Friday, June 28, 2013

Reuben's Birth Story (pt. 2)

After Clint helped me gather myself, we got in the car to head to work. We headed to McDonalds to get a large diet coke (at this point I had thrown out the limited caffeine rule) and some breakfast. All I could stomach was a hash brown and a few sips of coke. Clint mentioned he thought I should call my doctor, but I brushed it off. What could she do besides tell me to take tylenol for sore muscles?

When I walked into work, my boss asked how I was feeling that day. Normally, in the South, you'd be polite and say, "Good, thanks. You?" I was way past that. I told him exactly how horrible I felt. His wife was pregnant with their second and due just a few weeks after me, so he had been researching some stuff the night before and asked me about swelling, headaches, and a few other things. I said I didn't have any of those, but he said he still thought it wouldn't hurt to call my doctor and just see what they thought. I figured I might as well. It couldn't hurt. So I called and left a message for my nurse, breaking down the last couple of days and how miserable they'd been. My nurse normally took a while to call back, so I sat down, on my exercise ball (gotta keep moving that baby down, people!), and started working. I was shocked when she called back 15 minutes later.

Her: Well, Stephanie, if I was a betting woman, I'd bet you're in labor and you're just laboring in your back.
Me: I really don't think so. I took tylenol about 30 minutes ago and I feel great right now. That wouldn't help contractions, would it?
Her: Probably not, but why don't you and Clint go ahead and pack your bags and come on in and we'll figure out what's going on.
Me: (laughing) Um... ok, I guess!

I called Clint and told him, let Eric know what was going on, and headed out. People in the office saw me leaving and asked if we were going to have the baby and I had to reply with, "I don't know. We're going to find out!"

So we got home around 9:30 and took our sweet time packing. When it came time to load the car up, we couldn't figure out if we should bring the carseat or not. It had just come in the day before and we hadn't had time to install it or anything. Clint said it wasn't worth trying to install it now since we wouldn't need it and I almost agreed, but then we decided to just throw it in the back just in case...

We got to the Dr. and did the whole pee in a cup and weigh yourself routine. This may be TMI, but I don't really care... I noticed my pee was a really funny color. I had been drinking water like a champ my whole pregnancy so it had always been clear. Not now. It was a weird brown color. I figured I hadn't had enough to drink in the last couple hours. I also noticed I had gained 5.5 lbs since my appointment 6 days ago, but I hadn't taken the time to take off my shoes and sweatshirt so I didn't think too much of that either.

I got called back and my nurse stuck that strip in my pee just like she had done every other check up. But this time she didn't just look at it and move on. She loooooooked at it. Stuck another test strip in the pee. Looked at that one. Stuck another strip in pee. Looked at that one. And then did it again! Then she took my blood pressure and went "hmmmmmm" as she listened for my heartbeat to start back up. She took the cuff off and said, "This may not be labor, but something's up. I'm gonna let Dr. McGuinn look at your chart." Then she moved us to the check-up room. Once we were in the room, I remember praying something along the lines of, "God, I don't care what you have to do as long as we're both healthy at the end of it, even if its preecclampsia and I have to be induced. I just want him OUT!"

A few minutes later my doctor walked in and asked which hospital I was delivering at. I told her and she shouted it down the hall. Then she closed the door and said

"Ok, they know you're coming. We're going over there and getting this sweet baby out of you. Today."

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

HE'S HOME! HE'S HOME!

Clint was away at our church's student camps for the last 12 days.

Y'all. That is a loooooooooooooong time to be alone with a baby.

I love Reuben. I think he's the best baby God ever gave anybody. But he's a baby. He can't do anything for himself. One set of hands just isn't enough. I have no idea how single moms do it. And I have the utmost respect for them! My mom spent a lot of time with us which was immensely helpful.

We survived. Reuben only got one bath in those 12 days, but we made it nonetheless.

But good news...

HE'S HOME!!!

Hallelujah!

