Photo of the day

I don't do a daily posting called Photo of the Day but if I did, this would be it. Connor's room was a disaster from spending all this time at home and hardly leaving the house. We sent him in there to clean it up and when it was really quiet for several minutes went in to see why. With boys, or kids in general, too quiet is not a good thing. It's suspect for sure. This is what we found. Possibly the funniest thing ever.

Carly was over and we had to take a photo when we found him like this. It reminds me of Where's Waldo.

Noah Jackson Barnes

The waiting is over! No more baby countdowns on here, no more creepy floating baby thingy, no more heartburn, no more swelling, no more sleep, no more being a cute pregnant lady, no more clean house :)

Noah Jackson Barnes arrived right on schedule at 7:31am on Friday, May 28th. He was huge, as I thought...8lbs 4oz and 21.5 inches long. We are home and doing well a week later!

I've been wanting to post on here for days now, but it's just such a daunting project...so many photos, so many stories and so many details that I just bailed on it entirely! But now, I'm sitting down to get started and we'll see how far I get in this sitting. Hopefully I'll finish it and have it posted tonight but being honest...that's doubtful! Noah will surely want to eat sometime in the next 30 minutes, I should eat at somepoint, Connor's bedtime is creeping up and I've got stuff on tivo! But, we'll see.

We struggled out of bed at 4am when our alarm went off on Friday morning and got started on our day. Jeffrey got in the shower and sleepwalked though getting ready. I flatironed my hair and packed those last minute items that couldn't get in the hospital bag until the very last minute-glasses, contact cast, hairbrush, etc. We were out the door at 4:45 and headed to the hospital. It was odd driving there and not being in labor...just a casual drive to the hospital to have a baby. No big.

We got there at 5 and got checked in. We were taken to triage where I was given the largest hospital gown ever-aparently they are one size fits all. The nurse told me that she hates the new gowns but they are pretty great because they can regulate your temp. I'm always cold so you can seriously set it to warm you up. Awesome. They started with the saline iv, did some paperwork and then we just waited, somewhat patiently. I of course had to pee 47 times after the IV was in which means that the nurse has to take me. I'm sure they love that. Eventually, the anesthesiologist was ready for me and I was taken to the OR for the spinal. With Connor I had an epidural because it was assumed that I'd deliver vaginally...but no. This time I got the spinal which hurt way worse and feels uber creepy. Like you are paralyzed from the chest down. Creepy.

Jeff came in a few moments later all decked out in his OR scrubs and we got started. It was pretty fast once I was back in the OR-they had me all prepped before Jeff even came back. Seriously, as soon as he came back they started cutting. I don't remember any other details, just because of the reality of the situation but a spinal is strange. You can't feel anything like pain or the actual cutting, but you can feel that your skin, muscles and even organs are being messed with. Double Creepy. You feel quite a bit of pressure, but that's about it. After a few minutes I started hearing things from my doctor who had been talking to me all along about a ton of hair, and how big Noah was. I heard a nurse say that he was beautiful and then I felt him being lifted out of me. Triple Creepy. At this point, you just wait to hear that cry and when you hear it, amazing. There's still so much checking and double checking that they do to be sure he's ok, but as a mom laying there the cry is the signal that all is well. At this point, they clean him up a bit and Jeffrey goes over and cuts the cord. Turns out that the cord was around Noah's neck three times. Yes, three times. OMG. Thank God I don't deliver naturally.

After Noah is out, they do my tubal and my doctor tells me about some issues he came across when he got me open. Turns out that my uterus was stretched so thin due to Noah's size that it was dangerous for me-and Noah. Fortunately, he didn't get anxious and decide to come early because the contractions could have been really dangerous. Later, when I wasn't wide open on the OR table, my doctor told me that he would have recommended doing a tubal at that point anyway, because it's highly unlikely that I would have been able to carry a third pregnancy. He told me that if I'd gone into labor myself with Noah and my uterus ruptured or something, the best case outcome would have been a complete hysterectomy. That's scary and I'm glad he waited to tell me this until I'm safely stitched up and sitting in my hospital bed with both of my perfect little boys with me.

So that's pretty much the somewhat quick and dirty delivery story. All ended well and they called us from the nursery after they took Noah to tell us that he was 8lbs 4oz and 21.5 inches. Holy crap. That's more than 2lbs bigger than Connor and more than 2inches bigger. That's quite a difference.

