You know you're a mom when...

You know you're a mom of littles when...

- you find yourself singing the "potty time" song in the shower

- your shower is at 1:00 in the afternoon and that feels like a big success

- you start wishing that all stores had a drive through

- you make a list of "four quick errands" to run, and you only get two of them done before both children are wailing in the backseat and you swear you'll never leave the house again

- your idea of a perfect date night would be a long nap while your children were burning energy under someone else's supervision

- your idea of a good night of sleep includes one 4 hour stretch without waking up

- you plan everything around naps and feeding schedules and bedtime

- you get everything ready so that you can crawl into bed the minute your children crash for the night

- you do more laundry than you could possibly actually use in a day... except it grows at that rate anyway

- ordering groceries to be delivered to your front door is the best way you can imagine spending $7

- you spend most of your day kissing boo-boos and interpreting a foreign language and snuggling little people, and being told "no" to anything and everything you suggest


And I wouldn't trade it for the world. But boy am I tired.

Meet Piper

Meet Piper Elizabeth
Born at 2:48am
6 lb. 6 oz.
20 inches
Perfect in every way
















(Written on July 10, 11pm)
Dear Life,

Today has been an absolute whirlwind. Miss Piper Elizabeth was born today (today!) and I cannot even quite believe that:

A) I feel good enough to be writing this
B) I am still awake
C) it was as completely polar opposite to Emberly'sdelivery as it was.

Here's the story...

My water broke at about 8:15pm after getting home from dinner at the Mexican Village with my fantastic inlaws and tucking sweet Emberly into bed.

At the time, I wasn't entirely sure my water had actually broken, so after calling the birthing center and being advised to just see what happens over the next hour or so, we went in and had them check. Since my fluid was so low (hence the plan to be induced the next morning at 7am) I never felt a big gush like I did with Emberly. After confirming that it had in fact broken and consulting my doctor, the plan was to start my IV to treat strep B since I am positive, and then sleep the rest of the night and get things rolling in the morning if contractions hadn't kicked in on their own.

I decided to take a bath to relax a little and see if I could sleep on my own without a sleeping pill, so at about midnight I hopped in the tub for about an hour. I was having just a few sporadic contractions, but able to talk through them just fine and they didn't seem to be consistent.

Once I got out of the bath, I was presented with the option of taking half of a sleeping pill to see if I could get some rest before my big day. After being checked, I was only at 3cm, so it seemed very likely that I had quite a bit more time to put in. Through the whole conversation over the decision to take the pill, however, my contractions sure felt like they were picking up, but they weren't showing up on the monitor very well and it sure seemed that they were still very irregular and not very strong. So I decided to try the sleeping pill and see if I could rest some. By the time I got the pill it was at least 1:30am.

After turning out the light I had a big contraction. Then I tried to sleep a few minutes and had another BIG contraction. Jordan was trying to sleep in the chair next to me and I could tell he was thinking "Molly, you aren't even trying to sleep!" Then just a few moments later I had one more big contraction and told Jordan I wanted my mom there and I wanted an epidural. He reminded me I was only 3cm, but called for the nurse and my mom anyway.

The nurse also reminded me I was 3 cm, but said she'd call Dr. Vetter and see what he had to say. While she was gone calling him another nurse came in and said Dr. Vetter wanted me to be checked before an epidural (again, since I was only 3cm just moments before). She was quite surprised and announced I was 6.5cm and she'd tell Dr. Vetter and get the epidural going right away. It was 2:05am.

We quickly texted my mom and waited (somewhat painfully and impatiently) for the epidural team to arrive. My mom came first. I had another big contraction and felt like I needed to push. The nurse checked me again and I was still only 6.5cm. Then the epidural team came and started to prep me.

Once I sat up to the edge of the bed, however, I suddenly felt a tremendous urge to push. I told the nurse and she told the epidural people to back off while she checked me quick. Then somewhat shocked (or so it seemed to me) announced, "Ok Molly, you're complete. There's no time for an epidural, you're ready to push." That was literally 3 minutes after being checked and at 6.5cm.

I totally whimpered, "I don't think I can do it without an epidural!" I really wanted that epidural. But it didn't matter.

They all convinced me I could do it (aka I had to)... but I had to wait until Dr. Vetter got there, so I should breath through the contractions and not push (blow out candles). Um... No. There was no stopping my body. I tried really really hard. But that baby was crowning and ready to come out. At one point I remember a nurse telling me I had to concentrate on not pushing, but as soon as Dr. V got there baby would be here in one push. In my head I think I responded with, "challenge accepted."

After what felt like forever, Dr. Vetter rushed in the room, I pushed once, and out came Baby. That was at 2:48am.

