11/21/12 the beginning of our NEW "normal"

 As difficult as this whole process has been, I think writing my birth story will be therapeutic.
Here we go! (FYI There are some pictures... none are graphic. Just a fair warning!)
Let me start off with this. I was "due" November 5th. That day came and went. I didn't think much of it because with Lydia I went 40 weeks and 2days. After 40 weeks came and went and I was headed quickly into 41 weeks I began to get discouraged and tired. Thinking back on my many thoughts of "this baby is never going to come" are now silly. Babies always show up... it might just take a little longer for some to come around. 

Anyhow, November 16th I started having a few contractions. Nothing major, no pain. Just a few every now and again. No big deal. They started coming a bit closer together after I drank my Castor oil milkshake (yes, I WAS THAT desperate.... TWICE!). I called my midwife, Kim, and she decided she had better head over. She came over and timed my contractions, checked the baby's heartbeat, my blood pressure, and started me on some herbal supplements to make my contractions stronger. She was there with her student midwife, Emily. About an hour into their visit and some walking the block in the cold with Hillary and Nathanael, we decided that this wasn't going anywhere. My contractions had stopped. Just stopped. Everyone went home and I went to bed. Nothing. Major let down. I had another appointment with her on the 19th. Everyone was hoping I wouldn't make it to the appointment. That I would have the baby sooner. Sure enough I made it to the appointment where we decided to sweep my membranes. I ended up being 2cm dilated and 50-75% effaced. It didn't do anything though. I think maybe some cramping but that was it. I kept in close contact with Kim for the next few days trying to decide what to do since we were rapidly closing in on 42 weeks. We decided that another round of Castor oil milkshakes were in the plan. So, I started them up again. Wednesday the 21st of November (41 weeks and 6 days) at 9AM I drank my second Castor oil milkshake. I had Nathanael stay home from work and my mom watched Lydia. I texted Kim and Hillary to let them know they deed had been done (or was being done). About a half an hour later the milkshake came back to haunt me. I couldn't keep it down (sorry! But its part of the story). I immediately texted Kim and asked her what to do. She said to come in to the office and she would check to see my progress (if there was any). She checked me and sure enough.... No change! BLAH! We decided to go ahead and sweep my membranes again and see if that helped. She got me to 4cm before I left the office. We decided that the plan would be to go home rest, maybe do some walking, squats, anything to get contractions going (You name it, I tried it!) and if nothing happened by 7 PM she would be on her way to my house to break my water! The drive home was exciting! I felt some cramping. Maybe a few slight contractions but nothing major. I was going to have my baby SOON! Like really soon. I would finally get to meet her face to face by early morning at the latest! I called Hillary to give her an update. I also texted Audrey and asked if she would come. I had a feeling I might need extra hands with Lydia and needed an extra calming spirit! When we got home I rested on the couch while mom and Nathanael made sure everything was prepared. Nothing more happened contraction wise. Kim texted around 6PM to see how I was. She decided to head over to the house after dinner and see if we couldn't get the ball rolling. She arrived around 7:45PM and we got right down to business. Lydia had fallen asleep per her schedule so we used my mom's room to break my water in. My water was broken around 8:15PM. I labored in the living room, chatting and laughing between contractions. Holding onto Nathanael when they got stronger. They came on quickly after my water broke (just like they did with Lydia). After a bit Kim told me she thought it would be okay for me to get in the water. Hillary, Audrey, and Nathanael had been heating up pot of water to pour into the pool to keep it warm enough. Lydia woke up sometime after me getting in the pool so my mom held her on the couch and she fell back asleep quickly. I got in the pool and allowed myself to go to my birth place in my mind. But I couldn't get comfortable. I remembered with Lydia being most comfortable on the toilet but this time I couldn't find my spot. I labored in the pool while being given ice water and having frozen towels (thank you Audrey for that idea!!) put around my neck. Nathanael was in the pool with me being my rock the entire time. Every time I moved he got onto his hands and knees so I could lean on him like a table. 
About ten minutes before Leonora was born I went to the bathroom to sit on the toilet thinking it would be more comfortable. I was wrong. But as I walked down the hall to the bathroom I heard Kim say, "Are you going to make it back?" I said, "I don't know." to which her reply was, "ummm... okay. Well, let me know if you feel her head." It was pretty hysterical. I wish I had the energy to laugh then!
 I made it back to the tub where I started to get the urge to push... I thought. I wasn't totally sure. I even said, "I think I'm pushing." So, I went with it. And with a few "Oh my God"s and one quick leg movement Leonora was born! Big sister even woke up just in time to meet her little sissy. 10:26PM November 21st, 2012. Two and a half hours BEFORE Thanksgiving (Lydia was 21 mins AFTER Easter). Two and a half hours before my 42 week mark. Four pushes. She was covered in vernix and had a head full of dark, thick, curly hair. After (almost) 42 weeks my second beauty was here. At home. In the water. Just like I had planned. My labor and delivery was beautiful.

