed. He was hysterical and scared. Joel and I undressed Brice and he took the little man into our bedroom to try to calm him down while I filled the laundry basket with the soiled items and did the first in a series of laundry runs for that evening. We re-pj'ed him, gave him a little water and I snuggled with him in bed while Joel went upstairs to get some rest. We thought the worst was over... how wrong we were.
At about 2:00 a.m., Brice started to get restless again. He pulled his binky out and started rolling around. I thought that maybe he was hungry, so I grabbed his bottle. He took about an ounce or two and the proceeded to throw up again, this time all over my pillow, up my arm and down my leg. By the time I got him out of bed and into the bathroom we were both totally covered. Brice was less scared this time around and when I put him down on the bathroom floor, he quickly stood up, grabbed his favorite new toy - the electric toothbrush - and started to play. I'll admit, that after his pukey-ness, I wasn't going to stop him from brushing his teeth! I got us both undressed and called to Joel to come help take the sheets and pillows off the bed. Laundry run #2.
Joel suggested that I take Brice upstairs. We were quickly running out of places to sleep! We both put on new pjs and I brought him upstairs and put him down in the bed. Within five minutes, I recognized the tell tale signs. Binky came out, hands started thrashing around. With my pregnant and yet extraordinarily cat-like reflexes, I grabbed Brice and ran him into the bathroom before he spewed, Exorcist style, all over me. If nothing more, I was getting pretty good at this. I brought him back downstairs, changed us both again and brought him over to the couch where at this point, Joel was sleeping with both of our dogs.
It was now 3:00 a.m. Joel commented that I had a piece of green bean in my hair and we both laughed with exhaustion as we realized I hadn't eaten green beans. I sat down on the couch, put my poor baby on my belly and snuggled him tight until he fell asleep. Joel fell asleep. The dogs passed out. I sat there, awaiting the next puke-fest. I sat there until 6:00 a.m. with Brice asleep on me. At that point, I woke Joel up, handed our little guy over and passed out for an hour.
By 7:00 a.m. he seemed to be back to normal. No fever, no more puking and ready to play. Joel and I gave one another a wink as we realized that we had somehow survived the night without yelling, fighting or freaking out. We tolerated the sleep deprivation like champs. The last year had transformed us from novices into true parents, ready and willing to accept any challenge at any hour. I will admit, that over the last few weeks I've been lying awake nights wondering how we were going to manage with Brice and a new baby, but our capabilities demonstrated put many of my concerns to rest. Sure, I'm certain we'll have a tense moment (or year) as we try to figure out how to manage two children but I've got to give it up to the Happy Harvills. We've come a long way, baby.
We brought Brice home, dropped him off with Graciela and headed off to work. When I arrived home around 5:30 p.m., I sent Joel and text message letting him know I was feeling a little nauseous and I asked him to come home quickly to help with Brice. The waves of nausea came and went, and I was able to keep food down despite a couple of close calls. Joel put Brice to bed and we took up our normal places on the couch for some Monday Night Football-watching.
At around 10:30pm, we heard it. The lights on our baby monitor lit up and then we started hearing loud, bizarre noises coming from Brice's room. Since I was sitting and these days it takes me about 10 minutes to get to my feet, Joel went to investigate. I stayed comfy and assumed that it was just a bad dream and our little guy would be back to sleep in a few minutes. Then, I heard Joel's voice thru the monitor.
"Mommy, we're going to need your help in here. Throw up central."
Ugh. Let me just note that my child is not a puker. He was never a big spitter-upper (except for some reason whenever people were dressed in expensive suits or coats). The last time he spit-up was when he was still predominantly taking the bottle and some purees, so the liquid is relatively easy and painless to clean up. Not the case anymore. I went in and we found Brice pretty much covered in vomit. His blankets, sheets, pajamas... everything needed to be changed. He was hysterical and scared. Joel and I undressed Brice and he took the little man into our bedroom to try to calm him down while I filled the laundry basket with the soiled items and did the first in a series of laundry runs for that evening. We re-pj'ed him, gave him a little water and I snuggled with him in bed while Joel went upstairs to get some rest. We thought the worst was over... how wrong we were.
At about 2:00 a.m., Brice started to get restless again. He pulled his binky out and started rolling around. I thought that maybe he was hungry, so I grabbed his bottle. He took about an ounce or two and the proceeded to throw up again, this time all over my pillow, up my arm and down my leg. By the time I got him out of bed and into the bathroom we were both totally covered. Brice was less scared this time around and when I put him down on the bathroom floor, he quickly stood up, grabbed his favorite new toy - the electric toothbrush - and started to play. I'll admit, that after his pukey-ness, I wasn't going to stop him from brushing his teeth! I got us both undressed and called to Joel to come help take the sheets and pillows off the bed. Laundry run #2.
Joel suggested that I take Brice upstairs. We were quickly running out of places to sleep! We both put on new pjs and I brought him upstairs and put him down in the bed. Within five minutes, I recognized the tell tale signs. Binky came out, hands started thrashing around. With my pregnant and yet extraordinarily cat-like reflexes, I grabbed Brice and ran him into the bathroom before he spewed, Exorcist style, all over me. If nothing more, I was getting pretty good at this. I brought him back downstairs, changed us both again and brought him over to the couch where at this point, Joel was sleeping with both of our dogs.
It was now 3:00 a.m. Joel commented that I had a piece of green bean in my hair and we both laughed with exhaustion as we realized I hadn't eaten green beans. I sat down on the couch, put my poor baby on my belly and snuggled him tight until he fell asleep. Joel fell asleep. The dogs passed out. I sat there, awaiting the next puke-fest. I sat there until 6:00 a.m. with Brice asleep on me. At that point, I woke Joel up, handed our little guy over and passed out for an hour.
By 7:00 a.m. he seemed to be back to normal. No fever, no more puking and ready to play. Joel and I gave one another a wink as we realized that we had somehow survived the night without yelling, fighting or freaking out. We tolerated the sleep deprivation like champs. The last year had transformed us from novices into true parents, ready and willing to accept any challenge at any hour. I will admit, that over the last few weeks I've been lying awake nights wondering how we were going to manage with Brice and a new baby, but our capabilities demonstrated put many of my concerns to rest. Sure, I'm certain we'll have a tense moment (or year) as we try to figure out how to manage two children but I've got to give it up to the Happy Harvills. We've come a long way, baby.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Some updated photos
It has been awhile since I posted any photos. Here's a sneak preview of the Happy Harvill holiday card photo. Yes, I use my child to hide my 30 week bump! Thanks to Meredith for snapping this one on Brice's first birthday!
Another family photo down by our beach. Brice is practicing his serious face.
Doing what he does best: messing with the dogs and making funny faces.
Another one from Brice's first birthday. I can't believe how big my little man is!
Another family photo down by our beach. Brice is practicing his serious face.
Doing what he does best: messing with the dogs and making funny faces.
Another one from Brice's first birthday. I can't believe how big my little man is!
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