Rebuen's only four months old, so I don't think that he really "missed" Clint. But I know for sure he was happy to see him. He got all smiley when he saw him and spent a few minutes this morning just staring at him and petting his face. My heart melted into a soppy little puddle at my feet. I can't even stand how sweet they are together.


We celebrated last night by going to Kabutos (the best Japanese food out there in our opinion) and are continuing the celebration by going to see Monsters University with our small group tonight.

Hip-Hip-Hooray for dads!!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Reuben's Birth Story (pt. 1)

It may be 4 months after the fact but, honestly, I'm thankful it's taken me this long to sit down and write all of this out. It was sweet then, but it's extra sweet to look back on it and remember it all now. I want to remember as much detail as possible so instead of making it one super long post, I'm going to break it up across the next couple of weeks.

Ok. Here goes...

It all started Tuesday night. My upper back/shoulder area had been sore on and off since we took my maternity photos the week before. Amelia took awesome photos, but it was a lot of twisting, holding, stick-outing, and just straight-up moving for a 36 week pregnant lady.


I was pretty sure this photo alone was responsible for the discomfort, but I didn't really care too much because I love it so much.

Moving on...

Stretching had proven enough to make my muscles relax the first couple of days and then the pain died down. Tuesday at work it started up again and I figured my belly was just getting big enough to put serious strain on my shoulders. Stretching wasn't doing a lot, but the pain was bearable so I just lived with it. Somehow throughout my pregnancy, I bought and lost 5 bottles of tylenol and I was just too lazy to go buy more.

Fast forward to 1:00AM... the pain in my shoulders woke me up. It was constant, stabbing, so-bad-you-can't-breathe pain. I tried changing my sleep position. I tried on each side, flat on my back, on my stomach (as much as I could with a belly that big), with my head where my feet go, on the floor, on the couch, on the recliner-- nothing worked. So around 3:00AM I asked Clint to rub my shoulders and even his firmest grip wasn't doing much to relax the pain. Sweet, sweet husband that he is, he left to go buy our 6th bottle of tylenol. I got in the shower and turned the water as hot as I could handle and just stood there, praying that God would ease the pain. Clint got home with extra strength tylenol, I popped as many as were allowed, and I finally fell asleep around 4:00AM. I got up with Clint the next morning and decided I was staying home from work that day. I laid on the couch all. day. long. popping tylenol the second the four hour mark passed. The first half of the day wasn't too bad, but around dinnertime, I noticed the tylenol was wearing off closer to the three hour mark instead of four. By the middle of the night, I couldn't even tell I had taken anything about 1.5 hours after taking it.

Cue another night of trying absolutely any sleep position, no matter how ridiculous it felt, to no avail. By 5:00, I had just resigned myself to being up for the day. I got in another scalding hot shower and cried, still begging God would make the pain stop. I had already decided I was going to work for the day. I had to save my sick time for after Reuben got here, plus it was Valentines Day and I wanted to go on a date that night. When I was in school, if I stayed home sick, my parents wouldn't let me do anything that night. Their thinking was if I wasn't well enough to go to school, I wasn't well enough to do anything fun. So I still kind of stick to that mindset in grown-up life. I "got ready" by throwing on a man's undershirt, the biggest hoodie I could find, and throwing my sopping wet hair on top of my head. I didn't even put on makeup. Ain't nobody got time for that.

So basically, I was a hot mess.

I sat on our recliner, waiting for Clint to get ready (we work at the same church, so we ride together), and I bawled. I couldn't handle feeling like this for another three weeks. I told God right then that I needed this baby out of me.

And He said O.K.

Part 2   Part 3   Part 4

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Throwback Thursday- Childhood Crush

Linking up with Bonnie again today for Throwback Thursday!