Filling the pool

First hard contraction

My rock

Trying not to break Mrs. Areline's fingers

Lovey and big sister

Hiney and Lydia

Shes here!

Newborn exam

My second little lamb

A LONG time coming.

This blog is a long time coming for more than one reason.
First, LEONORA IS HERE!! YAY!!!!!!!! (I know  you all knew that already but whatever!) After 41weeks and 6 day she was born at home, in the water, on November 21, 2012 (a few hours before Thanksgiving... Go figure. My kids ALWAYS miss the holidays by a few hours!) at 10:26pm after a 2 hour labor! She was 7lbs 2oz and 21 1/4 inches long.

Since then our lives have been a roller coaster to say the least. She was born full term (obviously) but had some premature qualities (which I'll write about when I get the time to write about her birth story). Nobody could figure it out and after a few hours of not being able to regulate her body temperature we decided to take her to the ER to find out what was going on. We all figured a few warming blankets some monitoring and we would be headed home. The Dr.s said lets watch her for 48 hours and then we should be good to go. 48 hours turned into five days. Five days into a week and a week into four weeks. She has been put through every test imaginable and every scan there is. Everything came back normal until one day her bilirubin levels went back up after a round of photo therapy. Thankfully this caught the Dr.'s attention and he decided to run some labs on her thyroid as extended jaundice levels are a sign of hypothyroidism. The results came back quickly and we were excited (weird I know) to hear that they were abnormal. FINALLY some sort of clue as to what was going on and why she couldn't come home. He informed us that they thyroid results weren't the part that was abnormal but the results from the pituitary gland (what controls your hormones... you would be surprised what gets affected when you lack hormones) were. He was going to transfer us to Tampa General Hospital where there was an endocrinologist who he had been contacting about Leonora.
It was SO hard to see her get loaded up into the little box thing that they use to transport the babies. I knew then that we were in for a long journey. Luckily when we got to Tampa General they already had a clue as to what direction to look. They started on the hormones they knew she was lacking and we had a pretty decent turn around. She was already starting to act like a different kid. Better and better each day. 

She is still doing really well. We have taken one step forward and what feels like a MILLION back but Nathanael has been here to assure me that its only one step back or sometimes even a half of a step. Right now we are still working on her eating properly. She has some congestion and we arent sure why which is making it a bit difficult for her to breathe and eat. We started her on a special bottle that seems to be easier than breast feeding (Which we werent having so much of an issue with as it was we werent thinking she was getting enough to eat due to her suck not being strong.... muscle issue due to hormones which it getting better) so we will actually be getting rid of the bottle and going back to the breast (Dr.'s recommendation which made me really happy... At this point I just want her to eat LOL). So, the next couple of days are really going to be crucial. I will probably be living, breathing, eating hospital (Like I havent been already LOL). I will probably be staying the night there to do every feeding by breast and hopefully see some sort of turn around. She will be seeing one more specialist about her congestion to see if it is caused from reflux or if there is an actual blockage there (which would also mess with feeding).

There is also a possibility that she will go home with a G tube (a feeding tube that goes directly into her stomach but is not permanent). I'm saying this so people aren't shocked or upset when they first see her and she has a tube connected to her. The Dr has already said we are going to try everything before a g tube get placed because he doesn't want to rush her on anything but he also knows that the place she will heal most is at home. He said that it will most likely be another week or two in the hospital depending on the results from the specialist and how she does with feedings. Either way she is going to be fine. We all will be (Her big sister is a TROOPER!! She has done nothing but amaze me through this whole thing... I'm blessed with some pretty amazing girls!). Its our new normal. And that's okay because shes her own person and this is her story.

