It's coming along!!! Our First Home.

Well, after a looooooooooong process, we are finally in!  Well actually it wasn't that long since we just closed on June 8, but we were supposed to be closing on May 18.  Things had to move rather quickly to paint, put in new flooring (I have an issue with feet touching dirty surfaces, not that these people were dirty), and MOVE.  Apparently we have more STUFF than I ever thought!  Here's a few pics of our work in progress...

Welcoming Baby #2: our birth story

The only positive perk to having a c-section a 2nd time, is that its scheduled, and since my babies don't like to come on their own, everything went as scheduled. (a big relief after all of my pregnancy issues and scares)

We arrived at the hospital in Rice Lake at 5:30 AM on Friday, July 20 (too early in my opinion) and met our nurse for the day (she was amazing by the way).  Got hooked up to the IV (number 1 reason this nurse is amazing, she got the IV on the first try--this has never happened before), had some blood drawn, and got my 2 bags of fluids required before surgery.

We met with our anesthesiologist (My FAVORITE one...I've had 3), he must have been worried about me getting a spinal, probably because I spent 15 minutes trying to talk him out of one for my ankle surgery, because he came in all prepared telling me why a spinal was the way to go... I'm not sure what the other options were but I wasn't going to ask for anything else!

At about 7:30, I walked with my surgery nurse to the operating room (this nurse was amazing too by the way) and got everything ready to go.  I almost had an anxiety attack when the anesthesiologist got ready to put the needle in my back, but nurse to the rescue, she put her arms around me and held me while I cried as he put it in  (the spinal went horribly bad with Mylee and I cried for months in pain from it...)

At that point everything moved quite quickly, my Dr. came in, got ready to cut, they brought in Chris and we were set.  I got a new scar added to my collection because this Dr preferred to cut lower than the previous Dr.  (something about how high up the baby was).  It seemed to take some effort to get her out of me, (my sides would agree to this as they are quite tender...days later) pushing and tugging, the anesthesiologist told Chris the exact moment to watch so he actually got to see her being born. (he said it was gross but happy he saw it)  Tahlia cried almost the 2nd they got her head out and gave those lungs a workout the whole time they attended to her.  Our Doc said that this was a good sign, she'd be a good baby (so far he's right).

Tahlia ElaineMarie Waldron was born at 7:59AM on July 20 2012 by c-section.  She weighed in at 8 lb 2 oz and was 19.5 inches long.  She has a head of dark brown hair and dark grayish black eyes (we'll see what color they will be)

Everything went how I wanted it to...This time I got to touch her right away and the nurse held her cheek to mine so we could have a few bonding moments before they took her away while I got stitched up.  They also promised that I'd see the baby soon and that if everything went well she could come back to recovery with me.

I waited for what seemed like FOREVER to see Tahlia.  She never made it back to recovery with me, I was anxious waiting to see her, Chris said she cried almost the whole time she was without me.  They were getting ready to bring Tahlia back to me when the Anesthesiologist FINALLY cleared me (the deal was that I had to be able to move my legs together before I could go back, I got my left leg going quickly, the right one didn't cooperate) however this wait wasn't nearly as long as I waited to see Mylee!

We bonded quickly, and the nurse got her nursing right away (this is a success, Mylee had issues eating and ended up staying an extra day at the hospital).  I spent the day in bed (ugh) but had a lot of good bonding time with Tahlia.  The only terrible aftermaths of the c-section on the first day were the horrible itching (reaction to the spinal/morphine mix)-a common reaction, feeling like it was 700 degrees in the room (poor Chris had to go get a sweatshirt so he didn't freeze to death), and those horrible hospital beds.

Day 2 was a little harder physically, the meds were wearing off.  But it was good to be moving and stretching.  I'll be honest, this c-section HURT (more pain than I have ever felt before in my life).

I decided I wanted to go home on Sunday (maybe this wasn't a great idea), but the doc came in in the morning to pull out my staples.  I had some pretty wicked bruising and a bit of a red area so he put me on antibiotics for infection, but otherwise we were good to go home.  Tahlia's doc stopped by late morning and she was cleared as well, so we were on our way home by 12:30!

Very excited to be home with my 2 favorite daughters!

Counting down the days.