Childhood crushes... wow. Is it bad that I can't count my crushes from elementary school on one hand? It's definitely a two-hand number. I do remember my absolutely first crush. In Kindergarten I was totally in love with a little boy named Nathan. He was tiny, blonde, mousy, and incredibly shy. Like so shy, I'm not even sure we ever had a conversation. Really appealing, right? I have no idea why I liked him.

There was a whole lotta puppy love and heartbreak in elementary school and early middle school, but I want to talk about my main squeeze in middle school...


Just look at that stud muffin.

Our parents were in a small group together through our church and we'd always get drug to their get-togethers and forced to hang out since we were in the same grade. We clicked well and started talking more once he moved to my middle school in 8th grade. By winter of our 8th grade year, we'd talk on the phone for HOURS. I wish I could go back and hear those conversations now. I was probably full of awkward attempts at flirting. I know for sure we'd play solitaire every night. We'd each play a game on our computer and see who finished first. Clint always beat me. And yes-- we were that cool.

I had a little crush on Clint all year long. Spring came around and he decided he liked our friend, Kellye, mostly out of social pressure because she was a firey redhead too. Everybody wanted Big Red to date Mrs. Big Red. They "dated" for a couple months and right before school was over for summer, she said she "just wanted to be friends." By the way, how many people used that line when breaking up with someone in middle school or high school? I know I did!

Anyways, Clint called me that night and said he really was ok with it because he had a crush on another girl anyway and we spent way too long telling-but not telling-each other we liked each other. Well, the next day at school, Kellye found out and, long story really short, made the entire grade hate me. (Kellye is now married and in our small group and we laughed at this story just a couple of weeks ago.)

Clint and I didn't care. We were in puppy love. And one afternoon, sitting on his couch watching Pistol Pete, we held hands for the very first time. Under a pillow of course, so that his parents couldn't see.

Fast forward 10 years...


After a lot of ups and downs and a few more childhood crushes for each of us, we're still together!

Did anybody else happen to marry their childhood crush? Let me know!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The "W" Word

Weight.

gasp

I know, I know. Nobody likes to talk about weight.

Unless you're pregnant or just had a baby. Then your weight is talked about like the weather. Everybody is always telling moms, "Oh you look SO good," "There's no way you just had a baby," "You're alllllll belly."  My favorite was, "You can't even tell you're pregnant from behind!" to which I wanted to reply, "Oh, really? You couldn't tell I was pregnant from the fact I was waddling like an overgrown penguin?!"

I was always sure I'd be the girl who blew up to whale-like proportions when I got pregnant. Thankfully, I didn't, but that doesn't mean I was happy about all the weight I gained. I was on track to only gain my goal of 30 lbs, but then nasty preeclampsia snuck up and I gained 8 lbs the last week I was pregnant.

36 weeks pregnant and NOT all belly

I had to be in the hospital 5 nights and by the time I left, I only had 18 lbs left to go. At my 6 week check up, I had lost another 13. I figured if I lost 33 lbs in 6 weeks, the other 5 would melt right off of me...

I was wrong.
Shocker.

Fast forward to last week. Our scale's battery has been dead since Reuben was about 7 weeks old and I haven't been to the doctor again, so I hadn't had a chance to weigh myself in about 10 weeks. I figured I had lost the 5 lbs plus some because a lot of my pre-pregnancy pants were fitting again. We went over to a friends house to hang out and I weighed myself on their scale, fully expecting to see my pre-Reuben weight smiling back at me. Nope. Those darn 5 lbs are still here!

Now, let's be real, I'm not exactly a poster child for health. I'm too much of a sucker for cheese dip and chocolate (not together, of course) for that. But I would've thought between carrying my chunky baby around, breastfeeding, and not totally gorging myself on food, those 5 lbs would be gone!

So that was my wake up call. I want them gone. Them plus another 15 of their friends or so. And to get them gone, I'm going to have to work. I started with the baby step of getting a grilled chicken wrap at Chickfila today. Gotta start somewhere, right?


Our wedding, 2.5 years ago. Goal weight!