Thankfully it was caught early on so there is no permanent damage to any of the organs that run off the hormones she was lacking. She will be on them for the rest of her life as there is no reversing this or making her pituitary grow.

The cause is unknown and isn't able to be detected in utero. In fact they grown normally while inside and are usually term babies with a normal birth weight and length. It is a rare condition that occurs in 1 out of 100,000. We are just that lucky! ;) 

Other than that shes healthy! She is a beautiful little girl who is extremely strong! We are so blessed and thankful to have her in our family! Its going to be a long journey and I know that this is just the beginning but I wouldn't change it for the world. 

27 weeks, 3rd trimester, CLOSER AND CLOSER to baby #2

 Today(ish) marks 27 weeks of pregnancy for me. I cant believe that I'm already in my third trimester and THAT much closer to meeting our new little one. 

Life has been so crazy and of course never slows down, so it has been hard to grasp this pregnancy. I hate that it is flying by now. Since things haven't slowed down any it hasn't allowed much time to (sadly) get super excited about this pregnancy. Now, I am by NO means saying I'm not excited. I TOTALLY am. I'm very excited, Lydia already loves the concept of her sister that she grasps, and Nathanael loves the thought of another daughter. Its just been very different from the first time around. I guess every pregnancy tends to be. It is just hard for me to be okay with that. 

Lydia is growing by leaps and bounds. Its scary to think about how fast shes growing but its amazing to watch. Just in the past couple of weeks there have been SO many things she has learned. August 6th marks the first time she pooped in the potty. All by herself. Like a big girl. Okay, okay so I put her on her potty after she had a little poop in the diaper. However, August 8th (yes these are marked down in her baby book ;D) she WILLINGLY pooped in the potty. We have also had two successful peeps (yes peeps) in the potty. Its amazing because she is so interested in the potty. We bought it, set it out, and she has taken off with it. I figured there would be no way she would be super interested in it but if this mommy can have one in panties before number two is here, she wouldn't complain! HA HA HA! Now, if that will actually happen, who knows? But the more interest she shows the more we encourage her. She will even sign poop and potty now! Yesterday she also did her first water color painting. She loves to color so I figured I would bust out the watercolors. We had a blast painting! And her first painting came out beautifully (but I'm biased!)

The last few days have been pretty difficult. Not anything bad just tired mommy and fussy baby days. Lydia has been working on her 2nd I tooth (which was almost the death of me... A little bit exaggerated but not by much and yes, my baby sort of looks like a vampire! Whatever! :D) which finally broke through TODAY!! That means we have 4 teeth now. 1 a month since May!! She also decided to climb on one of her chairs and do a face plant on the tile as I was telling her to get down and coming to get her. It was one of those slow motion, just out of reach moments. No blood thank goodness but she did end up with a pretty fat lip and a slight bruise on her cheek. Nothing she didn't shake off. Pretty sure I had a harder time with it!

Baby's fat lip

Fun after bath time

Lately, she has taken off with her walking. Its funny because shes so tiny and then you see her speed walking down the hallway. She cracks me up. 
We've also noticed the she has awesome fine motor skills. She studies EVERYTHING and knows exactly what shes doing and what she wants. I ask her if shes hungry and she will sign food and yes and then I'll tell her to go to her chair and she will walk over to her highchair with bib in hand and wait for me to put her in. It just amazes me how much they learn and how quickly they learn it!! She will hold up one finger when shes asked how old she is, she dances more than ever, she yells bye when anyone leaves the room, and her chattering is so much more now. She definitely has an opinion and WILL be heard (I have no idea where she gets it from).  

The next few months will just be getting ready for our lives to change dramatically. I've been a cleaning (or nesting... whatever) fool and Nathanael has been working hard at work and to make his wife happy! HA! What a good man he is! The next few months are going to be a whirlwind. But again, like my last post, change is good and welcomed (as much as I don't want to welcome it.) 
Time for cleaning, organizing, last minute preparations, resting up (HA), and a little extra loving on my booger time!
We cant wait to meet you Leonora! We know its close and it will be a huge change but we are ALL SO excited to meet you, love on you, and watch you grow.
Lydia, you continue you to amaze me with how smart and sweet you are! You have such a beautiful soul! I love you to the moon and back my punkin butt!