Counting down the days.  C-Section is scheduled for Friday, July 20.  Doc said today that we'll be getting a call next week Wednesday or Thursday for when we get to go in. YAY.  Everything is looking good.  Had some contractions at my NST today, didn't last long, but it was kind of exciting to actually feel them, since I couldn't feel any of them with Mylee.  Gotta love spending 2 hours at the drs office for no reason, but better safe than sorry.  I'm a high risk pregnancy according to my medical chart, but have been basically problem free for about 15 weeks!

Hopefully this baby doesn't decide to come early, I have a few things I want to get done... Crib, Wall decorations, clean the house a bit, get my classroom cleaned up (I'm sharing my room next year).  I'm thinking Chris will go in with me next Thursday morning to take care of that.  Otherwise we are set to go.  My parents are arriving on Tuesday, staying at a resort through Friday, so Mylee will be with them starting on Wednesday until we get home from the hospital (hopefully next Sunday!)

A new chapter... Our first Home!

Well, one thing is for sure.  We've been BUSY!  We closed on our new house on June 8 (FINALLY) we were supposed to close on May 18.  But divine intervention moved the date (the appraiser was SLOW) turns out that worked in our favor since the bank originally denied the loan because Chris got laid off.  Working a little magic we got it approved!

Once we closed we started getting things done right away.  All of the rooms have been repainted, new carpet has been laid in the living room and 3 bedrooms, and engineered wood floors have been put in the kitchen, dining room and hallway.  Really all that is left is all of the boxes in the basement and the bathroom!  We actually painted, did the floors and moved all within 5 days.

Amongst all of that, I have had a few Dr. appointments, things are going well.  Blood pressure is better than it's been in my entire adult life, fluid levels are good, baby is measuring big (this is good news since she was measuring small the first half of pregnancy) We are now doing Non-Stress Tests every appointment, Dr is being extra cautious because of my early issues which technically put me into the high risk category, even though nothing would put me in that category now (YAY)!  Counting down the July 20!

CHANGE is good...right?!?

Well, I have unofficially accepted a change in careers for next year (well not a complete change in career).  I will tentatively (it is NOT official by the board yet) be working about 50% in my regular position (Business Ed) teaching a block high school class, a couple of online classes, and my one Middle School class.  This means I teach 1 less class than I normally would.  In addition to that I will be working as the IMC director (under the current Library Media Specialist who will be moving on to the Montessori school (tentatively)).  With that I will be doing elementary story time (this could be interesting) and elementary computer time (this could be exciting!)

I will also NOT be doing as much with the school newspaper (this is bitter sweet as we have a love hate relationship) I have put blood, sweat, and tears into this paper, so letting it go is going to both great and sad (and most importantly a lot less stressful).  I'll still have my hand in the advertising for a little while any way so I'm not leaving it cold turkey!

Chris doesn't have a lot of options for next year, he's taking the layoff pretty hard because he FINALLY found a place he LOVED to work and then due to budget cuts he can't stay.  He had 1 interview, but you know how it goes when people already know who they're going to hire (too bad they couldn't tell you ahead of time!)  I think this is stressing him out, mostly on the financial part.  We are closing on the house in 2 weeks and the baby is coming in 11, lots of stuff to worry about.  I'm amazingly calm about this.  Things always turn out ok, and why worry about it now.

I'm officially 28 weeks pregnant, according to ALL 3 of my due dates;) We will be scheduling my C-section at my appointment at the end of May.  I think I might keep that one a secret so no one can come see me at the hospital (I was secretly happy the OB wing was shut down when I had Mylee due to the N1H1 outbreak).  Things are looking pretty good on the baby front, she's growing "above average" and thriving.  Although she enjoys staying squished up into a little ball.  We made a little trip to the Hospital last week with "threatened preterm labor" I had some bleeding and an intense pressure that wouldn't go away, so we ruled out labor (thank God!) and everything was fine.  I couldn't feel anything during my 8+ hours of labor or contractions (I didn't even know I was in labor when I got to the hospital) with Mylee so that worries me that something will happen and I won't know, let's hope it doesn't!

Had my 28 week appointment this week with another growth scan ultrasound!  Baby looks great and was a pain in the butt as usual! But it was exciting to see her and I finally got a CD of the baby moving!  Everything else checked out, passed my glucose test by 1 point (shouldn't eat a bowl of chocolate covered carmel popcorn the night before) and I now have to take Iron supplements because my iron counts are too low, but that is minor!

