Baby Fox Birth Story

I figure with Mini Fox coming soon, I should tell you how Baby Fox got here -  Warning, it's going to get wordy.

It all started on the day before Christmas Eve day. I had gone to bed with high blood pressure and a headache. I figured that if I woke up with the same headache that I would call the doctor. So off to bed we went. I woke up around 7 with the same headache and with really high blood pressure. I woke up Mr. and we called the on call doctor. She said that I should head off to L & D,  I was just monitored, and had some blood work done. All the results came back great and baby was doing well, heartbeat was strong. Made both Mr. and I feel better, knowing that Baby Fox was okay. They sent me home a couple of hours later, about 10am. About an hour after getting home I was laying down trying to take a nap and I started to feel contractions, but they weren't regular, so I went about my day, mostly taking it easy. We had already decided since we weren't going to my parents for Christmas, that my family was going to come to us for Christmas Eve and have our traditional tacos, and then they would spend the night and we would open presents on Christmas morning and then they would take off to go to family's. We called Nana and Grandpa to let them know what was going on, and since they were already on their way, we told them not to rush, they did anyway. 

They arrived at our place about 12:30, ready to start making tacos, yum! As soon as they got there, my contractions were getting a little closer together. While Nana made dinner, I was breathing through many contractions. We ate and around 4pm, it was delicious! We thought, maybe we should do gifts right after dinner instead of tomorrow morning like planned, so we opened gifts until maybe 6.  We watched a little tv, all the  while I'm breathing through lots of contractions. They were getting stronger and closer together. Around 7 my contractions were about 5-6 minutes apart, and I wanted to stay home as long as possible, so I said I was going to take a bath and shower and get cleaned up in case this was the real deal (in my head it was fake labor, haha!). While in the bath, we called my aunt, who works in an Ob/Gyn office and asked her what she thought. She said to take my blood pressure to see what it was and if it was high to head to L & D. After my bath I jumped into the shower to wash my hair.



One last picture of just us two

Drying my hair

                                                                                                         

Around 8:30 my blood pressure was really high, and Mr. wanted me to go in, the contractions were about 4-5 minutes apart, I still didn't want to go, but Mr. insisted, so around 9pm off to the hospital we went, me fighting it all the way there.  We actually had a "bet" as to whether they would send me home or not, I lost.

When we first got there, they said that sometimes these sort of contractions could go for days and they might send me home, but once they hooked me up to all of the monitors and checked to see how far along I was, I was 4cm and 80% effaced, and that my water bag was bulging they decided to keep me. Since my water bag hadn't broken on it's own the doctor said she would come and break my water in the morning. At this point Nana, Grandpa and Aunt G arrived to see what was up. 

Everyone staring at me in labor. We sent people home shortly after this

 

They asked if I wanted an epidural at this point, I said I wanted to go as long as possible, since after that you can't get up at all. Knowing that my water bag hadn't broken and that the doctor wasn't going to come until the morning to break it, I wanted to be able to get around. My parents left at our request because this was going to take awhile. We walked the halls, when ever I would feel a contraction I stopped walking put my head on Mr.'s chest and just breathed through it. 

 

All smiles

Around 3am the contractions were two minutes apart and were strong, I couldn't take it any more so I finally asked for an epidural. The nurses gave me my bag of IV fluids while we waited for the epidural doctor to come. 

My IV and all the bracelets they gave me

(ID, allergy, blood type bracelets)

I couldn't wait for that epidural, the contractions were close together and painful. I won't go into details about the epidural, but it was painful and not done correctly the first 3 times!