BIG blue eyes!

Being okay....

Lately I've been faced with things that keep reminding me (or smacking me in the face with the fact) that there is a season for everything. I'm not a huge fan of change. Never have been. 
However, without change you have no growth, and who wants to be complacent? Not me. Without change you have no movement forward, and who wants to stay sitting still? Not me. 

 Ecclesiastes 3:1-9

1There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

2a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war: and a time for peace. 

11He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

 The part that I never ever remember is that change is God's plan. He's made everything beautiful IN ITS TIME! Wow!! So, even though people leave us, even though things hurt us and make us sad, there is always the knowledge that it will pass. A hard thing for me to realize and remember is that time doesn't stand still. When "bad" things happen to me I feel like I will be in the moment forever. But I'm told that there is a time for everything. That "this too shall pass". I wont stay in that moment forever. Whew! That's a relief. Why cant I remember that in the moment? Why cant I feel that relief then? Maybe cause I rebel against the change so much. I hope I can continue to learn that CHANGE IS GOOD. CHANGE IS OKAY. Its okay for things to happen, people to change, tears to come, loved ones to leave... it will always be made beautiful in its time! It will ALWAYS be made beautiful in its time! Always! Not sometimes but always.

It's a...

Yesterday was such an exciting day! Okay, well let me actually give you a little background and some truth. 

The Tuesday (6-5-12) we got back from Vermont I had an appointment for a sonogram to check and make sure everything was developing correctly and possibly be able to tell the gender! I was so excited. Nathanael decided to stay home with Lydia while my mom and I went to the appointment. I laid on the table as the technician looked around taking pictures and measurements. Everything checked out great. She then let me go to the bathroom (she was a saint I'm sure) and called my mom back to the room. We sat there waiting for the line... "It's a ______!!" She kept saying, "I don't see boy parts but sometimes its just so hard to tell. I will say that I THINK its a girl. I'm about 98% sure that its a girl but I wont give you 100%!" 
Well, anyone who knows me knows that didn't fly. I needed that 100% (Call me crazy, I don't care! :D) I went home to tell Nathanael. He was really excited but I kept dancing around the idea that we "knew" what we were having. When we went to my latest midwife appointment Nathanael and Hillary both told Kim (my midwife) what the technician said. She said, "Elysia, 98% is REALLY good! Stop calling the baby IT! Now lets listen to HER heartbeat!" 
Yeah, yeah. I still wanted that 100%. My mom said we could go to the moms-to-be spa and gender determining sonogram  place that I went with Lydia. I was so excited and made the appointment right away. 
I held out telling anyone really what the baby was. I kept saying, "we aren't 100%!" Even the few people that I did tell knew that it was a girl. 
So, yesterday we went to the spa place (its so nice there) and sure enough my baby girl was laying with her feet on her face (literally!! Just like her sissy!) and there was a VERY clear shot! The technician looked at me and said, "Its for sure a girl! 100%!!" 
 We had already planned a gender reveal party for after the appointment. I was very excited to get home and ice the inside of the cake with pink icing!! When everyone arrived I had them choose a mustache or some lips. Then I gathered all the mustaches, "Team Blue", together and took a picture and than did the same for "Team Pink". There were A LOT of people on "Team Blue". Sorry guys!! You'll have to take that up with Nathanael! :D Here are some pictures!!

The table

Cake

Which one did you pick?

Lots of people on team blue

Not so many people on Team pink.... and my brother just wanted to be right! :D

The party ended up being very nice! Everyone is excited! 

Cant wait to meet you Leonora Amelia Mae Brandt! :D Yep! Watch out were gonna have another LAMB! 

First Family Vacation

What a whirlwind five days we had!! So much fun! 