We got into our post partum room and the family started pouring in immediately. My mom and dad, Jeff's parents and Connor, Jeff's sister Sarah, Chuck and Jalen and followed immediately by Jeff's sister Megan, Ryan, Kaden, Jacob and Madison. Thankfully, I think it was a combo of having a friend as a nurse and the other nurses seeing the mass of family waiting for us to come out that they gave us a HUGE room to stay in. Awesome. We had 16 people in that room at one time...I'm sure the nurses loved us, but that's how we roll.

Ok, now that the long, story is done here are pics from Noah's birthday and a couple days later!

we stopped before heading to the hospital to take a quick pic in Noah's room!

here we are in OB triage around 6am. I've got my huge gown, I've peed 4 times in an hour and we're just waiting to hear that it's go time!

just like with connor, i take an amazing pre-op photo. at this point, i'm all prepped, jeff is in the room and they are just about to get started.

go time

this photo was taken at 7:32am...allowing for a difference between the hospital clock and my camera clock of course...this was literally right after he was born. You can also tell by all the cheesy goodness all over him. this looks exactly like him.

all the family outside the nursery eagerly awaiting Noah's arrival. See Connor's little face in the window? Love.

love this picture. Connor brought his little camera with him to the hospital and without anyone even suggesting it, he started taking pics of Noah through the nursery window. I think that's really cute. I've been told all of this happened btw...i'm still in surgery for about another 45 minutes at this point.

graphic nudity? check. Here's the proof...8lbs 4oz. Ouch.

This is right after I'm out of surgery and I'm back in OB triage for a bit. I don't remember why? Maybe they just monitor me...maybe they are waiting for a room to be ready...maybe they are counting family members and wondering where the hell they are going to put us :) Regardless...this was the first time I got to hold Noah! Seriously a few minutes after this was taken he ripped off his hat and tossed it back on the bed. I didn't blame him-he knew I'd bring cuter ones.

Noah gave Connor presents that we gave to him at the hospital. He got this Doc car, a couple baseball books, and some hockey movies. He was thrilled.

Mama, Dada & Noah

Here's my Noah. He has a ton of coal black hair and very, very dark blue eyes. He looks exactly like Connor when he was born. I'll post comparrison pics at some point, but trust...they def look like brothers :)

Jeffrey, the master burper, and Noah

The hospital photographer taking Noah's newborn pics

Papa Van Hook & Noah

Carly visting Noah & I

Grammy Van Hook & Noah

Patricia & Noah

Grammy & Papa Barnes with the boys

Connor taking more photos of Noah

Brothers :)

My big goal was to get a great family pic in the hospital bed, this wasn't really it. I love the pic but Connor was clearly not interested.

My dad can sit and hold Noah (and Connor back in the day) for hours.

Carly & Noah

Sara & Noah

Noah arrived Friday morning and we stayed Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights. Monday morning we were released around 10am and were thrilled to go home. Being in the hospital is nice, but there is just a point where it's time to head home. We loaded Noah in the carseat and hit the road.

teeny in his carseat with his puppy Cinnamon and his owl blanket

Connor and Noah waiting for Dada to pull the car up and take us home!

I'm going to wrap this up here for now, but I promise to write more about recovering from the c-section the second time around (way worse) and about Jeffrey's birthday. Shockingly, there are lots more photos to post as well!

The Surreal Life

Surreal doesn't even begin to explain how this feels tonight. It's 10pm and I need to be wraping up the night and heading to bed...because our alarm is set for 4am-a disgusting hour if you ask me. At four, we'll stumble out of bed. Jeff will stumble; I'll do the roll onto my right side and let my body slide out of bed move that I've perfected over the last several weeks because any movement more aggressive than that just doesn't happen at this point. So right now I've revisited the hospital bag I've packed over the last few weeks, which is fortunate because I discovered that I had packed two pairs of pj pants and zero tops. Now, there are 4 shirts in there which is overkill, but at least I'll have options. Another surreal thing...not having a clue what will fit you in one, two, three and four days. Last time I packed a hospital bag I planned on being in the hospital approximately 24 hours...not four days. Quite different when you are there that long. You need toiletries and other junk. Then add to it packing stuff for Noah and we've got some serious baggage sitting in our rooom.

Back to surreal...we know what will happen tomorrow but it doesn't take away any of the weirdness of all the planning and prep work that we've done so far. So strange to have this super important, miraculous event nailed down to the day and hour of our choosing. We'll report to the hospital at 5am and I should be in surgery at 7 as long as I don't get bumped and there aren't any other delays. Once Noah is out, I'll get to see him and then Jeffrey will get to go down to the nursery with him and show him off to the family while I'm still in surgery. I have no idea how much time is added to my surgery because I'm getting my tubes tied, though I can't imagine it's very much. After that, I'll head to recovery where I think I stay for a few hours. Then, I'll be moved to my postpartum room where I'll stay for the rest of our time there. Anyway, that's how we think it goes...last time was such an unexpected blur so we barely remember it. This time just feels so planned, but I still feel like there are way, way too many balls in the air right now.