Once I was numb they checked me and I was at 7 cm! Fantastic I had labored on my own until 7cm, exactly what I wanted to do! I tried to get some sleep, but about an hour later I open my eyes and three nurses are charging at me, with a concerned look on their face. I'm confused, they asked me if my water has broken, I told her I didn't think so. Another nurse checked to see how far along I was, and she said that was about 9.5cm! So I guess the epidural helped me with my labor! They said that my water breaking made baby's heart rate drop so they put me on an oxygen mask. Which was somewhat annoying, because of my claustrophobic issues, but I did it for him. They asked me if I wanted to push and I said that I wanted to rest for a bit before pushing. We called my parents at this point, which was about 4:45, told them that we still had a little time, and they didn't need to rush over. Around 5:45 Nana walked into the room and told me the nurse wanted me to start pushing, I said okay, so Nana told the nurse that I was awake and ready. I guess the contractions were now on top of each other...while the nurse got everything ready to start pushing, I prepared myself for pushing, I had no idea what it was going to be like. At first the nurse said she wanted me to do a few practice runs. She said that was good, and then went about getting everything ready.  About 6:15 I really started pushing for real. Luckily the epidural didn't really affect my feeling the pressure, so I could tell the nurses when a contraction was coming. I still had control over my legs and could move them when I wanted.  Baby's heart rate kept dropping with every push, so I only had to push about every other or every third contraction. We just had to wait for baby's heart rate to go back up before I could push again.  Mr. was a great help too, he was there for me and was very supportive, telling me I was doing a good job. They told me if I delivered in the next 30 or so minutes that we would have the first Christmas baby. Motivation, I wanted to be first! So I kept pushing away. Around 7:10 they said that I was close enough and that they were going to get the doctor. Yay, Baby Fox was going to be the first Christmas baby! He was perfect in every way, the labor was great and we got a little Christmas miracle.

First Family photo

 

If you got through that, then congrats! I couldn't get it any shorter and I didn't want to break it up into several posts. Hoping I can tell Mini Fox's birth story soon...I'm ready!

Linking up with Faith, Sarah and Megan



Just Keep Swimming

Baby Fox is doing great with his swimming. He still has issues rolling over from stomach to back, he would rather just throw his head back to get a breathe, but he's doing great in everything else. I think we have a little fishy on our hands.

Our little fishy. You know what we'll be doing this weekend, with the 95° weather, our pool is perfect to cool down a bit.

What are you doing this weekend?

All Set

Okay not really, but I'm going to just go ahead and say that.

Sorry I've been MIA for the past week. I went on maternity leave from work and have been trying to get stuff ready around the house, time just seems to escape me and when I do have some free time, I tend to take a nap.

Washed her clothes, I think she might have more then me

I got a haircut today so I can officially say I'm ready, it's been a year, yep, a whole year since I got my hair cut, I think it was about time. I feel like a new person.

My hair lady said, so you have your bag packed for the hospital...doh! I knew there was something I was forgetting! Guess I'm off to do that.

Linking up with Faith, Sarah and Megan

Like Mommy like Son

 I know I told you I wouldn't do another pregnancy post, but this was too funny not to share.

 

I have been really bad about taking pictures this pregnancy, I finally remembered on Sunday.

 

 

Baby Fox wanted to take a picture too, does this pose look familiar? haha, funny kid.

 

 

 

Weekend Recap

Saturday was the usual swim lessons. Why do I always just hold the camera and then not take picture? I have no idea...one day I'll remember. We told Baby Fox that if he had a really good lesson that we would take him on a surprise outing. Well he did fantatic this week (swam the width of the pool, by himself, granted he would still drown if he fell in). So where did we take him? To In and Out, to get some french fries. For those not from California or the surrounding states, it's good, must go to place if you ever visit here.

He was mor interested in the french fries then taking pictures.

Doesn't that burger in Mr.'s hand make you want to come to California?

Saturday afternoon I decided to make some blueberry muffins. It's a gluten free mix, if you have allergies to one of the top 8, plus corn then this is the company for you. Seriously, so good.

I recorded Cinderella from ABC family to see if Baby Fox would like it, he typically doesn't like movies with "people" in it, but since Cinderella has mice and cats and stuff, I thought he would like it. Baby Fox loved it, we even let him watch it during dinner, he ate the most dinner he's ever eaten and asked to watch it again after it was over.

Sunday was relaxing. Went to church and then played around. Before naptime it was really hot outside and inside, so we let Baby Fox run around in just his diaper to cool off. This is what he came up with...

Yeah we were shocked that he jumped off the slide too. He thought it was super funny and kept doing it over and over again.

Then we went over the Nana and "Ampa's" (grandpa) place for dinner.  Dancing was invovled

Baby Fox found these pair of binacolurs in the toy bin and thought watching some tv with them was the best thing since sliced bread. *note the tv is only 7 feet away.*

It was a great weekend, and guess what today is?