Last Wednesday we embarked on our first family journey! It was Lydia's (and the new baby's) first plane ride! We packed the car Tuesday night and headed off to begin our trip Wednesday morning. We arrived at Orlando airport and after paying their astronomical baggage fee (our bag was 15 pounds over the limit) we headed to our gate. Security went smoothly and so did check in. We even got our seats switched to have three instead of just two since our plane wasn't full. Our connecting flight was the tiniest plane I had ever flown on. It was a 50 passenger plane that wasnt full. SUPER tiny!!
 

One really awesome thing about flying and having kids is they let you board first! That rocked!! Lydia did great on the plane rides. This was the very first one shes ever flown on. She fell asleep shortly after take off and slept for all but ten minutes of the plane ride. WOOT! She LOVED looking out the window with her daddy. She was in awe of the clouds. 
We got to Connecticut around 6:30pm Wednesday night. 

Seeing Papa right after getting off the plane

Then we started our hour and a half drive to Vermont. It was a long day of travel but we were all excited to be there. When we got to the house Cindy was home and had made us a delicious dinner! Lydia stayed up until almost ten o clock (which is pretty unheard of from her. Shes usually in bed by 8:30pm at the latest.). 

 The next morning we decided to hike my dad's property. He has 42 acres on a mountain so it literally was a hike. It was awesome. 

Sherman

Waiting for the guys to start our hike

The start of the hiking trail

Bull frog

Salamander

Camp site

Honking Papa's nose

Chipmunk

Edge of dad's property

Clearing some limbs

 

Heart shaped hole in the leaf

After our hike and Lydia's nap, we decided to take Nathanael to Brattleboro, a cool little town that is about twenty minutes from dad. Dad actually works downtown there too.

Connecticut river

Hanging with Papa

Lydia and Papa

Bummed that it rained the day of the strolling so we couldnt go... There was even a cow named "Dairy Godmother"

Dad's store

Headed back to the car

After Brattleboro we headed back to Putney to rest up. Lydia got to play with her toys that Papa and Grammy had for her and we made dinner and waited for Cindy to get home!

 The next morning we got up and took the boys for a walk up dad's drive.

Heart stones

LL cool chop with her low pants

It was beautiful out!! Perfect weather... even a little chilly! Lydia loved it! 


It was time to rest after our morning walks and then we would get back to it!

Crazy hair!

 After a quick rest dad decided to take us to a gorge. It was absolutely beautiful!!

Hiking down

Pretty sure Lydia ate some moss off the rock.

So the lower bridge was washed out due to the bad storm they had to once we hiked down we had to turn around and hike back up!

Lydia's rock

 

 

Beautiful!

 After the gorge dad took us to this really cool mom and pop grocery store. It was cool to support an independent grocery store. 


We were all ready for a little more down time after the hike and shopping so we went home to play with some toys.

 Then is was time for dinner

She helped herself to my corn and green beans

Nathanael built us a beautiful fire that night

Lydia only tried getting the dog food once... and we caught it on camera!

This is the waterfall right outside my dad's front door

Eating cherries and grapes

Help daddy!

Sitting in the kitchen with Reuben

Playing with Grammy! Thats right my baby is putting the correct shape in the correct hole!!

 The last day we were in Vermont dad and Cindy took us to a place called Burlington. It was really neat. They had a jazz festival that we didnt even know was going on. We didnt get many pictures because we forgot the camera in the car but we did get one awesome one.

 Lydia got to meet a horse for the first time!! She wasnt too sure about Wispy but Wispy loved her!!

The last night we were in Vermont was pretty low key since our trip to Burlington was a long one and then meeting Wispy was a bit overwhelming. We really did have a fantastic visit. We got to relax, enjoy great weather, and see some beautiful places. 
 The next morning we started packing to head back to Florida. 

Lydia helping mommy pack!

She LOVED looking out the window!

Playing at the airport waiting for our connecting flight!

The last flight we were on was the biggest plane I had ever been on. It was HUGE, about 224 passengers, and it went SUPER fast. Despite taking off late we arrived on time to Orlando. They did end up leaving Lydia's car seat in Atlanta but they lent us one and then delivered ours the next day. We had a fantastic time on our first family vacation! Lydia did great on all four flights! Thank you to dad and Cindy for everything. It was a wonderful time and we are happy to be home! Hope you all enjoy the pictures! :D