Aubrie's birth story

Thursday, July 5^th, was a strange day and I would blame that on knowing that the next day we would have our daughter; one of the reasons I’m not a fan of being induced. I hate thinking about the “lasts”. This pregnancy I struggled with emotions around Brody. Don’t get me wrong, I was SOOOO happy to be pregnant and adding to our family. I just got sad that B didn’t have a say in anything. I got sad that he had no clue he wouldn’t be the only child anymore. I got sad thinking we would have to share our attention with someone else. I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to love our daughter as much as we loved Brod.  These emotions really stemmed from the fear of the unknown.  So little to say Thursday was just weird as we tried to get as much family time in and yet as much “resting time” in also. 

Mike and I headed to the hospital and got checked in at midnight. I was feeling fine until I saw the hospital gown. For some reason that’s when it all became real to me. We were having another baby! I suddenly got really nervous for the labor part and really not wanting to do it. I was quickly re-thinking this idea and going home. Mike wouldn’t allow me to stay pregnant forever so as he guarded the door paper work was done, an IV started and medicine begun to get me contracting. At check in I was a whopping 2 cm. Mike and I were “tucked in” and tried to get rest. Mike got a couple hours of sleep. I stayed wide awake staring at the monitor waiting for the worst to happen as it did when I was in labor with B. I started to feel some discomfort within an hour or so but totally tolerable as I nibbled on ice chips and got out of bed every few minutes it seemed to go to the bathroom. Something about having IV fluids pumping into you while having a baby on your bladder just doesn’t go together. 

At 6:00 am when Pitocin was started I remained at 2 cm. So frustrating because I was putting out strong contractions every couple minutes. By 6:30 I was feeling miserable. I hate contractions and everything about them.  Why feel pain when there is relief is my philosophy. So my epidural was placed and working by 7:15 J Life was good again! Soon after, I felt as if my water had broke. To our surprise I was bleeding, bleeding a good amount to the point we all began thinking my placenta had abrupted. Baby girl, thankfully though, continued to look great on the monitor. Additional labs were drawn from me and we just waited it out because Aubs wasn’t in distress from the bleeding. 

Doctor came in to break my water at 8:00am and I continued to stay at 2 cm, holy moly I thought!! I was able though to continue enjoying my “no pain” state and rest. Have I said how much I LOVED my epidural? I kept telling Mike how much I wish he could feel as great as I felt. It was the first in months that I was able to be comfortable and rest.

Finally at 9:00 am I had progressed to 4cm and at 10:40 to 8 cm and the bleeding had stopped!  Making progress!!  Soon after that exam I became nauseated and knew I was entering transition time! I looked at the monitor and also noticed a heart rate rhythm that is indicative of baby being ready to be born.  We wanted my sister in the room to take pictures so we quickly called her to come immediately. I was feeling pressure but kept my mouth shut until she entered the room because I really didn’t want her to miss the birth. She entered the room and I sent Mike to tell the nurse about my pressure. She checked me and quickly called my doctor because little girl’s head was just about to pop out! At the time some other nurse friends from the floor were in my room and my nurse looked at me and strictly told me not to laugh because I could laugh her head out! :) 

Doctor got to my room quickly. I told him I was feeling pressure and he pretty much just said push away. It went two pushes for her head, and one push for her shoulders/body and I then our ears heard for the first time our sweet Aubrie Marie screaming away in our doctors arms!! I remember so clearly seeing my slimy, vernix covered girl and noticing some fat on her body and being in complete disbelief of how big she was! Everyone was in disbelief!  I held Mikes arm as he kissed me and we just watched our sweet girl. We all in the room were laughing, smiling and saying over and over “look how big she is!” Then my nurse did the greatest thing. She placed a blanket on my chest as my doctor then placed my daughter on it. Because Brody was in distress, he was taken immediately to the warmer and so I was so ecstatic to hold Aubs right away! I scooped her up, and dried her off as I kissed her like crazy!  She was perfect! We have a daughter! We are a family of 4!

We couldn’t wait to get Brody up to the hospital for him to meet his sister. So after nursing Aubrie we called Mike’s parents (who were with B) to bring him up. He walked into our room sporting his Big Brother shirt and of course did nothing of how we imagined the moment to go! Ha! Sweet, silly boy! He was kinda timid of the room, me being in bed and me holding a strange little girl. He did let Mike hold him but that was about it. In his defense though it was a big moment in his life. He did pose long enough for a family picture. Brod has warmed up lots to his little sis thankfully. In fact I would go as far as saying he really does like her.

