A Robot Baby Shower

The night before Grant's big arrival, my friends threw me an adorable baby shower! The shower was scheduled for the day of the induction so they made a quick schedule change. It was nice to have something fun to do instead of sitting around thinking about the next morning.

 

The shower was robot-themed and everything turned out so cute.

 

 

These are the wonderful girls that planned the party. Sarah, Tiff and Allyson are such wonderful, talented women and I'm blessed to have them as friends.

I have been so blessed with amazing friends in Philly! I'm going to miss these girls so much!

Grant David Peterson

Grant David Peterson

March 21, 2013

11:18 a.m.

7 lbs. 15 oz.

19 1/4 inches

 

We arrived at the hospital at 6:45 a.m. to get everything started for the induction. They got the IV going, drew my blood and started the Pitocin at about 7:45. At that point, the doctor also checked me and broke my water. I was 3 cm dilated and 80 percent effaced. After a while, the doctor came in and told me that the steroids had done the trick, my platelets were over 100,000, and that I would be able to get en epidural if I wanted. I was mentally prepared not to have one so this threw a weird twist into my morning. I kept going back and forth, deciding if I felt like toughing it out or not.

 

 

Sam asked the nurse how often they check for progress and she said they try to do it as little as possible in order to decrease the risk of infection. At this point, it was coming up on three hours since the Pitocin had started and I was getting to be pretty miserable. I asked for the epidural. The anesthesiologist arrived pretty quickly and got things hooked up. When he finished, I was surprised that the epidural wasn't helping as much/as quickly as I remember it doing with Abby. When the epidural was in place, the nurse checked me and said I was about 6 cm. As soon as she left the room, my monitor started beeping because it wasn't picking up the baby's heartbeat. She had me turn on my side and then turn to the other side to see if she could adjust the monitor to find the heartbeat. When I got to the second side, I told her I was actually feeling a lot of pressure so she checked me and sure enough, I went from a 6 to a 10 in five minutes. The monitor wasn't registering the heartbeat because he was a lot lower than she was expecting him to be. We have definitely learned that when my body decides to go, it goes. The nurse told me not to push while she called the doctor and frantically started getting everything ready for delivery. Apparently, frantic deliveries are kind of my thing. It took the doctor 10 or 15 minutes to get there because she had been up in the OR. After a few rounds of pushing and an episiotomy our little man made his debut.

 

He has lots of dark hair and is just so handsome. He looks more like me, which is kind of fun since the girls are daddy's clones.

 

 

He is my biggest baby. It's kind of funny that my babies get smaller based on arrival to due date. It just goes to show what good a due date is.

My parents brought the girls to the hospital Thursday afternoon. They were smitten by their baby brother. Abby just couldn't get enough of him.

We now have one of each hair color. I'm interested to see how Grant's hair evolves though because I was born with really dark hair and then lightened up a lot as a toddler.

We had a bunch of visitors the first night. It was fun showing off our little boy to our friends.

Daddy is so excited to have a little buddy.

We brought him home Saturday morning. For the most part, I always really love being in the hospital. It's nice to relax and not have to worry about anything but the new baby but it was good to get home.

The girls were excited to have us back and we were excited to see them too. Somehow they both got huge while I was gone!

 

My parents took off in the afternoon and Sam's parents arrived in the evening. We are so grateful for the blessing of wonderful parents, willing to help us.

 

So, now I am a mother of three which is pretty crazy to think about. I'm excited for the new adventure!

38 Weeks, 1 Day

Sorry, no picture again. I know, I suck...

I had my blood drawn again today, my platelets have stayed the same over the past week, so the doctor recommended I triple my steroid dose to see if that will do the trick. Unfortunately, I don't think there is enough time to get my numbers up high enough so I'm preparing myself for another natural delivery and the possibility of lots of bleeding. Every anesthesiologist has their own rule though on how high your levels have to be but it seems that the ones at our hospital are pretty strict. Also, if I need a C-section for any reason, I will have to be put out.

I am scheduled to be induced on Thursday, March 21, so our little guy will be here in less than a week! I'm nervous about an induced, natural childbirth. I know the pain in much harder to manage when you're strapped in with Pitocin...I've been there! However, I am 3 cm dilated now and contracting more and more so maybe I won't make it to the induction. Either way, we feel like scheduling for Thursday was the best decision.