Definitely looking forward to the delivery of this baby! It will be a happy ending to a long fought battle with my body!

More to come on our 1st house!!!

We can do this... right?

It's a good thing I decided some things in life aren't worth worrying about... because the last few weeks have been a little crazy.  Our offer on our house was accepted and we got all the paperwork done for the loan.  GREAT NEWS right!  Well then Chris got a layoff notice from the Turtle Lake School District (I have a few choice words for this situation, but my husband is somehow able to remain positive so I can do this too).  They will be cutting his department down by 1 and he is the low man on the totem pole... Sucky thing is that the principal pretty much guaranteed him he'd have a job next yer.  LESSON: wait for the contract in hand! oh wait that could be never since we face the wrath of Scott Walkers plan to save money and schools (looks like he forgot about the little guys when he cut funding more)  GOOD NEWS: Chris can collect unemployment if he needs too and we already know how to live on my income.

Life Crisis #1=annoying but we can do this!

On to the baby business.   I thought my 1st pregnancy was stressful...  This one has far more issues and luckily everything has been turning out to be ok (really nothing has been very bad, just annoying trying to figure it out).  I am really really happy I picked the Dr. I did, because he gets me.  He seems to know when I need reassurance that it's going to be ok, but he never tells me its going to be perfect.  I can work with this... I'm a statistics and numbers kind of a person.  Ultrasounds have certainly lost their excitement but I can definitely be happy to know everything is progressing.  Baby measures right on, but I have another growth scan in 2 weeks, ultrasound number 9 or 10... I lose track:).   I've also been having these horrible dizzy spells where I feel like I'm going to pass out.  I swear my students think I'm crazy.  GOOD NEWS--doc thinks its just my blood pressure--this time getting two low.... We've been watching this whole pregnancy because it was too high... now it's too low.  EVEN BETTER NEWS-no more nasty bp pills... I WIN (I am not big into medications)

Then there's Fifth Disease which is running rampant around the school and the baby book Marshfield clinic send home with you says: Effects on the baby: usually none; some unborn babies may develop anemia or die.  Nothing like getting right to the point!  Luckily 60% of adults are immune because they've already had it... I am apparently in the 40% that have never had it... however at east I know I don't presently have it... good thing my doc knows I obsess over things because I have another blood test in 10 days to see if I've gotten it yet.  I wouldn't worry so much but Mylee gets everything it seems and is in contact with lots of kids.

let's hope this crisis is averted as well!

Life is FLYING by... YIKES

Boy have we been busy around here!  A few weeks ago, Chris and I decided that maybe it was time to look at buying a house... We're already paying $565 in rent, so a mortgage payment is very realistic.  Biggest downside is that we're teachers and who knows if our jobs are ever really secure.  But we decided to call a loan officer and figure out if we would even qualify for a decent loan.  Numbers came back being able to afford up to $120,000.  Then we checked in with Mommy Bladl to check her opinion.  She checked out what we got back from the bank and thought it was very doable.  So we called a realator... that was 2 weeks ago.  Today we made an offer, it seems like we are moving too fast, but the location of this house is perfect, about a 30 minute drive for Chris and good roads and a 15 minute drive for me, good roads, lots of kids.  Now we wait to hear back about our offer.

In the meantime, Chris has been busy with coaching Forensics, he has 24 students going to state which is very exciting for him.  I've also been coaching Forensics, I had 7 make it to state, so I'm pretty excited about that.  Chris had hernia surgery, so he's taking it easy for the next couple of weeks and we're having a difficult time keeping Mylee off of his stomach... but she's really doing well and seems to understand that daddy is "sick" ;)

Had my 24 week appointment (at 23 weeks), apparently my doc and I have very conflicting schedules.  All is going pretty well in baby land, I am having problems with my blood pressure dropping too low, so we're backing off the meds a bit (since it was outrageously high)--the nausea and dizzy spells are getting a little old--especially when I'm at work... and now my 2 week appointments start already, since I had to add an extra appointment this month and we were starting a bit early anyway, and the doc wants a growth comparison so now I have to have another full ultrasound at the next appointment.  Can I use up a few more sick days? Oh well, totally worth it to make sure this baby comes out healthy!