Foster is here!! A Birth Story

Baby is here! 

I was dilated to a 4 at my Wednesday appointment so we scheduled my induction for the next day, Thursday September 13, at 5:30 am.They started my pitocin around 7am and broke my water around 9. The anesthesiologist came at 9:30 because he had a full schedule for the day so I got my epidural while dilated to a 5. Getting the epidural so early was a huge change from my labor with Archer. I was in pain as soon as they broke my water and stayed that way until noon or so when I was finally dilated enough to get an epidural. This time around I felt very little pain, just mild crampiness. The epi made me sleepy so I napped off and on all day. 

Around 2:45 the nurse checked my cervix and I was dilated to a 9.5. I told her I was starting to feel pain again so the anesthesiologist came back and gave me a bolus of meds so I was completely numb again. The doctor arrived at 3:30 and prepped the room. I pushed 4 times on my first contraction starting at 3:45. Then my doctor said something funny and I laughed and he slid down a little so the doctor said to laugh again and he started coming out on his own, so I basically pushed 4 times and he was out at 3:47pm. (We were racing with the girl in the room next door and won! lol) 

Baby's First Picture

Baby was 9 lbs, 3 oz; 21 inches long; 14.5 in head. He was BIG! But I knew he was going to be big.

We kept it quiet because we knew it was going to be a crazy day and weren't sure (obviously) how long it would take to be in a recovery room. It's a good thing too because we didn't get him back from the nursery until 9pm. I'm definitely not pleased with the nursery staff, to say the least.

Recovery has been awesome. I feel so much better, less physically exhausted, less sore, just better overall than I did with Archer. I only took 2 pain pills and a few motrin at the hospital. I've been taking a few more at home because my back is really stiff, but it's not painful. My stitches aren't super painful and I even left the dermaplast at the hospital lol.
 

I've been up and around since 2 hours after his birth and even cooked dinner yesterday. I'm impressed with how my body handled labor this time around. Other than the pain I'm down 17 lbs and can fit my pre-pregnancy jeans. 

But I must say, I wish it had been this easy the first time, I might not have waited so long. :) I told Chance that and he just looked at me like I was nuts, so I guess that's a no on any future tries. 

Kay Jewelry Review

A few weeks ago my sweet husband took me to the mall after one of my doctor's appointments and said, "Go pick out a ring." I never got an engagement ring since we weren't ever really engaged, just a wedding band at the wedding.

I was...shocked, overwhelmed, worried I'd choose wrong, you name it I thought of it. It was too scary for me to process at that moment. We ended up waiting to do some more research online first. Which, really didn't turn out all that well.

We ended up buying this ring from Kay (or this ring that's similar). It came in really quickly, the one thing I was impressed with. I opened the box and it was gorgeous. Sparkly and just beautiful.

The next day, I was taking a picture of it to send to my husband and noticed a crack or a scratch. I thought, surely not. I've only worn it for a few hours (3 tops), what could have happened?

I went to the Kay store at the mall to ask them what was going on. I get there and one person is at the front desk and one is at the back, each with a customer. I walk to the front desk to wait. Here I stand, 38 weeks pregnant and am not greeted. No eye contact, no hello, nothing. I stood there for 10 minutes without either employee recognizing that I'm there. I walked off.

When I got home I called customer service, the only advice I'm given, "Take it back to a store and reorder it online." (not carried in stores) Ok, not pleased with that choice, but it's better than nothing.

I make a special trip to a different mall to return it. We were greeted immediately by a very friendly employee who seems helpful and nice. Show her the ring, tell her we want to return it. She says ok, she'll go get a manager. And that's where it turned sour. The manager was immediately on the defensive. She explained (in a not so nice manner) that it wasn't a crack but a defect in the gem, which is what we paid for. Had we gotten a higher quality diamond instead of spending less money, we would have gotten a better diamond without this flaw. All true, but terrible bedside manner.