My parents get here tomorrow. They will be a very welcome help and distraction to make it through the next couple of days. The girls are so excited to have them here!

I can't wait to introduce you to my little man! We've been waiting a long time for him!

37 Weeks

Yesterday was my 37 week mark. I meant to take a picture, really, I did. I looked cute and everything. They day just sort of got away from me. By the time we were really ready to go, we needed to take off for our weekly institute class and then it was kind of go, go, go from there.

When I was pregnant with Clara, my platelet counts were a little bit low during the routine blood testing toward the beginning of my pregnancy. When they checked them again, the lab messed something up and they couldn't read the test. The doctor said they'd just check them again when I arrived at the hospital but, there wasn't time for that when we got there. I had a lot of bleeding right after Clara's birth and then for WAY too long afterward.

This time around, the doctor wanted to check if my platelets were the problem and to see if we could prevent the same thing from happening. She referred me to a hematologist for better testing/tracking. I had my fourth appointment with the hematologist yesterday. My platelets have continued to drop with each appointment and are now really on the border or worrisome. If they get to a certain point, there would be no option of an epidural and I would likely need a transfusion, particularly if I needed a C-section. So, the doctor recommended I start a low-dose steroid to try and boost my levels before delivery. So, if you see me getting some really big muscles, don't be alarmed.

Going to the hematologist's office has been pretty depressing. She actually works in the cancer center of the hospital. I sit there getting my blood drawn in a room filled with cancer patients receiving treatment. It's really sad. However, I imagine people may feel really sorry for me, the pregnant girl in the cancer center. Thankfully, I'm there for less serious reasons.

After the hematologist, I saw the OB. I am two centimeters dilated and 50 percent effaced, which is up from 1 and 20 from last week. The doctor said she would happily induce me at 39 weeks so we should be able to have our little man with us in two weeks. I'm torn about the early induction but I'm really terrified about not making it to the hospital in time. It was such a close call, and we live far away and the whole situation kind of stresses me out.

Next week, Sam is on duty at the hospital all week which also makes me worried that if I need him I won't be able to reach him. Thankfully, my parents arrive next weekend. That will take a lot of the stress off.

I'm feeling pretty junky these days, to be honest with you. I'm pretty much uncomfortable all  the time but I'm trying to stay positive and enjoy the time I have with my girls.

We're just ready for our little man here. I want to wake up in the night to feed a baby and not just to pee.

Clara Turned TWO

Our sweet little Clara turned two on March 4. I can't believe how big she's gotten. The time flies by too quickly.

 

Clara is such a joy. She is hilarious. I find myself cracking up at her little personality all the time. Sometimes she's being totally mischievous and I just can't get mad at her because she's so dang cute.

 

She loves her sister. Sometimes Abby treats her as her personal slave but Clara doesn't seem to mind. I was the same kind of loving little sister though, so I understand where she's coming from. ha!

 

She is such an independent spirit--nothing like Abby. The morning of her birthday, Abby was at preschool and she was playing by herself in the bedroom with the door closed. She wanted nothing to do with me.

 

She is totally gorgeous. I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody commented on her red hair. I would be a rich woman.

 

She was excited to open her presents but I think her sister was even more excited.

 

 

Clara's party was a pajama party so we got her these new cupcake jammies.

 

The girls had to try out the new doctor's set right away. Abby had some jealousy issues but Clara was a sweetheart and happily shared her new loot.

These are the party favors. The tags say, " I'm 'CEREAL-sly' glad you came to my party!" I came up with that on my own and I thought it was pretty creative. In the world on Pinterest, I don't find myself being creative very often.

We had pancakes with fruit and nuts, yogurt, bacon and sausage, grapes and doughnut holes. The one bummer was that Sam and I were in the kitchen for the first half of the party making food. That's why I don't have very many pictures.

Clara's "cake" was these cake batter pancakes.

She blew out the candle but didn't eat any of it. I think she was too busy having fun with her friends.

 

These girls are such buddies. They were being so funny sitting on this chair.

 

We also had a cereal necklace station and some other cute decorations I never took a picture of, of course.

 

It was a fun party with lots of friends celebrating with us.

 

As I write this, Clara is looking at the pictures singing, "Happy birthday to you..." Oh, how I love her.