Mommyhood: cold coffee, late nights & many a visitors....these are the days!

Many things fascinate me now that I'm not solely thinking and living for myself. For starters, I'd like to meet the Mother who has a hot cup o' joe before noon (not after it's been heated 3x) and give her a high 5. Because let me just tell ya, I haven't had a steaming cuppa since Adlee was born. I've resigned to pretending my coffee is an "iced coffee" from Starbucks and not from yesterdays pot!! Honestly though, Miss AJ has been pretty good to me. She's latched like a champ from the get go and eats well. Too well I feel like, Lord Mama needs a feeding break. I don't want to complain b/c I'm blessed to have even produced, and not have to supplement or pump from the get go but it's ALOT to be feeding every 1:30-2 hours (or less). I must have nips of steel b/c I haven't even needed the cream everyone swears by...or Adlee just latches well, who knows! This week AJ has begun to comfort feed more so there's still time for that to change. Her gas/colic has increased and her fussy nights are off the charts. Which leads me to my first "I will never do that as a parent" statement/situation that has already blown up in my face: Co-sleeping. WOOPS! Legit, it's the ONE thing I swore I never wanted to do (and truly I don't want to) but she just will not sleep in her bassinet or crib or anywhere that isn't elevated. We've nicknamed her 'Piglet' in our household for the obvious reasons, she snorts like a little piggy when she lays flat. Sister just cannot breathe. We've put towels and blankets under her bassinet mattress, we've rolled up blankets and sandwiched them around her to lay her on her side. We've swaddled, we've shushed, and at the end of the day, what they say is true. It's all about survival in the beginning, so co-sleeping we shall! I figure at less than three weeks old we aren't creating any habits she'll remember, so lets just hope that come 3 months she's blissfully sleeping OUT of our bed! Day time? She will sleep anywhere, go figure. Just like she did en utero. 9pm strikes and she is ready to par-tay... good times!

Miss AJ has been out and about with us from the get go and has already met so many of her adoring fans! We've tried to keep as "business as usual" and just bring her along so to not alter life 100% and to have some sort of normalcy. It's worked well for us so far. Many people prayed for her and encouraged me throughout this journey and it's so rewarding to see them love on her in real life now that she's here! All of our hospital visitors were so kind to come and see us and dreams became reality when Gram & Ray and Mamaw & Papaw got to hold her. It's such a blessing to have both sets of great grandparents in her life, at least on my side. Sadly, Blair's grandparents have all passed on. So these pictures and moments with them mean so much to us. 

Gram & Ray!

Papaw & Mamaw

My first love holds my first babylove <3

Some hospital visit shout outs to some very special people who I never want to forget made the time to stop in and see our sweet girl....

Her bestie {or future bf} Weston stopped in for snugs and brought her flowers, and her cousin Evelyn sent a teddy bear. So thankful to have my Sister from another Mister, Steph, at beckon call for all questions I no longer have to Google! Major bonus to being one of the last in the group to have kids. I cannot thank her enough for all of her kind gestures and for sending me special goodies along the way for AJ. She is very much appreciated.

Steph & West

Sumo man meets nugget

Another special hospital guest was my favorite nurse Flo who was a huge supporter of ours and truthfully one of the reasons Adlee is even here. Flo was the nurse I spoke about during our IF journey who I got so close to, and eventually broke down to when things weren't sticking to the wall that the doc was just launching at it. She was the one to take an extra second to review our medical charts and caught the missing link as to why we weren't conceiving. I will never be able to thank her enough for all of her love and support. Seeing her holding our little girl was an absolute surreal/dream moment. Oh I love her so! {I have no idea how I didn't get a picture of them, I'm sure I did... Maybe that's the anesthesia talking from that day?! Sigh, well I have a mental image of them together I'll always cherish}.

Brittany has been such a supporter in my life and has cheered me on this journey from Day 1. She is one special Auntie to our little girl and she loves her to bits already.

 Of course Grandparents & Megan and Isaac wouldn't have missed meeting her on her birthday! Can't you just feel the love pouring out of these pics?! I'm surprised they don't have faces of horror considering I was on the other side of the camera, ha!! But seriously, if you saw me on D day you'd have not recognized me. Thank you 5 liters of Lactated Ringers! ;) Happy to say 20 of the 40 has come off in 2 weeks. The rest, well we'll get there eventually!

The Grandparents!

