Andrew's Emergency Surgery

These last few months with Andrew have been such a roller coaster ride. Four months ago I noticed a change in Andrew's stools. His stools became very watery for a number of weeks and so I decided it was time to take him in to the doctor to make sure that everything was OK. The doctors first response was to test to see if Andrew was having a reaction to dairy, so he asked us to use a dairy free formula for a couple weeks to see if his stools would go back to normal. Following the 14th day of trying a new formula...with no change in his stools, we went back to the doctor. As the doctor checked out Andrew, he discovered that Andrew happened to have an ear infection...so needed to start him on antibiotics which would have an effect on his stools. This meant that, for the time being, we would have to ignore the problem with the stools as we moved forward to take care of the ear infection.
The frustration was that...we would have to take 10 days for the antibiotics and then wait another couple of weeks afterwards to wait for the meds to pass through him to see if there was still an issue with his stools. We are now about 6 weeks past our first visit regarding his stool issue. There was still no change with Andrew's stool at this point...so back to the doctor's office. The doctor checked him out again...and couldn't figure out what was going on, so he suggested we wait another week to make sure the antibiotics were out of his system. At this point, I was super frustrated.
Don't get me wrong...I LOVE our pediatrician. My frustration was not with him. Andrew has always been a difficult baby. He still struggled with sleeping (we were still just getting about 3 hours of sleep in a row), Craig and I would take turns in the middle of the night attempting to soothe him, babysitters had to have a thick skin to watch him for just a few hours...as he would cry the entire time. I remember taking him in to his doctor (a different doctor...we switched due to unprofessionalism) because I KNEW that something was not right with Andrew. He had spent most of the night crying...and not just any cry, it was a painful cry. The doctor just told me that he was a very difficult and colicky baby. I left in tears because I knew something was wrong.
Flash forward, back to Andrew's stool issue and my extreme frustration with the lack of answers. After 4 months of no answers...the SCARIEST DAY OF MY LIFE happened...

Read more »

Grandma's Quilt

 

My mom has made a quilt for each one of her grandkids...and Andrew's has finally arrived. I found the tutorial on Jaybirds Quilt Blog. It's called the Radio Way Quilt. Since I sewed Andrew's crib set and matching curtains and changing table cover, my mom used the same fabrics to make his quilt. I love how it turned out! She then handed the completed quilt to a "quilter" to stitch a fun design throughout the quilt...she even sewed his name in it. 

Read more »

Andrew's 7 Months Old

 

You are now 7 months old, and you are growing so fast. This month alone you have accomplished three major milestones. On March 6th, you began to cut your first tooth...and then two days later we noticed that you were cutting your second tooth right next to the first one. YIKES...you were not a fan of that at all...but you now have a super duper cute smile with two tiny teeth sitting on the bottom of your mouth.

Read more »

Andrew's 6 Months Old

You are now 6 months old. I can't believe how much you have grown is such a short time...though when I look back, I can't imagine that you have only been in our lives for 6 months because I can't imagine our lives without you. Things are finally starting to settle and fall into place with you. Your night time sleeping is improving...slowly but surely.

Read more »

Andrew's Half Birthday Celebration

Happy half birthday Andrew!!!

Read more »

Andrew's 5 Months Old

Look at this little man!!! What a cutie pie! As you can see, you have such a gorgeous smile which we now have the privilege of enjoying throughout the day. This 5th month has been a bit rough for us all...though more for you, Andrew. You went under the weather for the first time shortly after turning 5 months. It hit you when we started to sleep train.
There are a few things that I wanted to work on with your sleep habits: your lack in the ability to self soothe and being able to sleep longer than three hours at a time throughout the night. I have been reading the book, "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and started to implement some of the strategies. After a couple of days, I was seeing absolutely no progress and decided to make an appointment with your doctor to go over the strategies I was using. Our pediatrician is absolutely amazing and totally supported the strategies and agreed that it was time for you to learn how to sleep on your own...without mom and dad trying to soothe him for, at the very least, 30 minutes before you would fall asleep in our arms...but this is a whole other discussion/post, so we can come back to this later.