Now it's out there in blog world. I've said it and I can't take it back. By this time next year, I WILL be 20 lbs lighter and a whole lot healthier.

What are some of your tips to make the whole eating healthy thing easier? Anybody got any victory stories about losing baby weight? Or maybe you can commiserate with me for a moment about those lbs that just won't get lost?!

Disclaimer: I'm being entered in a sweepstakes for writing this post. Check it out at schuelove!

Monday, June 17, 2013

4 months!


Weight: We'll know for sure after his check-up this Friday, but I'm betting somewhere between 14-15 lbs. It's crazy how quickly they grow! Just look at this little chunk!


Health: Perfect. Praise the Lord! A small part of me wishes he'd already had his first little cold or something because I know the first time he's sick is going to be miserable and I want to get it over with!


Sleep: Sleeps like a champ at night. With all our traveling and different sleeping arrangements, he's a little thrown off, but still giving us a good 6-7 hour stretch after he first goes to sleep. It's been really hard waking up to feed him at night and working full time because once I get up and walk to his room, I'm wide awake for another 30 minutes, even thought he's only eating 10 of those. So we've got a deal. When Clint gets home from camp, he's going to go get Reuben and bring him to our room for me to feed him and then take him back to his crib. Clint can fall asleep standing up if he's tired enough so walking a little bit won't effect him at all. Until then, Reu's either in his Rock&Play by the side of my bed, or just in bed with us. I've gotta be honest... I don't hate waking up to this sweet sight.


Social: He's really starting to recognize people. His face lights up whenever Clint smiles at him. And when his Bella (my mom) picks him up when she gets to our house in the morning he starts getting all wiggly and happy. He also met his future BFF, Jack, in Chicago at the beginning of the month and had a lot of fun watching him run around. I can hardly handle this cuteness.


Diet: 100% breastmilk. I'm so thankful I've been able to pump more than enough to leave with him for bottles while I'm at work and build up a major freezer stash! Cleaning the pumping parts is repetitive and annoying, but worth it for little man to have my milk.

Clothes: Alllllll over the board on this one. He wears anything from 0-3 month shorts to 6 month jumpers. Pjs are officially 3+ months. Packing away his newborn clothes was definitely bittersweet. I saw a carters onesie I had loved at Kohls and it took everything in me to not buy it in 6 months so I could get him in it again. Gotta move on, Steph. Gotta move on.

Baby Gear Love: This kid has been obsessed with his activity mat since day one. I put him on it the first time when he was around 3 weeks old and he just stared and stared at all the colors. Now he swats and kicks at the animals and is starting to try and grab them. Just look at this little face of pure joy!


  
Crying: My sanity is so thankful that the answer to this is rarely. As of right now, the only time he really loses it is when he's past tired and into exhausted and he's fighting sleep. Since he's "talking" more now, there's a lot more grunting out of frustration than crying. Still annoying but a lot less piercing!

Likes: Talking. He's all about making some noise now that he knows how to do it. I can't say I hate it. His little voice is the most adorable thing I've ever heard. He's also a huge fan of getting his diaper changed. Whenever I lay him down on the changing pad, his face lights up and he starts kicking his legs and waving his arms like a mad man.

Postpartum: Still holding onto 5 lbs of pregnancy weight, but I'm honestly not working that hard to get it off. So I can't really complain. I can complain about one thing: hair loss. I mean, seriously! I don't know how I still have hair left to lose. I have to clean my brush out 3 times by the time I'm through my shower and fixing my hair routine. And it's EVERY.WHERE. I can always find a strand in Reuben's fist. On my clothes. In Clints beard. In my food. Anywhere and everywhere.
 