Poppy Dan

Mimi Shawn

Grandpa Jimmy

Grandma Vicki

Aunt Megan & Cousin Isaac

he loves her to pieces & has already made up a song about her titled "Abbie"...lol!

All of her Auntie's and Uncle's on the Albright side brought us dinner one night and got to meet their first niece! They look pretty smitten to me. Adlee even gave a pep talk to her soon-to-be cousin, Baby Boy Lutmer en utero! We can't wait to meet him in July!

Quinn, Jeff, Paige, Baby Lutmer & Trent

Uncle Cody

Auntie Arden

Last but not least are Andrew, Allie & Holly. Andrew has been on the scene since middle school in my life and has also been a cheerleader through this journey, along with Allie and Holly. Allie is a dear friend and colleague and Holly and I volunteered in the NICU together. She's been a huge ear to me. Many a day of us holding those precious preemie's rocking away in our rockers at Dayton Children's just dreaming of the day I'll have a lil stinker of my own to rock. 

Andrew

Allie

Holly

And here we are... real life... with our little girl. These are the days and I'm loving every single second of them (diaper rash, witching hours, cluster feeds, cold coffee and all)! Pinch me!

Until next time.....

XOXO,

Andi 

Introducing Miss Adlee James: A Birth Story

Adlee James Albright

Born April 27th, 2015 @ 3:44am

6lbs 3oz | 8.5" long

IT'S A ....GIRL!! We have a precious baby GIRL!! I am still in awe of this fact. We wanted a healthy baby of course, regardless of gender, but a girl was what we both were secretly hoping for. She is healthy and gorgeous and just perfect. We couldn't be happier. People always told me that being a Mama brings a love unlike any other you've felt before, and boy were they right. My heart could absolutely burst every day. Our cups runneth over. So here's how it all went down....

On Sunday, April 26th I woke up swollen. Like, SUPER swollen. I mean, I retained a lot of fluids during my pregnancy and definitely looked bloated but this was different. I had been sleeping in the guest room as it was the only way I could sprawl out comfortably so I went to wake up Blair to ask him if I should call the doc. I was 100% done with this pregnancy and I just had this gut feeling that Baby A was coming. I texted my bestie who was a L&D nurse and she said to call the doc just to be sure. Doc recommended I come into triage and have BW and urine ran, as I was 37w1d and they wanted to rule out PreE, etc. We threw our bags in the car & off we went. I was shocked to hear that everything came back great and that they were sending us home. I just felt like she was ready to meet us and that surely they would find something & we'd be heading into L&D that day. I was so miserable and uncomfortable and couldn't even imagine carrying her to 39w2d (the date they had scheduled for my Cs since she was still breech). Blair ordered me to post up in bed and take it easy, "This is just what happens at the end of pregnancy, Andi. You're going to be uncomfortable. You're almost there" was on repeat from him. So, I crawled in bed and around 11p in the guest bedroom to read once Blair fell asleep, per our usual routine at this point.

Miz in triage, hours before I went into labor

That night I remember sleeping SO SOUNDLY and feeling finally comfortable. Sheets felt softer than usual, the fan blowing was at the right speed above me. I remember falling into this deep peaceful sleep when suddenly my water broke. I jumped up out of bed at warp speed and raced down to wake up Blair. I was in sheer panic. The feeling of your water breaking (and continuing to break for hours thereafter) is truly disgusting. I didn't expect it to happen (it only happens in 12% of pregnancies) or to be pleasant if it happened but it's not like the movies where it happens in one gush. I didn't know what to do so I sat on the toilet and was TREMBLING. I was like "Blair, we're having a baby today... omg we are going to have a baby". I don't know if it was the 0-100 from peaceful sleep to being in labor, but I was jolted, BIG TIME. I grabbed pants that were immediately soaked, a towel, and went out into the driveway (?!?!?) to wait for Blair to pull the car out and head to the hospital. I stood out there talking to my belly, telling Baby A that we were soon to meet and to please go easy on me.... "we can do this. we got this", I kept repeating. I was terrified and felt like I was dreaming. I kept thinking I would wake up in that cozy bed and be like "wow, that was intense". But nope, off to meet our sweet baby we went. 