Read more »

Andrew's 4 Months Old

 

We are finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel! A few weeks after you turned 3 months...you started going down for bed without any tears, and better yet...without screaming. In addition to a huge reduction in your colic, you have finally decided to sleep longer than 3 hours at a time at night. You have started to bless your father and I with a minimum of 5 hours of sleep...you have gone a couple times as long as 8 hours some nights. What a difference this has made for us being able to sleep a little longer (now if only we can get your sister to comply and stay in bed throughout the night...your father and I will be on cloud 9)

Read more »

Andrew's 3 Months Old

Andrew, you are growing up so fast! You have such a beautiful smile and your sister just loves play with you. You are such a trooper to humor her with your stares and your smiles. One of Emily's favorite things to do is to do grab her old baby books and read them to you as you play on your mat. She has tried to teach you "patty-cake" but your little hands just aren't ready...Emily doesn't quite understand that.

You haven't been able to roll over yet, but you just don't like to spend too much time on the floor...and you aren't afraid to let us all know that you are ready to be picked up. So, to the rescue I come.

Read more »

Andrew is 2 Month's Old

 

Andrew...you are just the most handsome little man ever!! Your eyes are absolutely piercing. As we entered into the second month you have made it extremely clear that you are your own person...not a thing like your sister. One of the biggest differences between you and your sister: you despise the binky with every cell in your body. This has become so disheartening to me and your father because you are extremely difficult to soothe (especially since you entered into your colic phase). Andrew...you know what you want, WHEN you want it. Unfortunately, the only way you can express this to your father or I is by screaming at an ear piercing level. Because of this, your father has taken a liking to ear plugs (yes...this is absolutely true)

This colic phase is so difficult for us, as parents, because we can drive ourselves crazy trying to figure out how to help you, how to help soothe you. You are not a fan of your bouncy chair or your swing. 

Honestly, I thought that colic was fake...just a label that parents gave to their kids when they didn't know how to handle their own babies. I always thought that if you were patient enough that there were many ways to help your baby settle down and cuddle. BOY...WAS I WAY WRONG!!! This colic phase is like clock work. As soon as you completed your 8PM feeding, you just wouldn't stop crying...well, let's call it what it really is: SCREAMING...you wouldn't stop screaming...for a number of hours. We have tried to change your diapers, bounce you, pat your back, place you in the football hold, feed your some more, shoosh you, sing to you, rock you...you name it...we tried it...every night. There have been some evenings when we had to take shifts so that we could get some sleep. 

I do not wish a colic baby on my worst enemy. This phases is so difficult, so frustrating!!! It has brought me to tears because I want to help you but I can't and it pains me to hear you screaming for hours on end. 

HOWEVER, my joy comes in the morning!! Just look at those eyes...all is forgotten when you wake up and look at me with your beautiful eyes and I get to smother you in kisses! I pray that your colic goes away soon...for your parent's sanity and for your own quality of life...I want you happy my little angel.

WEIGHT ~ 11 lbs 15 oz

HEIGHT ~ 23 in   

I Love Cloth Diapers!

Andrew's first cloth diaper...BumGenius 4.0

To my complete surprise...I have come to absolutely LOVE cloth diapers. I was sure that they would disgust me...and the washing routine would just gross me out, but quite the contrary!! After doing a ton of research and reading of reviews, I decided to stick to two brands of cloth diapers: BumGenius 4.0 and Flips. I went in thinking that the Flips would be my favorite because I didn't think that they would take up as much space in my diaper bag, I imagined that changing them would be pretty easy and I didn't think that I would have to handle much of the "mess" of a dirty diaper with the flips...however, it turns out that I am in favor of the BumGenius 4.0 much more.
First of all...let me explain why I am in love with cloth diapers. To begin, Andrew's birth weight was 6lbs 12oz. I felt that he was just too little for the cloth diapers, so we started off with disposables. To be honest, I also needed to get used to the change of having a new baby before I started the change of a new diapering system. Once Andrew started to chunk up, I slowly started to use the cloth diapers. The biggest difference between the disposable and cloth diapers that I noticed right away was the main reason that sold me on the cloth diapers...the disposables kept on sticking to Andrew. Every time I changed his diapers, with the disposables, he would just start screaming...no matter how slowly I opened up his diaper. The darn things just stuck right on to his little man parts, it looked horribly uncomfortable peeling it off each time he needed to be changed. Now, with the cloth diapers...they were just so soft on his tiny bum. There were absolutely no tears when opening his diaper (using cold wipes is another story though)
As far as the gross part...changing a dirty diaper and actually having to handle the ickyness...IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL (I'll have to give my opinion again, once Andrew starts eating solids, but for now it really is not a big deal at all) For the BumGenius diaper, the opening of the pocket is in the back of the diaper and opens up easily by bending the diaper back. Then all you have to do is find the edge of the insert and pull it out and place both pieces into the diaper pail. I separate the inserts before placing it in the pail rather than when it's time to the laundry, that way I don't have to dig through the dirty diapers. For the Flips...it's even easier because the insert is sitting right there in plain sight, you just take the cover, with the insert laying inside of it, and place them into the diaper pail...the insert will just fall out by itself.

