Young Party of Four

It seems like an odd thing to talk about the day after such an amazing day: celebrating our little man turning 1, but it is what it is. October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. It's hard to let it pass me by without saying something. I spent a long time living with shame and guilt. Even after getting pregnant with Kenzie, I experienced that shame. I am 1 in 4. I suffered an (early) miscarriage during our first pregnancy. That's right. Kenzie wasn't actually our first pregnancy. I was due May 10, 2012 with a baby. I will always remember that day. I remember the happy feelings, the excitement, and the fear that came with a first pregnancy. Our happiness didn't last long though. Two weeks to the day after we found out... I started bleeding. Any bleeding in pregnancy is cause for concern but this wasn't just a little bit of blood. There was a lot of pain and with it came a lot of guilt. I might have only been 6 weeks pregnant, but there was a baby. A...

In honor of being just over 2 weeks (stop it!) from Will's 1st birthday, I have been reading his birth story as well as a post I wrote just one day before my water broke and little William Bryant arrived. I realized that this time was so much different than with Kenzie. Allow me to explain... I knew going into Kenzie's birth , that I wanted to TRY an NUCB. (natural unmedicated childbirth for anyone out there  that has never frequented a birth board or forum) but my hopes were dashed almost immediately when we learned that despite being favorable for an induction (my BP shot way up and so it was determined that delivering her was safer than waiting it out), she was frank breech. Yes, turning her was an option... but it isn't always effective or safe. Due to my lack of a medical degree, we elected to rely on my doctor's instincts and do a c-section. I spent a long time mourning my loss at a possible unmedicated birth. Should we have tried the version (turning her)? Sh...

I am now 8 days out from my repeat c-section. Don't worry, I'm not going to bombard everyone with weekly updates postpartum for the next year or so. This will likely be one of my few updates. Maybe one around 6 months if I have anything to report, but I figured I would update everyone on how I am doing. (Again, we have a lot of friends and family that are curious but we don't talk to a lot so that's why I do these posts... If it doesn't interest you, that's fine. No need to read. =)) My section itself went pretty well last Tuesday. Will was delivered safely, but due to his nuchal cord wrapping issue my section wasn't exactly routine. Being that this was already a repeat c-section for me, the initial incisions had to be larger than what would occur for a normal c-section because of already existing scar tissue. The plus is that they were all made on top of previous incisions so I do not have additional incision sites, just a larger incision over what I alre...

Warning: This is a BIRTH story. There are parts of this that might be a bit TMI so be forewarned, if you choose to read it... there might be moments that are a bit too much information for you. Tuesday morning started just like any other morning in the Young house. Steven left for work early, Kenzie was awake but chatting away in her crib, and I was ignoring the fact that she was awake (since she was happy) until 7:30. Just as I always do, I got up right around 7:30 and went to the bathroom before getting ready to prep to get Kenzie up. This is where our lives started to take a turn and deviate from the norm. After I finished going to the bathroom I went to stand up and something else (barely) leaked out. Now, being 9 months pregnant and as of Tuesday, officially 1 week from my due date, my initial thought was that I had actually just peed on myself because I didn't take the time to make sure that I was entirely done. It was weird, yes, but I didn't worry myself too much. I t...

I know I will officially be 39 weeks tomorrow (and yes, I will have my usual weekly "journal" update) but I figured writing some of this out will help me process some and allow me to give an update to my family and friends that keep up with us some through our blog because of the distance (actual land miles distance... not like "we don't talk to each other" distance.) Today was a rough day for me. Let me preface all of this by saying that Will is doing great. =) He is moving appropriately. There is nothing wrong with him in the least, that we are aware of at this point and we will be meeting him very soon. We are super excited about that. However, at my doctor's appointment today, I was hit with some news that doesn't make me happy. Yet... it is what it is and we will make it work. Anyone that I have spoken to about this pregnancy, or anyone that reads and keeps up with us through our blog, knows that my dream for this pregnancy has been to end in a VB...

Baby’s Size: Leek How far along:  38 weeks! Wow, wow, wow! I have made it farther than I did with Kenzie. My BP has held out long enough to (hopefully) continue to allow Will to decide his birthday. I must admit, as each day continues to pass I get a bit disappointed. I so want to meet this little guy but I know what is best for him is to stay in until he is ready. So… we wait. And wait. And wait. I guess one plus to my situation is that I KNOW he will be here by the 24 th . He has no choice. Kenzie keeps asking/telling him to come out, but he just isn’t ready yet.  Total weight gain: Still 23 pounds. I didn’t gain anything this week. That seems sort of remarkable because I have eaten everything I can get my hands on. I guess Will is just using it to beef up and I am not using any of it. Granted, if he is gaining… technically I am losing weight. I will take it. Haha! Sleep:  Not good. No point in talking about it really. It is what it is. I have so much trou...

I feel like before I start this weekly journal recap, I should add that there were times throughout this pregnancy that I really thought I wouldn’t be writing this one… or if I did, that it would be the last one I did. Most of the time though I think I knew in my heart that as long as my blood pressure would hold out, that this wouldn’t be the last one I would write. I, honestly, fully expect to be writing a 40 week journal. Only time will tell for sure, but we are at the point now that I don’t know what will happen. Truth be told, had my BP not shot up with Kenzie, I still feel she would have been late. She always measured about a week behind and I think she was super comfy in there. Will always measures right on time, but I think that he is likely to be really comfy as well and happy to remain where he is. I’m at that very uncomfortable point, but I know that him remaining in there for his full “40 weeks” is what is best for him. My comfort can be sacrificed for a few more weeks. We...

Let me preface this by saying, if you stay through to the end, I promise to explain why this is such a deja vu moment for us. Today we decided to celebrate Nana (my Mom's) birthday. Her birthday is actually Monday but we wanted to have her and Papa (Joe) down for the day to do something fun as we are trying to get in a few last hurrahs before Will arrives and we go on a bit of a hiatus from some things we might normally do this time of the year. This morning Momma (used interchangeably with Nana) and Joe (used interchangeably with Papa) came in and brought Gus, their dog. Jack was so excited to see his best friend. Okay, really it is his only doggy friend. I should have gotten a picture of the two of them together. We all spend the entire day trying to figure out who is who. They are constantly being called by each other's names as they look so very much alike. It is hilarious. Kenzie can actually tell them apart better than any of us. Maybe because she is at their level (h...