We got to triage at 12:30am to the same staff that was on earlier that day! One of the nurses said "you look SO FAMILIAR to me..." lol! Ummm yea, I was here only hours ago lady. I told yall it was time to have this baby, ugh! Everything was a go for the section when 2 women came in fully dilated an ready to push. The doc on call was the ONLY doc I didn't rotate to in my group, which is totally my luck, but turns out she was fantastic (they really all are in this group) and I was in great hands. While waiting for these women to deliver, Blair and I just kept saying how surreal it was. We are finally going to be parents! What if we want to send the baby back? What if this isn't really what we want? Are we going to be good parents? Will the kid love us? OMG, we can't wait to meet this baby! People never say they made a mistake when having children, so I guess we'll be the same?!? Last bets on gender, etc (Blair thought boy, I was still team pink). Hilarious what goes through your mind in the last minutes before such a huge life change. Before we knew it, I was in the wheelchair being wheeled back to the OR. The spinal felt very creepy and I hated the feeling of my feet going numb all the way up to my breasts, but I just kept looking to one side trying to coach myself mentally through laying there wide open for the next hour. The full female OR team was AWESOME. They asked what I wanted to "rock out to" and I replied, "The spa station", lol. I needed to get in the zone and relax so they upped the spa station and tried to chat with me to calm me down (although they said I looked very calm I felt like a crazy lady on the inside) telling me what they were doing every step of the way. As they cut, they asked me what my bets were on gender and what we preferred, so everyone was THRILLED when they pulled her out and hung her over my drape legs sprawled open for B and I to discover, ITS A GIRL! :) I was in complete shock that I actually got my baby girl, I'm still shocked truthfully. This is my favorite pic taken the entire day of her first moment in this world. I was so blessed they kept the drape low for me so I could reach out and touch her. 

Blair always said he would stay "north of the border" and didn't want to see a lot of blood or needles or be in the mix. However, when the time came he was snapping tons of pics and talking about how cool it was that they were cauterizing my incision as they went, and "oh, the placenta is out...do you still want a picture of your Vasa Previa?!" ha! Budding surgeon deep down, he is. I'm so glad he was into it though because we have some really special and amazing pictures, including my placenta (and yes, it was relocated Vasa Previa and not a misdiagnosis). The first moment I got to see my baby girl she stuck her tongue out right at me. Oh boy, I can just imagine how she'll be in her teens!! Lookout world.

blurry but captured! Rotten little stinker

The team at MVH went above and beyond to give me my best "birth experience". I requested skin to skin as soon as possible, as well as an elastomeric pain pump incisionally for pain control vs. narcotics, and I wanted to be able to touch her in her first seconds into the world (as I would do if she came out vaginally). All of these requests were granted. Recovering has been fairly easy and the pain levels very low. My only complaint has been pain in my ribs that shoots up to my shoulder. They say it's just gas from being open on the OR table for an hour, but I think it may be a cracked rib as her head laid right on/under it the entire pregnancy. Next to that however, it's been a breeze, thankfully. I think God gave it to me so hard on the front end that he has made the back end (l&d and mommyhood thus far) a breeze. We have a happy, healthy little girl who's a champ at breastfeeding, and is already getting into a sleep groove. We have cherished every second with our little sweetie and I just pinch myself that this is real life now. I could stare at her non stop (and do!). Thank you God for this blessing.

We did it Adlee! Mama is SO PROUD of you, and always will be. I can't wait to see what life is like with you by our side. I'd go through everything we had to go through to get you here 3x over again. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me.

XOX,

Andi

Hold back the river, hold back.....

As we creep closer and closer to our due date, and our 4 year wedding anniversary next week, I have started to become so relfective on the time with my husband and how things are about to change. I am so thankful to have been blessed to have just the two of us for the past 7 years. I truly wouldnt change a thing. We lived in the city & soaked up all the adventures living there brings. We've traveled to our top Bucket Lists, built two homes, grown together as a married couple and truly had to lean on eachother through moves, infertility, new jobs, etc. We feel as prepared as we'll ever feel for a family. I know it will be a whole new part of our marriage and chapter for us to grow a love for one another that we hadn't known before, and it will be wonderful. But, it will never just be the two of us ever again. It will never be like it is now, like it was before.

I feel like I'm on a beautiful beach, sun shining down and a light breeze in the air. Life is good. I see a huge massive wave is coming into shore, after we've spent all day working on an intricate, beautiful sand castle that we are happy with, proud of, comfortable by. We can see the wave slowly approaching, about to smooth out the sand and wash away all that we've built, just the two of us, only to leave a blank slate to build anew. I really hope and pray that this new beginning only brings more happiness and more love and respect for eachother than we already have established. Knowing such a huge change is coming is never easy. It's starting to become so real.