When it is laundry day, I just simply grab the liner out of the pail, and dump all of the contents in the washing machine followed by the liner itself. No icky mess, no dirty hands (don't get me wrong, I still wash my hands or use hand sanitizer because, let's be honest, there is nothing sanitary about changing a diaper whether it's disposable or cloth). I have a newer high efficiency top loading washing machine and matching dryer set. The wash cycle that I finally settled on for the cloth diapers was: I do a cold wash first without any detergent. Then I do a regular cycle, with HOT water, followed by an extra rinse. So far I have only used the Rocking Green detergent for the diapers and I have been totally happy. The diapers come out clean, no stains, and smelling fresh. When it's time to move everything to the dryer I pull out all of the covers and hang those to dry in the bathroom and then transfer all of the remaining inserts and pail liner into the dryer.
Once the inserts and covers are all dry, I stuff all of my BumGenius diapers before placing them back in Andrews changing table. I can't tell you how much easier it is when they are pre-stuffed rather than having the stuff the insert when Andrew is laying on the table ready for his change. When they are pre-stuffed the changing is exactly the same as with a disposable diaper. I get the clean cloth diaper and place it under Andrew's bottom before removing the dirty one. I open his dirty diaper, wipe things up as best I can, and then pull out the dirty one, place it to the side while I quickly snap his new clean diaper in place. Once everything is covered up (I can't tell you how many times I have been tinkled on during a diaper change...changing a boy's diaper is a totally new experience for me) then I take the dirty diaper and remove the insert, if it's a BumGenius, and then toss it all into the diaper pail.
I have been doing diaper laundry every 2-3 days now and I cannot believe that the diaper pail does not stink at all...Andrew's room, our house...none of it stinks like dirty diapers. I am the kind of person that likes things to smell good when I walk into the house. If I can smell my animals in any way, the house is going to be turned upside down until that nasty smell is gone (rarely does it smell, but on occasion my cat can do a number in her litter box...Lord help us!!!) So, I am thrilled that switching over to cloth diapers has not in any way added a funky smell to our house. My mom and I made a promise to each other to tell the other one if their house ever smelled bad (since we both have animals...you just don't want to become oblivious to the smell), and she hasn't said anything yet.
Now, as for my reason for liking the BumGenius more than the Flips, it's simply because the their are no moving parts with the BumGenius when actually changing the diaper. The BumGenius is easy to change, just like a disposable. The Flips, you are given the opportunity to change just the insert rather than the entire diaper. The concept is great...I just need to get used to it because it is a little more challenging for me to get the insert in the right place while removing the dirty insert...all while trying not to get tinkled on. I am getting better at this, so I'm sure that this won't be an issue for me in the near future. On the other hand, the really nice thing about Flips is that the insert does lay nicely on top of the cover directly in the middle, whereas with the BumGenius, you have to place the insert inside of the diaper and make sure it is all the way to back and laying flat...which, when you have a lot of diapers from the laundry to put inserts into, can be a small pain in the butt...very small!!!

2 comments

Andrew's Baby Face

I just had to share this picture with everyone. I'm so jealous that Andrew has already mastered the "one eyebrow raised" look. I have always wanted to be able to that. I have no idea what he is thinking...I'm sure it is just some sort of gas passing through. Regardless, this picture is priceless. A picture is worth a thousand words!

