Where's Darth Vader?

This is a new game we've been playing in the Jones house. A sure sign that you've been cooped up in the house for too long is when you start making up wacky games like this one.

It's pretty simple. Tyler yells out "Where's Darth Vader?" and then we say, "Oh no! He's right behind you!" and then Tyler "gets him" with his lightsaber (the weapon of choice for a Jedi knight for all you non-Star Wars fans). He has saved Scott, Jake and me from the clutches of Darth Vader countless times!

Tyler is very proud of his lightsaber, which is nothing more than an LED flashlight my mom got him for Christmas. I'm counting down the days until spring when we can all head outdoors to play, but until then, "Where's Darth Vader!?!" . 

And I thought taking pictures of one kid was hard

Sigh...All I want is a nice picture of my two boys. Is that too much to ask? Now for some reason if I am taking a picture of just Tyler, he's a little ham. But once I introduce Jake into the equation, it gets a little harder. In Tyler's defense, he does have to do most of the heavy lifting. When I try to get a photo, the sessions usually start like this... 

Both kids are pretty happy. I'm snapping away, but then the oldest starts to get a little antsy.

 Then the hands start to give way...

 Then the whining starts, "Are we done?!?"

Now we're close to meltdown. And I have to put the camera down before Jake gets dropped on his head! 

Oh well, perhaps next time!

Thankful on Thursday

A few quick things I am thankful for...

1. Jake continuing to be a GREAT sleeper! Jake rolled over this past weekend, which was really exciting! It also came with the realization that we can't swaddle him anymore. I am a huge fan of swaddling and Jake LOVED it. We pretty much went cold turkey from the swaddle to the sleep sack, and he's done really well. He wakes up maybe once in the evenings and naps seem to be a bit shorter, but I think he's getting used to it.

2. The weather gods. They kept the snow from falling on Tuesday in DC, so I could go up and get my work trip done and get home to see my babies! Unfortunately, a few of my coworkers are still stuck up there!

3. My new office digs! I put in a request at work to have all of our designers and Web programmers moved into the same suite of offices and it was approved. So next week, we all move into a new section of our building. Since I love cleaning and organizing (I'm actually being serious here), it's going to give me the chance to clean out all of my files and organize everything anew in the new office. It also has a big window, which I'm pretty excited about!

4. Tyler trying pasta this week. We've tried a few times in the past, but this time it stuck! We got the Barilla wheels and he thought they were SOOOO cool. He used them to "race" around his plate.

5. My renewed energy for couponing. I was out of the couponing game for a bit after I had Jake, but now I am back! Went to Lowes Foods on Saturday. Spent $75 and saved $50!

Jake's Birth - Part 3, The Finale!

As we zoomed off to the hospital, Scott started making phone calls to his parents and our friends to give them the great news. We both knew this was it! Jake was on his way! The contractions on the way to the hospital were pretty bad, but I was breathing through them. When I had Tyler, I did exactly what they tell you NOT to do - I was holding my breath and tensing up during each contraction. For that reason, I think this car ride to UNC seemed a lot shorter than the one on the way to have Tyler. We pulled onto Manning Drive and Scott asked me if I wanted him to drop me off or if I wanted to walk from the parking garage. Walk, I said. When people heard I walked in from the garage, they think it's because I'm some badass superwoman. Not the case. The reality? I just did not want to be alone. I needed Scott with me and he held my hand as we walked towards the maternity ward.

Once we got to the 4th floor - labor and delivery - I got checked in. I was standing up at this point at the counter, but still having contractions about every 3 or 4 minutes. It was funny to see the progression of the nurses' reactions. At first, they were going to admit me into triage and then in about 2 seconds, they said, "OK, I think we can put you straight into a room." I heard one nurse call over the phone "We need to get Room 5 prepped for delivery. We got one huffing and puffing out here."

They walked me to the delivery room and Susan - the midwife on call at the time - wasn't too far behind me. Susan is awesome. She is the kind of person who would remain calm in ANY situation. She has this calming voice and has a way of saying things in such a positive way.

They had me change into a gown and pee - which I really needed to do since I had downed a ton of water earlier to stay hydrated. As I was changing in the bathroom, my legs started to shake a lot. At this point, I'm thinking, "I've got to at LEAST be 5 or 6cm". I was 5 when I came in with Tyler and since I was 4cm just a few days ago, I was really hoping for 6.

I climbed into the hospital bed and got checked out. I will never forget what Susan said next.

"Well Katy, I know your preference was to go drug free and you're in luck, because you don't have a choice. You're 9 cm."

Scott and I were elated. Then scared. Then excited. All in about 5 seconds.

