Sulley Birth (part 2)

at 5am on Thursday, I got up and showered.  I did a brief self-check to confirm there was no new activity in the labor department.  There wasn't.  Brent and I grabbed our bags and headed to the hospital.  My mom came over the night before and stayed with Ryland - prepare to bring him to meet the baby right after his birth.

Check-in was surreal.  It reminded me of checking in to a hotel. I walked back to a room and put on my gown and settled into bed.  I let a nursing student attempt to start an IV (OUCH OUCH OUCH!!), then a more experienced nurse jumped in after 2 blown veins to get it going.  Shortly after arriving, our birth photographer, Alex from Alexandra Knight Photography, arrived.   She takes beautiful photos using film (not digital photography) and I was so excited to snag her for Sulley's birth.   She jumped right in and got pictures of my extremely embarassing "surgery alert" socks.

I'll let Alex's photos tell the rest of the story - because in this case, I think the pictures are worth much more than my words.  She took most of them with black and white film, which I think turned out beautifully.  (Just a note: the following photos are reduced filed size to be uploaded and won't print well, please go to our gallery to see all photos. )

 This is quite funny actually - the only NORMAL blood pressure reading I had gotten in a week, and of course it's minutes before going back to surgery!

 Our midwife Jana

 Saying goodbye to mommy's tummy

 laughing at daddy's surgery gear

last belly shot!

 You can't tell here, but the anesthesiologist  set a camera to his iPad so we could watch Sulley's birth - that's what he is holding.  The clock says "9:10" Sulley's birth time!

 Ryland was a little weary of all mommy's medical gear

 Blood pressure fell extremely low here - Brent's a great support person while nurses worked to get me stabilized.  (I was fine!  Just inverted for awhile)

 Proud big brother

 Proud mimi

 and G-Pop too!

and of course a family portrait with swollen mama!  Look at those handsome boys I have.

It was a beautiful birth and we have the most wonderful healthy baby.  I'm so happy we have these amazing photos to remember it.

Sulley's birth (part 1)

It's time Sulley's story is told.

The day I hit the 38-week mark - I woke up quite swollen and out of habit, took my blood pressure.  It was the highest I've ever seen it.  I panicked a little and started to call the midwives, but realized I had an acupuncture appointment in an hour and thought that might help.  As a side note, my blood pressure was generally perfect throughout this pregnancy, unlike my pregnancy with Ryland.  I owe my blood pressure regulation and comfort during my pregnancy to my acupuncturist Patrice - she was amazing!  So I went to the appointment and told Patrice what my reading was.  She worked on me for an hour and then took my blood pressure after the appointment, it was in the normal-high range.  She advised me it was probably somewhat stress related and I should start my maternity leave asap. I called and cancelled my clients for the day and went home to rest.

I worked from home and rested a lot the next two days - my blood pressure teetering the level at which I needed to go to L&D, then went in for my midwife appointment on April 24th.  I had Brent and Ryland come with me for support.  The nurse took my bp a few minutes after going in - "you're going to L&D today" she said.  At this point, I was still holding tightly to my VBAC plan and I was pretty upset.  Although our hospital has the highest VBAC success rate in the state (and the lowest c-section rate as well), they won't induce - labor has to start on its own to have a VBAC.  Our wonderful midwife, Lynda (who was with us for Ry's birth) came in and comforted me a little.  She sent me upstairs to the birthing center to be monitored and tested.  After 2 hours in the birthing center (where Ryland got several popsicles!), they released me.  I was to come back in a couple of days to make a plan and everyone encouraged me to GET THAT BABY OUT!

I began my maternity leave and had an amazing shower at a spa that weekend with some of my fabulous  colleagues.  I did everything in the books to get baby out... but he wasn't going anywhere.

On Tuesday, April 29th - I had an appointment with an OB.  He told me the recommendations that he must follow state pregnancies post 39 weeks with high blood pressure should be induced that day - and of course, being that I had made 0 progress toward going into labor on my own, they would not induce me.   He scheduled my c-section for May 1st.

"This is the best decision for you and your baby - it's not doing him any good to stay in there at this point and it's not good for you either" 

I heard that a few times that day.   Darn Ry's knotted umbilical cord!  If he hadn't been a c-section baby I would have gotten an induction instead of a c-section.  

I called Brent to come to the hospital and we met with our midwife, Sarah - who we love and she  handled most of my prenatal care.  I wanted a second opinion.  She confirmed everything the OB said, and we moved forward with the surgery date.