Andrew's One Month Celebration

We started a little tradition with Emily, where we had a family celebration for Emily's first and six month...so, of course we have to continue that tradition with Andrew. We had a small get together with our families to celebrate Andrew turning 1 MONTH old. Nothing huge, just a nice dinner and cupcakes for dessert. Everyone got a chance to hold and cuddle with Andrew while we hung out, soaked up the beautiful weather and delicious dinner (cooked by yours truly), and enjoyed each others company.

Uncle "J" and Emily

Nana and Andrew

Not quite ready for a cupcake yet...11 more months

Andrew Is One Month Old

 

It's been one month already...I can't help thinking that if he came on his due date, he would only be one week old at this time. It has been quite the adjustment going from one child to two. Scheduling has been my lifesaver through this. Emily already has the routine down...she wakes up just as Andrew is feeding. Depending on where Andrew and I are at, she either comes upstairs to our bedroom and watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while he feeds, or we sit on the couch in the living room together instead. Andrew feeds every 3 hours...on the dot. At the beginning I nursed on demand just as he needed, and then once he started to follow a bit of routine, I started to implement the Baby Wise system: feed, wake, sleep...every 3 hours. It's nice for everyone this way because he has come to expect a feeding at a certain time and because it's routine he doesn't have to freak out and scream his head off to tell me he is hungry. As for me, I am able to schedule a bit of a life outside of the house because I know about how long I have before he needs to feed again. 

I have also begun to pump full time rather than nurse. At his two-week appointment I asked his pediatrician when I could start introducing the bottle to him and he said it would be fine at this point (two weeks of age)...so I did, and Andrew took to the bottle right away. I love feeding with the bottle because I can recruit help with his feedings. Daddy, Grandparents, and even babysitters can feed Andrew. Don't get me wrong...I love the bonding time with Andrew when he feeds and I feel like I still get that mommy/baby bonding moment with the bottle because I still hold him close and look in his eyes as he gazes back at me during his feedings, however...especially during the midnight hours, it is SO NICE to have Craig take over a feeding every now and again so I can get a few more hours of sleep. 

One of the biggest adjustments has been trying to get out of the house. WOW...what an ordeal this can be: trying to get Emily prepared with her shoes and whatever toys/dolls she is requesting to bring along, and then putting Andrew in his carseat (which he is no fan of at all = screaming baby)...and then grabbing the carseat, the diaper bag, and Emily's hand as we head out of the door. Then, trying to get everyone IN the car...OY!! I am not looking forward to the cold wet season that is right around the corner. I unlock the car and am trying to get Emily to be able to open her own door and get in her carseat all by herself (I don't think that I want her to be able to buckle herself in mainly because I don't want her to know how to UNBUCKLE herself). Meanwhile, I'm on the other side of the car opening the front door to put the diaper bag and whatever else I have in my hands, then opening the back door to put Andrew in his spot, then going over to Emily's side (who is most likely NOT in her seat because she sees this all as a fun game) to put Emily in her seat and buckle her up. 

This last month has been such a new experience...one that I absolutely cherish! I have so enjoyed being able to stay home with both of my kids. There are good days, and there are not-so-good days, but Emily's kisses and Andrew's cuddles make it all better at the end of the day! I have loved every moment with them. I am amazed at how well Emily has adjusted to having a new brother. Not only has she been extremely helpful with Andrew (pushing him in his swing, grabbing his binky for him when he cried, yelling out to tell me he is crying...as if I couldn't hear, singing him songs and reading him books), but she has also grown more and more attached to her baby dolls...mimicking what I do with Andrew: changing their diapers, putting them down for naps, feeding them a bottle, etc. It is so fun to watch her experience and grow this nurturing quality.

Bringing Home Baby...Emily Is Such A Proud New Sister

Emily is such a proud new big sister.