I was continuing to have the same type of contractions as they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and took my temp. In fact, as the nurse was taking my temp, I was having a contraction and had to tell her point blank, she needed to get that thermometer out of my mouth so that I could breathe.

Next Susan said, "Now Katy, as you feel these next contractions, you might try and moan a little."

Huh? I thought. Moan? See, I'm not what you would call a reserved person, but I don't let it all hang out either. There was a room full of people in there and I wasn't exactly wanting to moan through these things. No thanks.

About 30 seconds later, I understood.

HOLY CRAP!!! I really can't explain transition contractions. It was like I had a vice grip wrapped around my entire body and it was pulling me in every direction. There was NOTHING that could have kept me from screaming out. Seriously, Ed McMahon could have been in the delivery with the big check, offering me a billion dollars to keep my mouth shut. It was not happening.

After a few of these Godzilla-sized contractions, my water broke.  Susan immediately noticed there was meconium in it. In layman's terms...poop. Not mine, Jake's. Because of this, they called in the peds unit. Apparently, pediatricians in the hospital travel in packs. There's always like 8 of them, so the room got a little crowded.

Susan told me it was going to get a little crowded in there, but not to worry about it and to focus. At this point, I was ready to push. As I was pushing, I kept leaning over to Scott and asking, "Are we close?" I needed to know if it was going to be 20 minutes or 2 hours. I needed to prepare myself for 2 hours, but was thinking, it HAS to be 20 minutes. Scott assured me we were close.

About 4 or 5 pushes in, Jake arrived! It was 7:07 PM on Thursday, August 19th. Scott later looked back at his phone to see when he called his dad on the way to the hospital. That was 5:45 PM, and we were still in Mebane, which is 30 minutes from the hospital. Bottom line, if I hadn't have listened to my instincts, we would have had Jake on the side of the Interstate.

After I delivered him, I couldn't hold him immediately because of the meconium issue. If a baby breathes it in, it's pretty serious. But I was able to lean up and see him. He was beautiful and looked JUST like Tyler. The peds checked him out and returned him to me in about 10 minutes, but it seemed like an hour before I could hold him.

My two labor experiences were really quite different, but ended quite the same - with a beautiful, sweet baby boy!

We (me and the breastmilk) made it home!

I certainly had some major anxiety about my trip to DC today. First, there was the potential for snow Tuesday evening, which would mean that I could get to DC, but then wouldn't be able to get home that evening. Two of best friends live there, so of all the places to get stuck, that would be my first choice! But, with a hungry baby at home and not enough of a milk stash in my freezer, Jake would be one p-o'ed little guy.

Then, I had not one, but two nightmares about missing my flight. Seriously, I was running down I-40 in my dream trying to get there. So, when I ventured out this morning at 5 AM - oh yes, it was early - I had no idea what to expect. I packed up all my pump parts and bottles and managed somehow to get them all into the same briefcase as my laptop.

As I was driving to the airport, I pictured having to sit in the TSA security area for over an hour like one woman had to recently in Phoenix, because I mistakenly watched this video the night before I left. It didn't exactly give me confidence that things were going to go smoothly.

But, you know what?!?!? Everything did! I arrived at RDU and put my pump and everything through security and they immediately flagged it for screening. I was a bit surprised because I thought the leg home would be where I would have the issues. I mean, I didn't even have any milk with me yet! The TSA official - a young guy - took my bag over to the side and asked me about the contents of my bag. He was very respectful and professional. It ended up that the cooler pack I used was the issue, so he swabbed it and then I was on my way!

Got to the conference hotel and took on my first pumping session. I did end up having to pump in the bathroom, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I work in highway safety and the ratio of men to women is like 10 to 1. Normally, this irritates me. But in this case, it meant that the ladies room was practically empty the entire time I was pumping, so it was like I had my own private lactation room! 

After a good meeting - oh yeah, that was the entire purpose of my trip - and a wonderful lunch at my favorite Thai restaurant in DC, I was back off to the airport. I decided to get through security first and then pump again once I got to the terminal. My thinking was that if I had any issues and had to end up dumping the milk, I would at least be able to save the milk I pumped once I got through security.

My experience at DCA security? Pretty much the same as RDU. I informed them ahead of time that I had "medical liquids" and they pulled me out to inspect my bags. This time the TSA official was a women - and a young mother herself. She has a 9 month old daughter at home and we chatted about our babies as she inspected my stuff. She was also very respectful and understanding.

Next pumping session - also in the bathroom - was fine. The DC airport actually has a nursing room in the bathroom area, but it was occupied! Even though I was in a bathroom stall, I still felt more comfortable just knowing that there was support for breastfeeding in the area.