Needless to say, we returned the ring, did NOT order another and have tabled the matter for another time. I didn't say anything to anyone about this process because it seemed too good to be true, and it was. I wouldn't post it here if it weren't for wanting to get it out that the reason this product isn't sold in stores is because it's very low quality and people wouldn't buy it if they saw it first. I'm fairly certain of that.

After this experience I will never buy anything from Kay again. I think the website was a little misleading, unless you know about diamond quality and what kind of flaws are possible. I've had diamonds with small specks or flecks of dark color and that's what I assumed they meant, not this very visible crack-like issue. I think the first store I went to (Central Mall Lawton) had terrible customer service. I've worked in customer service, even if you're helping someone else, you make eye contact and say hello to someone standing 3 feet from you. I think the second store I went to (Penn Square Mall) was upset that they were getting such a large return early in the day and let that color their customer service, which was just as bad as the first store. She could have explained the situation politely without trying to belittle us. When working in customer service, if someone was making a return of a product they were unhappy with, my goal was to win them over so that they would either buy that day or return another day.

Can you see it? 

Fissure running across top of diamond, it was also visible from the sides and bottom

Bierocks

I recently came across this recipe on pinterest and since I love cabbage, sausage and biscuits I thought it was a must try.

I'll be completely honest, I won't tell anyone about this recipe out loud, because I'm still unsure of how to even say it. I was hesitant to post it because there are so many spellings and I don't want to do it wrong. But, what I have seen includes bierrocks, bierocks, bier rocks and runzas.

The recipe calls for dinner roll dough. I have no idea what that is, walmart didn't have roll dough, only biscuits so I used crescents. If you know what dinner roll dough is, use it. I also skipped several steps by using cole slaw mix, which is also what I use for egg rolls. Much easier. I also didn't use beef because I already had the sausage and was making a smaller batch than the original.

They turned out really tasty, though I'm sure I'm the only here who will eat them. Definitely something I will make again as they were quick and easy.


Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent roll dough
1 pound pork sausage
1/2 bag slaw mix
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter, melted


Directions
Roll out dough to 1/4 inch in thickness, then cut into 5 inch squares.
In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until browned; make sure there is no remaining pink color. Stir in cabbage, onions and seasoning with meat (I added a little salt, not too much and pepper). Saute for about 20 minutes. Turn down heat to warm.
Fill each dough square with a tablespoon of meat filling. Seal dough by bringing the four corners up and then overlapping them. Place pastry upside down on a baking sheet; brush each roll with melted butter.


Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for for 10-15 minutes. 

Forty Weeks

I've made it to 40 weeks. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

My next doctor's appointment isn't until Thursday, which I'm pretty upset about since my due date is tomorrow. I wasn't begging or complaining last week, but now I'm done. Baby is full term, big enough, lungs and brain are healthy; get him out! I'm far enough progressed that risk of c-section is low, so I'm definitely put out with my doctor's decision to make me wait four days to even come back for an appointment to discuss an induction.

I'm blessed that Chance has time at home that we weren't expecting, but still. I am so uncomfortable, with a ton of pressure down low and my entire abdomen aching from the weight of the baby.

I will miss the loving, sweet, fun parts of being pregnant, but never the last weeks. I would much rather be holding my 8 pound baby in my arms than my tummy.

Nursery!

Before you ask, I'm still pregnant. Yes, I'm ready to have the baby. No, I haven't yet, obviously if you can see me (which I realize you cannot at the moment). Yes, he's stubborn. Yes, I'm tired of being pregnant. Thanks for reminding me. 

Whew, felt good to get that out. There's nothing quite like the local fair to bring out questions such as these. I'm sure people just don't know what to say and I'm sure I've asked similar (annoying) questions, but still. It's lame when they're being asked of you. 

BUT, that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to share the nursery pictures with you! It's about 90% finished and as good as it's going to get for the time being! 

(The little brown dresser came with the house (meaning it belonged to someone in my family, since it's a family house). I'm eventually going to refinish it, but I don't have the energy right now and I needed a lamp table. This was in Archer's room under his bed until now.)