I was disappointed, but relieved my tests revealed no pre-eclampsia so they were giving me a couple of days before the surgery.  The next two days were some of the most beautiful Seattle has ever seen!  I saw my acupuncturist 3 times (I know, it sounds crazy - but they have all kinds of induction methods they use!)  Each appointment got nice contractions going, but they always stopped after a couple of hours.  I climbed the tower in Volunteer Park hoping that would help things.  There are about 200 stairs to get to the top.  Needless to say, no labor - but I got an awesome view.

I'm grateful for those 2 days because they gave me time to really think about birth, and this second baby we were about to have.  I decided that it wasn't the surgery that I was anxious about, it was simply my own stubbornness about having a VBAC.  I'm a goal-setter and achiever, and I felt somewhat like a failure on this one.   I had to remind myself that birth is beautiful in every form - and there are some major benefits of a scheduled cesarean as well.  So I went to bed on Wednesday ready for surgery and excited to meet our new baby.  

Continued (with photos!)....

introducing: Sullivan

Our newest love has arrived.  Sullivan Wesley Allred.  

He was born on May 1st, 2014 at 9:10am, just a couple of days before his due date.  We had a cesarean due to a sudden return of my gestational hypertension.  

Weighing in at a whopping 5 pounds, 11 ounces and only 17.5 inches long.  He is our teeny tiny sweetheart.  

Much MUCH more to come - our amazing birth photographer captured every momentous moment of our day.

Nap time Snuggle Buddies

I love Ry's new school - mostly because he has the sweetest teachers and has made such good friends in his class.  He mostly plays with the girls, and they love him.  Every day that I get a chance to pick him up (usually Brent's job), at least one adorable little girl approaches me to ask if they can come play at Ryland's house.  He's a gentle, easy-going kid - and I think he's a little easy to "boss around" generally.  Maybe that's why all these strong-willed little girls just love him.

His teacher sent us this picture yesterday.  His buddy Lilly is his "snuggle buddy" at nap time.  I think it's so sweet to see how much he loves his friends.  I'm already getting emotional about him leaving this school in June.

Family photos

A local photographer was offering Seahawks-thermed photo session at Century Link a couple of weeks ago.  Seeing how my boys are big Seahawks fans, we figured it was a good time to update the family photos.  Here's our faves from the session:

23.5 weeks along

I have my entire pregnancy with Ryland thoroughly documented - and nothing for the new little guy yet!

Here's our pregnancy story so far:

Unlike our surprise baby, this baby was very much planned out.  However, we didn't tell anyone we were trying and found out we were expecting only 3 weeks after we decided we were ready for another baby.  I feel amazingly fortunate for that!

We were camping on Lopez island the weekend we got our positive test.  It was our favorite weekend of the summer and our new yearly tradition (Lopez Island, NOT getting pregnant!)

I started showing SUPER fast, as I expected I would, and had most people suspecting the news before I told everyone at 12 weeks.

The beginning of this pregnancy was very different than with Ryland.  I was less nauseous but puked WAY more - all of my puking was triggered by strong smells.  I still have trouble with the smells (helping a 3 year old wipe after using the toilet?  It's Brent's job now!)

The one thing that is the same is my "pregnancy-induced white coat hypertension" or whatever my midwives like to call it.  Nothing of concern at this point, but I get very frequent visits with my midwives.  Good thing I LOVE them - they are the sweetest four ladies and they've got me pretty excited for my VBAC.

I am SO thrilled that this baby is another boy.  I know other people were hoping differently for us, but sorry guys!  I'm pretty happy to be outnumbered in this house.

Ryland is more excited than any of us.  I get asked a few times a week if it's time to meet the baby yet.  He likes to lay his head on my belly during stories and he calls it the "baby pillow"  Just recently he felt the baby kick and he was SO happy.  This three-year old of mine is seriously as sweet as can be.  I know he is going to be a really good helper and a sweet brother.  What I'm looking forward to the most is seeing my two sweet babies together.

So there it is - we've made it to 23 weeks.  I feel great - not tired, no cravings, just occasionally stiff from our horrible mattress (our memory foam has been shipped and is on the way!).  This little bugger has hiccups all the time - and Ryland and Brent love feeling his pointy little joints jab through my belly.  Our due date is sometime around May 5th, but Ryland is hoping to share his birthday month with his brother.

Happy 2014!

We've been MIA for over a year now... Why?

Life became crazy.  Between returning to work and beginning graduate school, some balls had to drop.

Ryland and I just sat down to look at the old photos and posts here and realizing how much we've missed - I'll try to resume this project.

2013 year in review:

Brent began his 3rd year teaching for Seattle Schools
We bought our first home!
Ryland started preschool
Brandi finished her M.Ed. in Applied Behavior Analysis
AND we are expecting baby boy #2 to make an appearance in early May!

So we've been busy!  But here we are, saying "hi, we're back!"