So there it is, Aubrie’s birth story. The thing I love most about it is the fact that it’s boring. We got our excitement with Brody’s birth story and so a boring story was exactly what we were going for.  It was nice, relaxing and just fun! Aubs and I went to visit my floor yesterday and the word going around the unit concerning my delivery is PERFECT! Thank you Lord! We were so concerned about placental issues and A still continued to measure close to 4 weeks off days before being born, and NOTHING came to be (well except for the bleeding, and once doctor looked at my placenta there was no abruption)! We left the hospital the next day and anxiously came home to begin our new adventure of being a family of 4! I love being a family of 4!

Meet Aubrie!

It's my greatest pleasure to introduce to you our daughter, Aubrie Marie Kaelber! Born July 6, 2012 at 11:11 am. Weighing in at 6lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long.

This family of 4 is doing great! Truly LOVING every moment with our children. The Lord is again correct when He says, "Blesses is the man who's quiver is full of them (children)" Psalm 127:5. We are in constant praise!

Now and then......

We got the baby swing out today for number 2. B of course had to test it out...all day :) At one point he even had his two monkeys, Marvin and Bam, try it out. He crawls in by himself and just swings, the boy loves it! It made us think Miss Aubs is going to have to be tough with her monkey of a brother :)

 

Had to include this pic. A then and now. In just 18 short months our sweet Brody has gone from a 5 pound snugler to a 20 something pound climber. How we just smile at the thought :) Life is good!

Just a little update on baby Aubrie's arrival. Monday I had a Non-Stress Test that didn't go as planned. She had a bit of a heart rate decel on the monitor which kept me at the hospital for 3 hours. After an ultrasound and some measurements we all (doctor included) felt comfortable to let me go home and follow up at our doctor appointment on Wednesday. Wednesday sweet girl looked fabulous! Infact she even grew a bit! Praise the Lord! So with the added growth we saw and the great amniotic fluid levels our doctor didn't see the need to get little girl out this week. Today I had another Non-Stress Test and she just continued to behave! YAY! So the plan right now is on Monday have yet another NST, see my doctor in his office and be induced Monday night to deliver Tuesday July 3! That is about as far comfortable any of us feel at letting her bake. So unless she comes on her own, we will have a little firecracker born in 5 days!! Nothing like continuing to add birthdays to holidays ;) Thanks for the prayers, we truly feel them and are seeing the results of them by how great Aub's is doing in my belly!

I had to include a picture. Brody is just waiting and is so excited about wearing his Big Brother shirt that Aunt Meghan made him!

We've made it almost to full term, right now baby girl is 36 weeks and 5 days. At our appointment today we discovered little girl is going to follow suite with what her big brother did and just kinda turn the switch to off mode while baking. In other words, she didn't grow sense last week BUT continues to be fine and healthy right now. The ultrasound confirmed her lack of growth so I got sent over to the hospital for a non stress test to check her heart accelerations. The test was great which means the placenta is still giving little girl what she needs, yay! Monday we will have another non stress test, which we may just stay at the hospital and meet our little girl then or Wednesday another doctor appointment (and possible have a baby then) or if all looks fine to keep pushing delivery back, next Friday will more than likely be her birthday :) The goal is to get as close to 38 weeks as possible. Or if sweet girl just wants to make things easy, she may just come on her own :) Right now we just continue to pray that the Lord continues to knit her together so that when it's her time to come she is a healthy baby. We truly aren't concerned right now as we have absolute confidence the Lord will hold her perfectly together!

While Mike and I were engaged we talked lots and lots about what we wanted our family to look like and things we would do. One thing we were going to commit to was yearly vacations. We've had a blast the last 7 years planning and getting to go to fun places together. This year we had a big family vacation (aunts, uncles, cousins included) planned for the Outer banks in North Carolina. Well the Lord placed a sweet little girl in my belly instead and we didn't feel comfortable traveling that far at 35 weeks pregnant. So that trip is on hold till next year. Option 2 we came up with was staying in the state and going down to Oklahoma City for 3 days. It sounded totally doable. Then two weeks ago Mike and I came to the conclusion that even going to Oklahoma City didn't sound fun anymore. Something about being 36 weeks pregnant and the weather being in the 90's sounded exhausting to say the least! We both still had the whole week off from work and wanted to keep it that way. So....option 3 came to be a "staycation"!! A week at home that you treat like a vacation (eating out, doing out of the ordinary things) but still have the comforts of your own home. Don't get me wrong, we will still go on vacations just this pregnant a staycation is so much more inviting :) We have had a GREAT week being together as a family!!