My last day of work! Woo hoo! Going to enjoy my time off with Baby Fox, and hopefully get everything done that I need to get done before Mini Fox gets here, I have so much to do!

How was your weekend? What does your week look like?

I need to get my car oil changed, going to make time this week to do that.

Linking up with Faith, Sarah and Megan

Cookie Or Cream?

We gave Baby Fox his first Oreo cookie a few days ago, and after three rounds, he's decided that he's...a cream first kind of guy.

Which are you?

When I could eat Oreos (they were my vice, like I could eat a whole package without batting an eye) I was a cookie girl, I like the sandwich as a whole and no other way. Not dunked in milk, just plain and simple.

A Tutu For You A Tutu For Me

Remember this picture from Monday? If you guessed tutu, you were right! And now I'm going to show you how to make these simple girly fun skirts.
 

I have fully embraced that I am HAVING  A GIRL in less then 5 weeks. I decided, hey what do all little girls love? Tutu's. Online I went and discovered they are pretty expensive to just buy. Off to Google I went. Turns out making tutu's is seriously one of the easiest things ever. It's a pretty close process to my monster wreath . I used this and this tutorial as reference, but ended up making it my own.

What You'll Need:

Tulle - 6in wideth (I got mine from The Ribbon Retreat, super cheap tulle in all colors and reasonable shipping) $2.95 per roll
Silk Ribbon -$1.99
Sissors - free
Cardboard box, or something to wrap your tulle around - free

Directions:

Step 1: 

First you need to decide how long you want your tutu to be. I knew this was going to be for my newborn, so I figured 6 inches was enough, so you'll want to double that amount, so the final length will be 12 inches.

Step 2: 

Start wrapping the tulle around your template. It doesn't have to be tight, or exact.

side note: If you can't find rolls of tulle, you can buy the tulle off the bolt from somewhere like Joann's, just follow my monster wreath instruction on how to cut a bolt of tulle.

Step 3: 

Once the entire roll is gone, or however much you want to use, cut both ends

Continue this for the rest of your tulle colors, if you have more then one.

Step 4:

Cut the ribbon, I decided that I was going to make my tutu part 15 inches and then I added 12 inches on either side so I can tie a nice bow around her waist. So I needed a total of 39 inches or so.

Then I tied knots where my 15 inches started and stopped

Step 5: 

Here comes to fun part, tying the tulle around the ribbon. The first few are awkward, but once you get in a groove it goes really quick.

For this example, I decided to double up on the tulle, and I combined the pink and white tulle.

                       a) layer the tulle together
                       b) create a loop
                       c) put the looped tulle on the back side of the ribbon
                       d) put the loose ends through the loop (the ends don't have to match exactly, but try to get it
                           close
                       e) pull tight (doesn't have to be too tight), and adjust so that all of the knots line up

I have orange nails because when I asked Baby Fox what color I should paint them, he said orange. Who am I to deny him his favorite color

Step 6:

Once you have a serveral knotted, you can push them together, however you want. If you push them together really tightly then you're going to have a more full tutu, if you lets small spaces between, you're tutu is going to be less full. Because I doubled up on the tulle, mine was pretty full, even leaving slight spacing.

And this is what it looked like finished. You can trim some of the bottom, to make it more even if you want.

Step 7:

Because it's so addicting and you realized that you cut up all the tulle and only needed about 1/4 of that much, make 3 more!

I ended up making the other tutus with just single layers. Along with the pink/white one, I made an all white one, and two grey and pink ones. I did one alternating the grey and pink and then I did another one where I did three grey and 1 pink (I did that mostly because I didn't want to waste any of my tulle and that's what I had, no I didn't count it out, I got lucky that that's how the numbers worked out)

I did end up trimming some of the tulle after I took the pictures.

And now my little girl is all set for her newborn photo shoot and being all girly, gotta love it!

The first tutu (pink/white one) took me about 30 minutes to make, that includes the cutting cardboard, and wrapping all three colors of tulle. Once everything was all set, the rest of them took me only 15-20 minutes to wrap around the ribbon. Obviously it would take longer if your waistband is bigger then 15 inches.

Now go out and make a tutu for your little girl, the girl next store or for your next baby shower, it's addicting, seriously. I think I'm going to make another one for Halloween.