I think that tomorrow morning when I wake up at the ass crack of dawn, I'll do my hair. I'll even put on some mascara and lipgloss - maybe some color to my cheeks. Hell, the result has GOT to be better than this, right? :)

We dropped Connor off with Grammy & Papa Barnes tonight and it was kinda bittersweet. I asked him who he was going to get to meet tomorrow and he immediately said Baby Noah. I can't even fathom what it's going to be like for him to visit us at the hospital tomorrow and throughout the weekend...to see me in the hospital bed all folded over and broken-like. I think I'm more worried about it than I need to be, but I just don't want to scare him.

Well, it's 10:30 and I'm going to lay down. Tomorrow will fly by and I'm hoping Jeffrey catches most of it in pictures for us! I asked him tonight if he's comfortable using the camera. He looked at me in a very annoyed way, so I'm going with a Yes. Good night everyone - we'll have updates as soon as we're able to so stay tuned!

Love,

The Barnes Family of 4 - Jeff, Linds, Connor and Noah!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Since I'm not sure if I'll have an opportunity to get a Nearly Wordless Wednesday post up this week...either I'll be making last ditch efforts to get work/life handled before Friday or maybe we'll already be at the hospital...I decided to get it done ahead of time and pre-post it.

we've really been working on potty training over the last two weeks. Connor has never really been driven by the discomfort of a wet diaper, the "big boyness" of pullups or underwear, or the allure of the sticker chart. He loves his sticker chart, but let me say that we started it months ago and he's filled up 3 of those suckers. I don't know what happened but suddenly he's just more into it. So, we broke out the underpants for school and the week went amazing. Two days, he had an accident but the other three, nothing! dry all day! Tuesday when I picked him up he was dry and in the same Lightning McQueen underpants as he was when he got there so we got ice cream. Bad news? When we got home and he climbed out of the carseat he was soaked. Oh well. Over the course of this weekend, he hasn't had a single accident except when he fell asleep today before I could get a pull up on him for nap. Not bad :)

we've been breaking out baby stuff for Noah's arrival and came across the bouncer/walker thing that Connor looooooved as a baby. We cleaned it up and now Connor uses it as a soccer goal, basketball hoop and then I found him like this. My kid is weird.

he wandered into our room tonight like this. Underpants? check. Batting helmet? yup. Batting Gloves? of course. Bat? always.

Week 39 Update

Three days! :) Noah will be here in three days and this never-ending countdown will be over. I think it may be time to consider moving to an hour countdown...72 hours as of now. woohoo.

I'm 39 weeks along today and scheduled to deliver Noah in exactly 72 hours. Holy crap peeps. I got the first twinge of nervousness about surgery today. Connor's was so different...I labored for so long that when they told me that they needed to section me it was such a relief. This time I'm just strolling in, asking for some pretty serious surgery...oh, and please tie my tubes while you're in there. k.thanks.bye.

Last night after Connor went to sleep, Jeff and I were watching How I Met Your Mother and it struck me as odd somehow. I asked him if he found it strange that in just over three days we'd be having Noah and tonight we're just sitting on the couch watching some tv show. He said nope so I moved on. I still think it's weird, though I can't decide why. It's not like I feel like we should be doing some uber-important life affirming stuff while we 'prepare' for the way our world is about to be rocked but still. I don't know.

I had my very last prenatal OB appointment yesterday, marking that it's nearly Go Time. The appointment went well. My BP was good, and Noah's heartbeat was at 120...totally within normal range and finally slowed down to a resting point which is good. Connor and Noah both had fast heartbeats all through my pregnancies...no wonder Connor is so wild and I'm convinced his brother will be the same. I gained 2 pounds since last week so I think that puts me up three pounds overall. I'm ok with that. He checked my cervix and I'm still at a zero which I'm good with. I've been torn with wanting to deliver as scheduled and wanting to be done with the heartburn, swelling, soreness of my ligaments (seriously, so sore) and constant peeing. My doctor is pretty sure that I'll be delivering as scheduled this Friday.

My tummy is huge, seriously huge. People who don't see me for a week marvel at my belly. If I'm being honest, it really isn't that big, but it's just so solid and kinda cool. It feels big though...getting in and out of my car has become difficult. Jeffrey nearly peed himself at one point this weekend and made me get out and let him drive for fear that I would slam Noah into the steering wheel if I had to hit the brakes too hard. Probably not a horrible idea to be fair.