We started the week out last Saturday going to Kiddie Park (already blogged about that). Sunday Mike still had to work but we quickly jumped back into staycation mode on Monday :)

 Monday we headed to the Tulsa Zoo. What a perfect day to go also! Not crowded at all, in fact at some points we felt like we were the only ones there! We saw some of the most lively animals we've ever seen at a zoo. B LOVED every second of seeing EVERY animal :)

 Brod kinda thinks all animals are doggies. So as soon as he saw these goats he all out sprinted to go and hug/kiss them. This may have been his favorite exhibit due to the goats talking to him and trying to run away :) He thought it was a game.

 Riding the train was a huge highlight also :)

 A great time at the zoo was followed by having some friends over for pizza that night.

 Tuesday was spent grabbing our swimsuits and heading to the pool! Brody took awhile to warm up to the water. I think he was getting frustrated that walking in water is so different then just walking on the ground. After a taking a snow cone break, he was ready to play!

 B and daddy loved the kiddie sized water slide!

 We all had great naps after our afternoon at the pool!

 These pics are now out of order, but just go with it. Today we went back to Tulsa to Incredible Pizza. This incredibly huge pizza buffet with a huge game area. We ate great and played even greater :) There were all kinds of trains and cars for B to drive.

 Wednesday was kind of a lazy home day. We built forts in the living room, made chocolate chip cookies and watched Toy Story 2.

Thursday Meghan took some family/maternity pics of us. They turned out great even if B didn't want to smile in a single one. He wanted to be free to play with sticks and dirt not pose for any pictures ;) What can you say, we have a boy on our hands!

What a fantastic week we've had!! I wouldn't trade it for anything! As Mike and I were driving home today in the car Brod was sticking his toe in his mouth and giggling uncontrollably at doing it. I would say "ICK!" and it would cause the kid to giggle harder and louder :) We were all rolling! I realized how happy and blessed we felt at that moment to be a family and to be parents and to know it's only going to get better with Miss Aubrie on her way in no more then 3 weeks! 

Big happenings for the Brodster

We have this cute and tiny amusement park thing here in the 'ville called Kiddie Park. Everyone goes, and I mean everyone! We've been the strange ones for living here almost 7 years and NEVER once gone. Well last night with the B Man at our side, we conquered Kiddie Park! Oh my, all of our worlds will never be the same again :)

 We thought the place opened at 6:30, nope it's 7:00. So we had time to do the "free" things.

 I say free as if we were going to spend lots of money. Nope not at all! All tickets are a quarter and each ride is 1 or 2 quarters, it's our type of place :)

 Brod loved his first ride, he looked so big riding the ride all by himself. I was the nervous momma thinking how quickly could I jump the fence if he were to fall off, oh brother!

 Daddy got to ride the others with him.

 The carousel was by far his most favorite ride. He is always riding the doggies like a horse so this was his time he could actually ride a horse ;) When they would pass me B would use his whole arm and wave, always a couple seconds after passing but I still knew those waves were for me. I was such a proud momma watching my boys! The whole way home B kept telling us what a horsie says, he is just so smart!! The Kiddie Park was a hit. Next time we will recruit a friend to come with him so he has another little person to ride with. Can't wait to go back :)

 Another big happening for the boy is his big boy bed! Yes, a little early to be breaking him from the crib but we just really don't want to purchase another crib when girlfriend comes. He is on night 5 and doing great!

Ha! If only this pic was true :) He now has a rail on the outside keeping him from falling out. Mike brings in his sleeping mat and pillow when it's B's bedtime and lays on the ground. Each night he has needed to "remind" B less and less about laying down in bed. The first night (with no side rail) Mike out of his room after an hour. About 2 hours later B was on the floor sound asleep squeezed between his bed and changing table. We left him there. When I checked in on him at 3 am he had moved to Mike's sleeping mat, very cute! He is now doing great! We haven't had him take his naps in the bed yet, that is coming soon though. Our only complaint is that he has been waking up an hour earlier in the morning, and its been a bit rough teaching him he needs to call out "up please" before getting out of bed. Persistence is what it's going to take. We do place a gate at his door so at least he doesn't have free reign of the house ( I couldn't even imagine what would happen!).

Shower time

My sister and friend, Heidi, threw me a shower last week. Simple, fun and perfect it was :)

 Dessert were these super cute and very yummy fruit pizzas. I have to admit as soon as everyone left I snagged a couple and stuffed my face. I just couldn't resist!

 Have I said it yet how I LOVE adding all this pink to the mix? Well, I LOVE it!!

 My friend Emily is due with her baby girl just 2 weeks before Miss Aubrie comes. It's super great because they also have a boy right about B's age. Our husbands really enjoy getting together and talking pregnancy "shop" about us ;)

The hostesses of the shower :) Thanks ladies!! :)