Milestones: We've got a roller! Up until 3 weeks ago, he would protest tummy time and just keep his head down and scream. He's been able to hold his head up sitting up for quite a while now so I knew he should be able to do it. After rolling him from back to belly back onto his back a few times and talking in a high pitched voice like a fool, he realized tummy time wasn't permanent and started to push up and look around. Four days after the first time he actually lifted his head up, I rolled him over on his belly and he kept going and landed on his back! I thought it was a fluke so didn't get too excited, but I went to show Clint that night and he did it two more times! We both yelled out of excitement and terrified him which led to a really pitiful baby. But we were pumped! Now he's a tummy time champ. 


Reuben,

You've turned into the sweetest little guy. Your daddy and I are falling more and more in love with your personality every day. Your itty bitty giggles and big smiles melt us. You're growing up so quickly and I love watching you learn more and more about the world around you. You're such a blessing from God and I thank Him for you every single day. Love you little man!

Love, 
Mama


This age is so much fun! Do y'all have kids? Tell me about your favorite 4 month memory :)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

throwback thursday- Nelly the Nissan

Bonnie's blog is one of my absolute faves. Always hilarious. Seriously. Check her out! So when I saw she was hosting a summer link up all about throw-backs, I knew I had to be a part of it!

This week is all about learning to drive and your first car...


Nelly the Nissan... ok, i actually don't call her Nelly, but I always said I would if I was the kinda person who named their cars... so for the purpose of this blog post, she's Nelly.

This is the only full body shot of her I can find. I wish I could find our very first picture together from 1999 where I'm posing with my parents in front of her holding not one, but two, Furbys. We go waaaaay back.

The picture above (Excuse the quality. It's back from the days of the trusty ol' LG EnV.) is from an icy day my senior year. I parked all the way up by the curb and when I walked out of school, this is what I found. Apparently my emergency brake did nothing to keep my car from sliding down the almost unnoticeable hill before the ice melted. I'm sure everybody in the parking lot loved me that day!

My favorite memory in Nelly so far happened the summer of 2008 when I worked in Naples, FL. The afternoon before I planned to drive the 18 hours home to Nashville, I turned my car on and nothing on my dashboard worked. I couldn't change radio stations, inputs, or anything else having to do with the audio. It was stuck on an AM channel that was all static. I attempted the tried and true "turn it off and turn it back on" which only made it emit a piercing beep that could only be stopped by turning the car off completely. I discovered I could put a CD in, but couldn't skip songs. I had several CDs with me so I was ok with that. Only an hour into the drive home, I tried to eject the CD I had in there, only to find out I couldn't.

 Let's just say I know the first disc of the Across the Universe soundtrack like the back of my hand.

Almost a year to the day later, after learning to live with a radio-less car, I turned Nelly on and everything was working. Just like it had never happened.

Quirks and all, Nelly's proving to be a faithful car. It'll be a sad day when she kicks the bucket, but at least now I have Henry the Hyundai as a back up...


That's his bumper only a few months after I got him. Apparently he's not an offroad vehicle and doesn't appreciate it when I totally curb it. Here's hoping he lasts a while!

P.S. If you're visiting from Bonnie's link-up, comment and let me know! I'd love to read all about your driving escapades!

Monday, June 10, 2013

Catch-up

I wish there was a way to just move everything to a new blog and start over again... but there's not. So I'm back MONTHS later to keep going! I regret not keeping up with this more. Not for other people to read as much as a reminder of everything that's happened in the last 4 months!

Baby Lamberth is here!



Reuben Nathan Lamberth was born at 2:42 on Valentines day! He was 6 lbs. 7 oz. and 18.5 inches long. And the cutest little thing I'd ever laid my eyes on. It was a crazy day, but I'll share more about that later.

Here are his 1, 2, and 3 month photos (instagram, of course)...






I can't even handle how quickly he's growing up! Being a mom is completely different than I'd ever imagined but I'm loving every day. Maybe not every minute of every day, but the majority of them. Gotta keep it real here, people! It's funny how I literally can't imagine life without him now. He's such a part of our family already.

I'll be back later with the birth story and start with monthly updates later this week when he's 4 months (WHAT?!).

So happy to be back! :)



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...