I was so unsure of the proper way to introduce Emily to Andrew. I have to say, I was actually nervous...not just for Emily's sake, but also for my own. I couldn't comprehend how I was going to be able love another child as much as I loved Emily. I wasn't sure about my feelings with a new baby. Don't get me wrong...I prayed for this child...and waited for over two years for this child. These confused feelings started to arise as the delivery date got closer and closer.
I started to realize that I was no longer going to have my one on one time with Emily. It was mainly my cuddle time that I was worried about because I know that Emily is going to outgrow that phase sooner than later. She has always been a huge "cuddler". We would cuddle on the couch as we watched a movie together. We would cuddle during her night time routine. We would cuddle...just to cuddle. I couldn't see this continuing with a new baby around and I didn't want to lose that.
On the other side...I was worried because I wanted to have the same amount of quality time with my newborn son as I had with Emily when she was a newborn. I wanted uninterrupted "snuggle" time, "cuddle" time, and "holding" time. I wanted to spend hours just staring back at my babies eyes. I wanted to sit and let my newborn son rest and fall asleep on my shoulder. I had no idea how this was going to happen, or if it even could happen. Would I be able to make the same connection with Andrew as I was able to make with Emily?
All of these questions/concerns overwhelmed me. I was terrified of this new change because I just couldn't see it working out perfectly for everyone. I just kept imagining someone's feelings being hurt, whether it was Emily's, Andrew's, or my own.

As far as Emily goes, I wanted to make sure that she did not feel replaced by Andrew. I wanted to make sure that she knew she was still such an important piece to our family. I read a couple of other blogs to see what they did for their first born to make them feel secure in this way and here is what we ended up doing:

• Long before Andrew's arrival, we started reading books to Emily from the Library about becoming a big sister, or what it was like to have a baby in the family.

• We made a small picture book of all of the pictures we took from her delivery. We read the photo album like it was a book and talked about how she arrived and how special she was and how excited we were to have her join our family. She loved this album and started looking through it on her own time...reading it aloud to herself. It was pretty special hearing her repeat all of the things that we talked about with her. 

• During her bedtime routine we listed all of the ways that she would be able to help out with the new baby: sing songs, play, find the binky, change his diapers (not really...but she loved talking about dirty diapers for some reason), etc. This helped her to become super excited about helping with her new baby brother. 

• We planned on her staying with my parents while we were at the hospital, so we talked about that with her a lot too. We had a practice "slumber party" at their house and also had Emily help pack her bag with the clothes that she wanted to wear and some toys that she wanted to bring over to play with.

 Here is how we prepared for the actual meeting of Emily and Andrew at the hospital:

• We brought a gift with us that was from "Andrew" to Emily. Emily is really into the Disney Princesses right now, so "Andrew" gave her a Disney Princess lunch box filled with snacks and some games to keep her happy and busy while she visited us at the hospital. 

• When my parents brought her to the hospital for the first time, we put baby Andrew in his bassinet so that Emily could climb into my bed and we could cuddle and she could tell me all the things she had been doing with her grandparents. We then told her that Andrew had finally left mommy's belly and IMMEDIATELY, she started looking around the room for her new brother. She was so excited to meet him. We told her that he was asleep in the bassinet and she quickly stood up to look inside the bassinet. She had the BIGGEST smile on her face and she couldn't wait to hold him. We had her sit down next to me and Craig brought Andrew to Emily to hold. I have never seen her so happy before (well...maybe when she got her big girl bed). It was such a relief to me because I had NO CLUE how this would all play out. (The total stinky thing that happened was we caught this most beautiful thing on video via our iPhone, and it froze up and ended up not recording a single moment.)

Once we were given the A.O.K. to come home, it was important to us to come home as a FAMILY. We drove to my parents house to pick up Emily and then drove home for the first time as a family of four!!! SO COOL!!
When we had visitors come to the house, Emily was always at the door to greet them. Our guests were always so great to first give Emily attention and ask her how she was doing and what she thought about her new baby brother. She would then introduce the company to her new brother. It was great because it gave her the control and didn't make it all about Andrew. She felt very important.

This entire process was an emotional roller coaster...but the words of my mother quickly made so much sense to me, "Your love doesn't divide with another child...it multiplies". I love that...it is so true. I don't love Emily any less, nor do I love Andrew any less than when Emily was a newborn. Both of my children are loved...and their cup runeth over!!! They are both so much alike and so unique at the same time.  Emily is head over heels for her baby brother...and loves to hold him, sing to him, and help in any way that she can. I love it!!

WELCOME BABY ANDREW

Andrew has finally decided to join our family...3 weeks early!!!