My hospital bag is nearly 100% packed, sans the few items that I'm still using daily like deodorant, contacts, glasses, slippers and a few random things like phone charger, camera charger, etc. I figure even if I go into labor myself I'll have time to grab those items on our way to the hospital. I have a list of "last minute items to grab" so we shouldn't have an issue there. Noah's baby bag is all set as well. We have clothes in a few different sizes so we should be ok whether he's tiny like his brother, medium like me or huge like Jeffrey. Connor's overnight bag is packed too. He'll be staying with my amazing mother and father in law for a couple days and my sister in law Sarah for a couple days so we had to pack plenty of clothes and stuff for him as well. This is a lot of packing. We seriously, honestly did 14 loads of laundry this past weekend. Fourteen flippin loads of laundry. There's so much of Connor's clothes that we're keeping for Noah and it needed to be washed...plus all the new stuff we purchased or were given...plus getting my stuff ready for the hospital. It was crazy amounts of laundry.

Amazing news?!? Connor...potty trained. I'm calling it official. He's had a couple accidents in the last week, but really done amazing. He's gone the past four days without having an accident except one that was our fault because we let him take a nap in his underwear instead of forcing him to put a pull up on. The adorable thing? We'll be playing or doing something and he'll just get up, wander into the bathroom and go all by himself. For some reason he hates pulling his underwear and pants up by himself but hopefully he'll get over that. I'm really hoping that he doesn't regress after Noah arrives, but I know that's somewhat likely. Any parents out there have suggestions of ways to avoid it? I always said that my goal was to not have two sizes of diapers in the house at one time and I'm Sooooooo close! My only thought is making a big deal of him showing Noah how he's a big boy and goes in the potty. I need backup plans for sure and I've got nothin!

I am sure I've put this before but since this is my last weekly update I'll be posting I figured I may as well post this again. We have to be at the hospital at 5am for prep stuff and then my delivery is scheduled for 7am. That two hours in between is time spent doing some blood work, filling out some paperwork, getting an IV, meeting with the anesthesiologist and my own doctor and who knows what else...not eating or drinking anything I know for sure. I have a friend Lisa who is an L&D nurse at Chandler and she'll be waiting for me in recovery so that's a nice thing.

Well, that's about it from here. It's just a waiting game at this point and we're good if it happens between now and then but better if he holds out for Friday. The planner in me crosses my fingers that Noah will be patient and arrive when he's supposed to. The mom in me knows that he may just come tomorrow to spite me. :) Have a great week everyone and I'll be updating as soon as there's anything exciting to report!

Flashback Friday - Labor Edition

It's hard to believe that one way or another this time next week Noah will be here...we'll be a family of four...Connor will have a little brother...our little family will be complete. It's shocking to think about, but we've got to think about it because it's literally right around the corner. Whether Noah waits until Friday at 7am or comes on his own terms he'll be here a week from today. Holy moly, right?!!? The undeniable timeframe really has me remembering what it was like when Connor was born just over three years ago so I thought it would be fitting to post a few stories and pics of his arrival. Not the actual arrival...though I do have a few c-section pics for anyone interested :) but pics from right before and right after. They are way, way down at the bottom of this post.

My first contractions occured on Friday the 13th of April, 2007. I kept a baby blog during my pregnancy with Connor and this is the entry about that evening:

After weeks of wondering what contractions would feel like I got my answer! Friday night I started having mild contractions that felt like my tummy was in knots and that Connor was moving around like crazy. Not so much pain as tightening and discomfort-enough to catch my breath, but that's really about it.

We called the nurse at my doctor's office who told me that these are early labor contractions and to be sure that we had our hospital bag packed! That caused both excitement (Linds) and a bit of panic (Jeffrey)! She made sure to follow that up with a warning that I could head to the hospital that night or it could still be a week, so...four days later I'm still having the contractions and still waiting for them to get to the point that we make that trip to labor and delivery!

Well, those contractions continued for several more days. Seriously...they got more and more painful as the days went on and I still find it completely rediculous that I had contractions for 6 days. Of course-the contractions Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were Nothing compared to what I got hit with on Tuesday and Wednesday...the day Connor arrived...at 11pm! From Connor's baby blog again here's a posting from after his arrival:

Hooray-the day we've been waiting for finally arrived! Connor Keith Barnes made his debut this past Wednesday, April 18, 2007. He arrived by c-section at 11:08 pm, weighing 6 lbs 2 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long...a tiny little guy! Such a relief given how huge Jeffrey was at birth!