 25 days away (or less) and our entire world will never be the same. Reflecting on all that we've gone through during this journey and now here we are, this close!!! The egg shells I've been walking on and the inability to feel like my true self, the self I was before the all consumptive chapter that is infertility and TTC is about to be back. I'm so looking forward to what's ahead and for this new chapter. I'm so ready to feel like the person I was before.. but a better version...a Mommy version. I truly can't think of a better version of a person to be.

Hold Back The River by James Bay- constant repeat in my head these days

Hold back the river let me look in your eyes,
Hold back the river so I can stop for a minute, see where you hide
Hold back the river, hold back
Once upon a different life we rode our bikes to the sky,
But now we call against the tide, those distant days are flashing by...




XOX,
Andi

Cue jock jams: "It's the Final Countdownnn"

38 days until due date, but who's counting?! I'm soooooo ready to evict this tenant & smother him/her with a lifetime of smooches!! Baby is still breech so we have a section date for 5/11, the day after Mothers Day, assuming I don't go before 39w2d. At this point I don't think I really have a preference, I just hope the baby is healthy and things go as smooth as possible. I do however hope I go earlier than 5/11.... one can dream for 37w eh?

Life lately has been BUSY! Between birthday celebrations (B & I have ours back to back weekends) and trying to get our city condo renovated and rented out before Baby A, and oh yea, work.... It's been a whirlwind! To sum it all up, I'm beyond preggo brained and exhausted. 

But.... It's April and we're almost there! At 34w Baby A is already 4lbs 9oz and I feel like it's running out of womb! Just a quick update to say I'm alive, and probably won't be doing too many blogs until post baby because quite frankly I'm fried. It's all I can do some days to push my lard self (with my carpel tunnel hands & wrists) out of bed. Working from home mainly at this point and taking advantage of propping these sausage toes up while I can! 

 Until next time..... 

35 Week photo shoot ;)

Xoxo,

Andi 

Maternity Pics

Even though seeing yourself looking unlike your "normal" self isn't easy, I really wanted to get maternity pics documented as I have ONE picture of my mom pregnant with me. I know I'll look back on these pictures fondly one day. It was 10 degrees in these pics we took in German Village at Shiller Park in Columbus, Ohio. The weather that day was fitting to how B and I met (7 years earlier to the day to be exact) in the Blizzard of '08, so that's a fun fact for ya. Enjoy!

XOXO,

Andi

27-31 week - Pregnancy Updates!

Maternity Clothes/Clothes: Pretty much living in sweats and T's unless I'm at work at which point I wedge myself into my scrubs. Current debate? To toss scrub top altogether and wear a T. Meh! Thankful I don't have to dress myself in business clothes-- I would HATE to have to buy all that for a short time. 

Weight Gain:  30lbs. Yikes! I keep saying I'm going to stand on it backwards and just tell them to write it down without letting me know, b/c I really feel like it doesn't matter what I do or what I eat I'm just going to carry where and how I carry. But I do feel swollen as all get out. Doc isn't concerned however, and said women under 5'5" have much harder pregnancies as their symptoms show sooner and seem more prevalent due to being so short. Makes sense. Boooo to 5'2"! 

Stretch Marks: None yet! Thank G. Keep it tight BioOil!

Movement: Baby has been breech until recently (now it's moving around everywhere) which has given me some serious "lightening crotch" kicks that literally take my breath away. Recently doc pointed out that the "head" taking up half of my belly and located next to my belly button is actually the babies "butt"... which between B and I and our bubble butts, isn't surprising it's so large. Good to know we've been talking to, reading to and singing lullabies to our babies ass this entire time. Woops!

What I'm loving:  Applesauce, Apples, Cinnamon Apple Sauce still.  Milk, Cereal, PB dipped in milk. 

Sleep:  Well the stuffy has somehow gone away, but Carpel Tunnel has now taken it's place. My hands go numb inbetween my 6 trips to the bathroom, so it's safe to say that I'm not sleeping much. I started taking half a Benadryl here and there just to not be a complete zombie and I will say it does help grog me up enough to get SOME sleep. 

Things I miss: Still wine... always wine... always will be wine. Patio drinking... oh, did you hear there's now a peach Blue Moon flavor? Yummmm... 

Energy: I feel better in this department. Not sure how with the lack of sleep, maybe it's the "nesting" people speak of, but I have nearly finished nursery, clothes are washed and put away, pantry is organized and my check list is slowly dwindling so I'll take that as a uptick in energy! Yay!