Andrew Jame's Birth Story:

I'll begin with telling you about the day before our trip to the hospital. It was Monday, July 23rd, and I went in for my 36 week check up. The doctor asked if I wanted her to check for dilation...YES!!! By this time in the pregnancy, I was ready for Andrew to make his arrival. Since Emily came a couple days before her due date, and I was dilated to a 3 for more than a week before her arrival, I was extremely curious to see if I was dilated at all at this point. To my surprise...I was already dilated to 4cm!!! I was ecstatic! I immediately sent text messages to the family to let them know that Andrew just might be coming any day now.
The next day, knowing that time was no longer on my side, I decided to run a bunch of errands. I had things to return, things to buy, and chores to do to make sure the nursery was completed. It wasn't long before I started to have contractions. I am blessed to painless contractions, it was the exact same the day Emily decided to arrive. The contractions were not strong at all, but they were certianly getting closer and closer together. I had a feeling that this was going to be the day, but honestly I wasn't ready for Andrew yet...I had a few more errands to run and laundry to do at home. So, I kid you not, I refused to start "timing" my contractions until I got home.
When I finished my errands, I sent a text to Craig and my mom to put them on alert that today might be the day. Immediately, Craig replied and said he was on his way home. I responded and told him to just hold off until I actually had proof that my contractions were close enough for admission to the hospital. Now, I still had a number of things to accomplish at home (laundry, cleaning, putting some finishing touches in Andrew's room, etc) which probably didn't help my contractions. Craig continued to text me to see how I was doing and to ask how far apart my contractions were. When I told him they were an average of five minutes apart he insisted on coming home.
I was still not completely convinced that we should go to hospital because I never sat down and relaxed while timing the contractions...who knew...maybe they were so close together because I was over doing it, not because Andrew was ready to meet the family. Regardless, when Craig arrived home, he wanted me to call the Dr. to see what she thought I should do. When the Dr. heard how close my contractions were, even though they weren't painful at all (she remembered that my contractions were not painful with Emily's pregnancy...and she arrived anyway), she told me to get to the hospital...AND AWAY WE WENT.

When we arrived at the hospital, we checked in, and they took me straight up to the labor and delivery floor. The Dr. was already at the hospital. She checked me out and I was still dilated to a 4 and then they hooked me up to a machine to monitor my contractions...and...NOTHING!! No contractions!!! I had contractions in the car on the way to the hospital, in the ER, on the way up to the L&D floor, but as soon as I was hooked up...NOT A SINGLE ONE!!! My worst nightmare was going to the hospital and being sent home. PLEASE DON'T SEND ME HOME!!! Come on Andrew!!! The Dr. told me to walk around for about an hour and she would check me again to see if I would dilate more. 
One hour later...still dilated to a 4. I was given the same orders: "Walk around for one more hour and if there is no change, we will send you home to relax". Instead of walking around the tiny L&D floor, we stayed in our room as I paced back and forth, back and forth. To make it a little more interesting I decided to do some skipping around the room, some can cans, you name it...I tried it!! I just wanted to move this process along. Craig got a kick out of it!
One more hour later...the nurse came in to check...and ABRA...CADABRA...I made it to a 5!!!! This was my ticket to staying!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!
They transferred me to a delivery room, started an IV site, and let me walk around some more and roll around on one of those huge bouncy balls. At this point, my contractions were still painless. With Emily's delivery, the pain didn't arrive until my water broke. I finally reached 6cm, so they decided to start my IV fluids while I rested in my bed. The Dr. decided to break my water...which I insisted that they call the anesthesiologist to start my epideral because the pain came in like a roaring lion after breaking my water with Emily's delivery.
Getting the eipideral was the worst part of the delivery...if I had to choose a worst part (because the whole thing was practically a PAINLESS experience). I HATE pain! I'm a baby when it comes to pain...well...delivery pain. I don't understand why anyone would choose to experience the pain of delivery on purpose. A friend's doctor said it perfectly, "Medicine has come a long way. Choosing to deliver without an epideral is like choosing to have a root canal without getting numb. WHY would you do that?" Now, no need to school me on why you perhaps chose give birth naturally...to each his own...it's just not for me!
Now, back to Andrew's story. The epideral was pretty uncomfortable, but by far worth it. (For those of you who are a little unsure of the epideral...I HATE shots, to the point that nurses have asked me to lay down after receiving a teeny tiny TB shot...yes, I turn white as a ghost. Now, I'm not going to say that the epideral was painless, because it wasn't, BUT it wasn't horribly painful either...just uncomfortable, but FAR WORTH IT!!!!
Once the epideral was in place, it didn't take long for my legs to go numb, unfortunately, this time around I could still feel all of the painful contractions. I was not thrilled about this at all. After an hour went by, I told the nurse that I was feeling all of the contractions. She immediately paged the anesthesiologist to come and assess the situation. She came right away and checked everything out. Everything was as it should be, so to help me out they gave me a bolus shot and WHA-LA...bye-bye pain!!! I was so numb it was funny!!! I wasn't loopy at all...like your regular pain meds, just simply numb from the waist down. I tried with all of my might to move my toes or lift my leg and...NOTHING!! It was such a weird feeling.
By this time, it was now Wednesday, about 2AM, when they did a final check...and I was finally dilated to a 10. They called the Dr. in, placed my legs into the stir-ups and set up all of the necessities for the doctor. When the Dr. arrived, she took one look and said, "WOW, there is the head...this should only take about one push and he should be here." Well, she wasn't too far off. Literally, 5 pushes/5 minutes later...Andrew was in my arms. I kid you not, I couldn't feel a darn thing, NOT A DARN THING!!! It was amazing! With Emily's delivery, I could still feel the pressure of the contractions so that I knew when I was supposed to push, however, this time around...I literally couldn't feel a thing. The nurse had to tell me when to push and I had no idea if I was pushing or just lifting my head off of the pillow...but I must have been doing something right because Andrew arrived safely and was in my arms in no time!! It was amazing!!!