I'd been having some pretty horrible contractions all Tuesday and Wednesday and Wednesday night around 7, they were about 2 minutes apart and mom and I made that long-awaited drive to the hospital. Jeffrey met us there and serious labor came fast. For those of you who want the details, let me know so we'll spare those who do not! I will say that I went from 1 centimeter to 6 centemeters in about 20 minutes so it was quite intense and the epidural that came was a welcome relief about 5 days in the making!

My doctor did come and talk to us and said that because of several factors, they needed to go ahead and get me to the OR for a c-section. I think I surprised them when I said, No problem, sounds good, let's go! We didn't care how he got here, we just wanted him here and safe! So, about 45 minutes later Connor was here and our little family was started!

Since I'd had a c-section which is considered pretty serious surgery, we got to stay extra time in the hospital to heal and rest before going home. It was great to be able to have the nurses there to prepare us for what we were about to do! They helped us learn about nursing Connor, and all about how to take care of our new pride & joy!

On Thursday night, one of the nurses told us that Connor's bilirubin count was at a point where he was considered jaundiced and needed to spend 24 hours in the nursery under the lights to be sure it kicked it out of his system. This was pretty tough having him away for an entire day when he was still so new, but we knew that he needed to do it to get better. We were able to go down and visit him while he spent time in his little "tanning bed". After the 24 hours, he was all better and able to come right back to the room with us. This only lasted a short time though, and he was back to the nursery for his circumcision. I'll spare everyone the details, but just know that Connor handled it like a champ and slept through the entire procedure!

It's absolutely amazing that Connor already has such a personality and clearly knows his likes and dislikes already. He likes laying on mommy's chest after he eats and will gladly spend hours and hours sleeping there. He does not like being swaddled and having his arms tucked inside the blanket-he's been able to break free from every swaddle he's been put into so far! He's great at making eye contact and will just stare at Jeffrey and I forever and we just can't tear ourselves away from those big, dark blue eyes-he's just beautiful! Just like mom and dad he's got tons of hair-he's already in need of a haircut! He loves sleeping and eating. Even though he's so tiny, he's putting away between 40 and 50 mL of food at every feeding and will surely catch up to other infants soon. He lost about 4 ounces before he left the hospital, but we're told that's normal and we are sure he'll gain in back super quick given his love of food:)

It was absolutely amazing to be able to hold this little boy that we'd both been waiting so long for. He's beautiful and if you haven't had a chance to visit him, please do! Jeffrey is taking this next week off from work so we can help each other adjust to this new, wonderful phase of life:) We have our follow up appointment with Connor's pediatrician tomorrow and are looking forward to that. I have posted a few photos on here of Connor's first few days and there will be many, many more to follow. We're still trying to settle back in at home and will be sure to continue to add photos as we are able to.

Thank you so much to our friends and family who were there through the entire experience this past week and weekend. This was so special because you were there to share it with us. Connor will know how blessed he was to have all of you visit him on his first few days of life-thank you again!


Strangely, I cannot help but notice here how much my blog is different than it was three years ago...I would have totally, totally, 100% given way more details than I did then. Maybe because it was our first, maybe because I was super new to blogging, who knows. I barely talked about labor, or the epidural, or the sleeping pills I was prescribed...and I didn't even delve into how much the c-section effin hurt or the reasons they decided to section me. lol. no fear friends...this time will be different! :) As an FYI, anyone who wants to read the old blog can find it HERE. I stopped doing it when I started up with this one and am still deciding if I should import them over to this blog or what...well, that's a decision for another day.

Here are some pics of the day Connor Keith arrived:

i think we took this before we were told that I needed to have the section. not a stellar photo, but probably our last pic taken as just a "married couple"...not yet "parents" :)

this is when i was being wheeled into the OR. Ironically, probably the best pic I've taken in my life.

jeffrey right before we went in for Connor's delivery. He still has these scrubs and will be wearing them when Noah arrives as well. Hopefully...unless they won't let him wear them because they aren't sterile. damn. wrench in the plan. fail.

this is immediately after Connor was born. you can tell because he'll still all gooey and bloody. i have minimal recollection of this moment, seriously.

love this pic. looking thrilled with being out in the crazy bright lights!

when i first saw this pic i was like...when was this taken? it didn't even occur to me that everyone was gathered outside taking pics when i was still in surgery. I love, love this photo. proud dada with the thrilled grandparents!

I think he's a day or two old here...so flippin teeny

hanging out in his plastic crib, chillin with Pepper and his iPod.

You can see the little velcro tabs on his head from his sunglasses he had to wear under the billi lights for his jaundice. I think he stayed in the NICU-type nursery for a couple days.

Heading home from the hospital!