Workouts:  Walking and stretching is all this chunky monkey + sciatica pain is doing. I'm getting SO STIFF, but the stretching is helping so that's good. Now that it's not -20 degrees and knee high snow piles outside, I can see myself getting daily walks in this Spring. 

Symptoms: Sciatica, Carpel Tunnel and bloat/swelling (wedding ring is off, although my gifted 'something blue' ring B got me that day I wear on my middle finger & now fits my ring finger, so I don't feel completely detached from my wedding day vows, so that's a plus)....

Next Ultrasound, 3/30: I requested MFM allow me to have one more US to confirm AGAIN that this Vasa Previa is gone and I'm fully released, so after that I'll be wrapped up with Ultrasounds. New due date (39w) is 5/8 at which point if I don't delivery vaginally they'll agree to a scheduled Cs for me. If I go into labor naturally, they will request that I give it the ol' heave ho & have this baby vaginally. I'm nervous but trying to trust they know what they're doing. 

27 WEEKS

28 WEEKS

29 WEEKS

31 WEEKS

I'm not sure how this belly will get bigger but I have a feeling my body is about to show me. Whew.... I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....

Maternity pics & baby shower updates soon to follow!!

XOXO,

Andi

Expect the Unexpected

Not even sure where to begin with this blog.... but let me tell you, I surely didn't see this one comin'. I'd consider myself a glass half full type of person who certainly errs on the side of hope during dark days, but this one took me for a total surprise. Let me rewind back to the day Finley was taken from us on Monday 2/23. 

So, as stated in my previous post, I was waiting at my high risk appt when my sister told me she was at Riverside Hospital in Columbus and Finn had no HB. It was like a ton of bricks hit me, especially b/c I was sitting on the exam table waiting for my high risk doc to come in and take a look at my wonky placenta (the same organ that just burst inside my sister and took little Finn from us). The doc and U/S tech (and myself, because trust, I can tell you what everything is inside of my female parts I've seen them so much) were having a tough time finding the Vasa Previa vessel which is NOT hard to find. It dangles right into my cervical opening and sometimes takes away from the beauty that is sweet Baby A. I'm usually found holding my breath as I watch the babe kick its big ol' active foot into the ugly vessel just praying that it's not possible for it to burst right then and there. This day the vessel was MIA. We all were a little dumbfounded but my thoughts were elsewhere and everyone assumed it was a fluke, that it would appear on my next U/S the following Monday (3/2). I followed up with my regular OB the next day and filled him in on my sisters son's demise as well as her placenta issues & how it heightened my concerns for my own placenta. He hadn't received the U/S review from the day prior so I filled him in on the "now missing vessel". He looked at me like "oh you poor thing.. please don't believe this is actually going to disappear"... and told me it's "highly probable to remain present in my cervix although possible that it has migrated", and gave me a half hearted grin. Although one may think he just popped my small balloon of hope right then and there,  I had faith that Angel baby Finn was hard at work upstairs for his Auntie and Cousin. 

So last Monday I go in for another high risk apt and again, they can't find the vessel. They move me to another room and call in three different docs all who shifted me in multiple positions, whispered back and forth to one another in disbelief and eventually exclaimed that in fact my Vasa Previa condition has been officially taken off the table. Yep, you read that correctly. My uterus stretched upwards enough between weeks 20 and 30 to pull the vessel out of my cervical opening and be in a position that will allow me to have a normal, low risk pregnancy and delivery. SAY WHAT?! .... nothing short of a miracle. Seriously, pinching myself. Thank you God for answering our prayers. 

I have an apt with my regular OB next Tuesday to put together a new delivery game plan, one of which I still feel inclined to do via C Section at this point. I've worked with doctors long enough to know that sometimes fast ones are thrown last minute and even they can't understand the reason (aka my Vasa Previa moving that of which they stated happens in less than 1% of cases). I don't prefer a Cs but I prefer a LIVE and HEALTHY baby, and I don't want to labor for hours in distress just wondering if that vessel is relocating & potentially going to burst and deplete my fetal blood supply. It's not a birth scenario that you want to mess with, aka it's fatal. If I have my way, which my doctor will more than likely give me knowing our entire journey to get here, I'll suggest a 37-38 week scheduled Cs. So stay tuned! But no hospital bed rest and off pelvic rest? Couldn't be happier my friends, it's like I've got a whole new lease on life. Hallelujah!

XOXO,

Andi