This was the same nurse that helped to deliver Emily!!! We called ourselves the "A" team!!!

My beautiful baby boy!!!

Proud Dad moment

Proud Grandparents

Andrew James / 6lbs 11oz / 21 in

Andrew's Completed Nursery

Andrew's Completed Nursery

Here is Andrew’s completed nursery. I am SO HAPPY with the end result. I was so nervous to do all of the sewing for the crib set, curtains, and changing pad…since my last project was a Christmas ornament that my Grandma taught me to sew…when I was 8 years old. Seriously though, I really want to get into sewing. I would love to be comfortable enough to sew Emily some super cute clothes, as well as some clothes for myself. If you want to find the links to the tutorials that I found and used for the crib set, check out my previous post: Andrew's Nursery Update.

Nursery Fabrics

Back to Andrew’s nursery. I bought a lot of the accessories from JoAnn Fabrics. The letters above the crib are all from JoAnn's. It is a mixture of wooden and cardboard letters that I painted myself to match the fabrics that I chose. I hung them all up with the 3M Command Strips so I didn't have to put a ton of holes in the wall. To guarantee that they don't fall down...I used a couple of the strips on each of the letters.  

 There really is no theme in the nursery. It is a mixture of fun ideas on each wall. I fell in love with the ABC wall which I found a picture of on pinterest. The picture that I found was attached to a link from Etsy...unfortunately the letters were way out of my price range and so I was able to copy the idea (using coupons for JoAnn's) for a fraction of the price on Etsy. There is also a slight Star Wars theme. Again, I found a picture of the crib mobile on Pinterest...and I couldn't resist! I HAD TO HAVE IT!!! The price was totally affordable and I am SO HAPPY with the finished look. Here is a link to the Etsy store: Salty and Sweet. To hang the mobile, I just bought a used crib mobile from a thrift store and then used that to hang my new mobile from Etsy.

Coolest Crib Mobile EVER!!!

For the other prints around the room, I just googled "star wars nursery prints" and I came across these ridiculously cute prints. 

C3PO Artwork

Look closely, that is not a Norman Rockwell...that is Princess Lea and Hans Solo

Hans Solo and Chewbacca

 There isn't much to say about the rest of the nursery. I'll just post the pictures...don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have any questions at all.

Andrew's Toy Shelf

Toy Shelf and Star Wars Prints above

DIY ABC Wall

Andrew's Changing Table

Fun Artwork