B’s blog

Today Erik had to go back to work, against his will of course. If he had it his way, he’d get paternity leave too. Last night went pretty good. I got up with Evan all by myself so Erik would be able to sleep before going off to work today. Evan got up at 12:30a, 3:30am, and then 7:55am. He really only cries when I’m changing his diaper or when he’s really hungry and not getting what he wants quick enough. He’s eating ok. I wish he’d nurse a little better but he takes to the bottle great when nursing isn’t what he wishes to do. This weekend we had Brent and Robin over on Friday night since Brent was in Nashville all last week and Erik was in the hospital with me. They missed each other I guess. Then on Saturday night, Kim, Steve, and Ben came over to watch Eragon. Not the best movie of the year but they really came over to hold the baby anyways. And it was nice to just hang out. I knew Braden was a big boy but compared to the baby, he’s huge! And Avery looks really tired in this photo too but I thought I’d share a photo of all 4 of my little angels:

Well, WE HAD THE BABY!!! Some of you may have already gotten the initial email sent from Erik last week but for those of you who did not…..

Evan Tyler Sheldon was born by c-section on April 24th at 11:32 am. He weighed 8 lbs 10 oz, and is 21 inches long. He had a head full of brown hair (which none of my other children had). I was originally scheduled for a c-section on April 30th but I started having contractions on my own on the night of the 23rd and by 1am on the 24th, I went into the hospital to get it checked out. They tried to stop my contractions using Demerol, Phenergan, and a sleeping pill but it didn’t work so my doctor decided to do the surgery that morning. He was born at 37 weeks which is considered full term however he had problems with fluid on the lungs and a high respiratory rate (80-100 breaths per minute) plus he couldn’t keep his blood sugars above 40 so he was placed in NICU for half the day on Tuesday. By that evening, after having IV antibiotics, his breathing straightened out and he was placed back in the regular nursery. We stayed until Friday due to some pain issues I was having and also due to him losing 9.3% of his body weight. He came home weighing 7 lbs 13.6 oz. Then today (Sat) in the office he is 7 lbs, 10 oz…but the doctor says he looking attentive and is ok with the 1 lb weight loss at this time as long as Evan continues to eat. I have to say that working on the same OB unit that I delivered on in a smaller hospital was a blessing. I received the V.I.P treatment and had visitors rotating in our room continuously from employees in the lab, to the director of Surgical, Director of Case Management, nurses from other units, and even the Chief Nursing Officer. The nursing staff on my unit was amazing and incredibly supportive. I couldn’t have asked for better care. I was even treated to afternoon ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery and Starbucks in the morning for breakfast! Talk about spoiling a patient! The kids are loving having a new brother in the house and Braden is so helpful and acts so grown up now (except he’s still not potty trained.) Jaelyn and Avery have been my extra set of hands since I’m unable to get up and down like I wish I could due to my c-section incision. Everyone is working as a team to make these first few weeks go smoothly. Erik has been wonderful and a huge help to me. He is running the show! I’m blessed to have him!

I talked with my good friend Sharon today and she’s 2 weeks out from having her daughter via c-section. She’s got me a little freaked out that I won’t be as ready as I thought I would be for our big trip back to Iowa. She said she’s still not strong enough to walk to the end of her driveway because she’s so sore and exhausted. Her baby has colic though. I remember those days with Jaelyn. UGH! How horrible. I can’t imagine another baby with colic. But she sort of has me ok with the fact that it may be another 10 days that he’s inside me. Funny how one person’s horror stories can change your mind on things. She also said she still looks pregnant at 2 weeks post partum. Yes, you can’t possibly lose the weight you gained during pregnancy in the first few days after delivery but I’m in a wedding a month afterwards and I just pray and pray that I won’t LOOK pregnant still. My sister in law is due on June 9th so she will either be really really pregnant or she will have just had a baby by the June 2nd wedding. She doesn’t even know if she will be able to be there or not. I hate that she may not meet her new nephew but I hate worse that I may not get to meet my new neice before we have to head back to Texas. Since we don’t know when we will be able to come back to Iowa after this trip in May, I am afraid this new neice will be grown up before I meet her for the first time. If flights weren’t so expensive, Evan and I would fly back for a long weekend to visit them before my maternity leave it up. I just think Taya needs to have the baby the end of May and not wait until her due date.

Why is it that when I’m put on call, I can’t get back to sleep after that 4:50am phone call but any other time I need to wake up, even if it’s at like 8 am, I can’t get out of bed? My friend at work had a sleep study done because she snores apparently. Who doesn’t? They told her that she moved every minute and a half and that she didn’t get into her REM sleep until 4am (they wake you back up at 5am). They also told her that if you fall asleep really fast or dream alot then you really aren’t reaching that phase in your sleep where you body can heal itself and refuel. I can fall asleep between Erik turning off the TV right behind me, going to the bathroom, and letting the dog out. That takes him maybe 3 minutes total to do if that. And I dream ALL the time. So I’m curious to see if the quality of my sleep is the reason why I feel I need so much of it. This time in my life, it’s not fair to do a study like that on me since truly I’m not sleeping well due to the pregnancy. But it’ll be interesting to see how I feel once I get a full of uninterrupted sleep again, maybe in like a year and a half.

So I’m on call today. But they guarenteed me that I’d work my last 3 shifts, starting Sunday. I guess March and April are slow months generally for labor and delivery in my area. I’m assured this will pick up again. Once I’m done with the pregnancy I’ll opt to float to other floors, when I get to full function again. That will save me from having to use PTO hours I will have depleted while on leave. I have a full 2.5 weeks that I can take PTO hours for but other than that, we will be living on our savings and ramen noodles. Know what I really miss about Iowa? Aldi’s! We don’t have and Aldi’s here and I miss it due to the low prices. Sure it’s not your name brand cereals or anything for that matter but once you eat it a time or 2, you get used to it. I remember going to the grocery store and what would have cost me nearly $200 at HyVee, would have cost my half that, if not less, at Aldi’s. Now that’s family friendly.

On the pregnancy newsfront, I’ve been contracting in the evenings when we watch tv but other than that, no signs of going into labor early. I have 10 days before the big April 30th birthday party though and now I just have to finish last minute things up around the house. I have thank you cards to write for all the awesome gifts we’ve received so far, laundry (always), and then the normal keeping up with the kid’s toys all over the place. I guess you can call it nesting but is it really if you are forced to do it?