Later the nurses told me they were ready to catch that baby - wondering if she'd be born without Dr. Vetter! They were thankful he got there in time. And I guess I was too. :)

And that was Piper's grand entrance into the world. Welcome baby! So glad you are here and in our arms. :)

40 weeks

Dear Life,

Today is my due date, and instead of feeling over ripe, like I did with Miss Emberly, I have an almost week old baby! Can't say that I mind. :)

Miss Piper is doing fantastic - I have a birth story written and some pictures to post, but I haven't quite gotten myself together enough to do that yet. My "spare" moments when I'm not feeding Piper are spent cuddling and loving and distracting and disciplining and encouraging miss Emberly. And when they both happen to be sleeping at the same time, I am too.

Piper is eating every two or so hours during the day and every 3-4 at night. She sleeps all the time and seems to be pretty chill. I hope the trend continues while my body is still recovering and we are all adjusting to life as four. At our lactation appointment yesterday, Miss Piper received high marks, already surpassing her birth weight at 6 lbs and 8 oz. The lactation consultant was quite impressed, and we were too. Way to go, Piper!

Emberly seems to be adjusting nicely to being a big sister. The day we came home from the hospital was a little rough - Em cried every time Piper did, and I felt incredibly conflicted, wanting to love on E extra since I had been gone, not wanting her to be jealous, and obviously needing to feed and care for Piper, but it's only gotten better since then. Now Emberly wants to give lots of hugs and kisses to Piper and share everything with her. Whenever Jordan is trying to distract her away from us so I can feed her or whatever, she says, "baby too? mommy too?" :) She loves her little "dady pepper."

Now Em is napping and Piper is full and this mama is going to try to catch a few zzzz's quick.

Video Monitor

We've stopped putting Emberly in zipper footie pajamas because she has figured out how to take them off and does so every night. So now we put her in a long-sleeve onesie and pajama pants and socks. The socks always come off. Always. But tonight when I turned on the video monitor to just confirm she was in fact asleep (because it was finally quiet) I discovered a first. Both of her arms were out of the sleeves and through the neck hole. It was quiet because she was concentrating so hard on getting them back the way they should be.

She went to bed at 7:30pm.

It is now 9:30pm and still no sleep has occurred. She is currently singing a very lively version of "rock-a-by-Emmy."

Baby soon!

Dear Life,

I had my weekly doctor appointment this morning. I was a "good" 2cm dilated, 85% effaced, and baby's head was at -2. Progress!

The only small dilemma is that baby hasn't really grown since last week and is measuring right around 35-36 weeks. So Dr. V thought it would be best to get me in for an ultrasound and check my fluid levels.

So at 1:15 we went in for an ultrasound and all seemed to be looking good (baby has hair!) but my fluid levels were low. They'd like you to be at about 10cm, but the normal range is 5-25cm. I was at about 4.5cm. Dr. V was consulted and he decided he'd like me to do a non-stress test just to make sure all looked well, so we went upstairs and had that done next. Baby's heart rate responded nicely and showed no signs of distress, and we also found out that unknown to me, I was having contractions about every 3-5 minutes apart, lasting about 50 seconds at a time! Crazy!

Anywho - Dr. Vetter decided that since baby isn't really growing anymore, and has been at a bit of a standstill, plus the fact that my fluid is low, we should get the ball rolling on this whole having the baby thing and get baby out here to start growing since she's not so interested in growing in there. So he'd like me to be induced on Wednesday if baby doesn't decide to make her debut by then! Yikes!

So that is all we know!

I have a cold and am feeling kind of miserable and hardly slept a wink last night, so I'm praying for lots of restful sleep tonight and to naturally go into labor tomorrow! (A girl can hope, right?!) Dr. V did strip my membranes today, and with Emberly I had a baby in my arms 24 hours after that happened! So... stranger things have happened.

Prayers for a remarkably fast recovery from this cold, a solid night of sleep, and to naturally go into labor tomorrow would be soooo appreciated!

Sincerely Yours,
*almost* Mama of Two



Molly

Love

I'm not sure how many times Jordan and I looked at each other this weekend and said (either verbally, or just with our eyes) "I love our life." It was an all around full weekend, filled with each other, laughing at our sweet Emberly and all of her little nuisances, early mornings, nap times, bike rides, and other just "normal" stuff.

Maybe I didn't "grow up" saying "I can't wait until we have kids that talk nonstop and throw tantrums in Target and make us desire to go to bed when it is still light out." But that's what happened, and sharing it with my best friend is just the icing on the cake.

Call me crazy, but life is just right.

38 weeks

Today I had my 38 week appointment... even though I'm not really 38 weeks until tomorrow.

I am 1 cm dilated and about 75% effaced. Progress, I guess!

So I feel like a time bomb. And yet am in complete denial that I could possibly be that close to having this baby.

Who wants to come mop my kitchen floor?