So overall, everything went really well! I managed to balance work with life today, and even caught an earlier flight to get home in time to eat dinner with my family and tuck the boys into bed. All is well in this girl's life.

If you hear about a crazy lady at the airport, it's me

I have my first work trip tomorrow and I'll be flying to DC - just for the day thankfully. This will be my first experience with air travel and breast milk, so I'm a little nervous about what to expect. A lot of women I work with have been able to provide some wonderful advice and tips on the subject, so I feel very prepared. BUT, I still feel like I'm going to get "that guy" who is going to want to inspect everything. And I'm a little nervous about pumping in a bathroom stall, which will more than likely be where I'll need to pump.

My pumping experience to this point has been ideal. Seriously, my pumping environment is probably like porn to nursing moms. I have a private office with a lock, I put a fridge in my office so I don't have to store the milk in a communal place, and I work in such a laid back, understanding office that there are very few meetings where I couldn't just get up smack in the middle of the meeting and go pump for 15 minutes. No one would care or ask questions. Plus, I have oversupply "issues" which means I'm able to pump exactly - if not more than - what Jake needs for the next day.

So basically up until this point I've been spoiled. Anytime I feel like pumping is getting a little hard, all I have to do is get online and read the countless stories of women that have been walking in on while pumping or women that have to set their alarms for ungodly hours to add in a pumping session in the middle of the night. I work with a woman who had 30 work trips in her daughter's first year and breastfed exclusively for 12 months. These women are breastfeeding warriors and they keep me motivated.

Yet, I'm still nervous about tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. But if you hear about a crazed woman who went off on a TSA official for opening up her cooler bag of breast milk. Yep, that's me.

Jake's Birth - Part 2, Warming Up

When Tyler was born, I really didn't have a lot of true "false" labor - I had a lot of very weak contractions, which of course at the time I THOUGHT were real contractions, which makes me double over with laughter now since having felt true contractions since then.

About 2 weeks before Jake was due, my mom and sister offered to keep Tyler for a Friday evening so Scott and I could get a little pre-baby #2 alone time. Friday night I started to feel a little off and then early Saturday morning started to have mildly uncomfortable contractions. I thought, "This is it!" It was perfect. It was a weekend, so Scott didn't have to worry about work. Mom and Britney already had Tyler, so he wouldn't need to be affected by the whole "seeing mommy screaming in pain" thing. The contractions were still short, but pretty regular at about every 5 minutes. This was exactly how my labor started with Tyler. Scott and I decided to go for a walk. Despite the fact that it was one of the hottest summers in history and already 90 degrees at 8AM - I wanted this baby OUT! So we walked, then walked some more. I had been up since about 4:30 that morning just from the excitement of contractions, so when we got back from the walk, I needed a little rest. I laid down on the couch, slept a little while and then when I woke up....NOTHING. Everything just stopped.

Fast forward about another week and a half to my 39 week appointment. It was the Tuesday morning before my due date and the day before Tyler's 3rd birthday. At that appointment, I saw my favorite midwife - she is a straight talking woman who tells you exactly what is on her mind. She's a riot! Scott went with me to the appointment and here is what she instructed us to do. "Go home and have hard, pounding sex." Her EXACT words. I though Scott's jaw was going to drop onto the floor!! Then, she said the funniest thing I think I have ever heard as we were leaving. "OK, now go slip that baby the mickey." Seriously?!?!

At that appointment, I measured a little under 4 cm, so at that point, if I went to the hospital, I would be admitted. Wednesday was Tyler's birthday, so I stayed home with him and celebrated. My sister also took those days off from work and hung out with me. That night, we went to Tyler's favorite place for dinner - Buffalo Wild Wings. We also celebrated with our good friends - the Story's. I ordered the Mango Habanero boneless wings - almost the hottest sauce they have. It was a wonderful day overall!

Thursday my sister and I both worked from the house. At around 10AM that morning, I started having  contractions. My sister - ever the accountant - opened up Excel and actually tracked and timed my contractions! By about 3:30 or 4:00, they were getting a little more intense and fairly regular at about 5 minutes apart. I called Scott at work at around 4:30, thinking he should come home.

Scott got to the house around 5:00 and we decided it was time to call the midwife on call. At this point, my contractions were pretty strong, but I was still breathing through them and coping pretty well. The midwife told us we should try and stay at home as long as possible. But, in the back of my mind, I was thinking " these things are getting pretty strong and we live 30 minutes from the hospital." But, from Scott's perspective, I was handling them much better than the first time with Tyler, so we should stay at home for a little while.At around 5:45, the intensity started to kick up and bit, and I looked at Scott and said "We have to go." We jumped in the car and were off to the hospital with Tyler in the more than capable hands of my sister.