Morning Adventures

We take a break in my storytelling to tell you about my adventurous morning:

7:07: wake up Trey to feed him before going to daycare

7:25: Trey finishes eating, but he had pooped while eating (as is his MO) so I changed his diaper

7:27: I’m gathering stuff and while gathering stuff Trey poops. Again.

7:28: Change poopy diaper

7:29: While walking out the door Trey spits up a tiny bit on me and him, not enough to warrant a change of clothing, out the door we go.

7:32: while buckling Trey into his car seat he spits up. Everywhere. All over his clothes, all over his car seat. And because I don’t need the diaper bag for daycare (they have everything there) I have nothing to wipe it up. Find a sweater of Lindy’s to mop up said spit up. Trey is soaked.

7:34: Trek upstairs to get Trey changed.

7:38: While walking downstairs Trey spits up a tiny bit. Again. All over me. My white kimono thing is now shot for the day. So much for feeling put together. **Note to self: don’t let Trey eat for so long without burping half way through…..**

7:42: Arrive to daycare 15-20 minutes later than I usually do. Can’t hand Trey off to person who usually takes him. She tells me to go to the other room. That teacher can't take my baby because she has a baby. "Baby room" teacher arrives. Follow her to the room, but she has her arms full so I take off my sandals (no shoe policy for the baby room) and put Trey in the swing, buckle him in and he smiles and giggles as I walk away.

7:50: Finally on the road to work.

It was quite the morning my friends. Quite the morning.

that one time I had a baby PART TWO

So. March 28, 2016. I decided to start my maternity leave this day so that I could have a couple of days to pull myself together and be ready to have a baby. Part of me was really glad to know the exact date this little guy was going to make his appearance, but I had really wanted to go into labor on my own.


I was in charge of planning our anniversary celebrations (we switch off each year) and had decided to schedule a couple's massage. This turned out to be a GREAT thing seeing as how it was the day before I had a baby. It was wonderful. I also saw my midwife one last time this day for monitoring, the next time I saw her I would be having a baby!!


March 29, 2016 was a beautiful day. After Allan got off work I decided I really didn't want to cook dinner. I also REALLY wanted chips and salsa from Chile's. So we drove down to the Chile's by the hospital where I would be delivering. I think I mostly ate chips and salsa, and they were divine. We then drove over to the hospital to get all checked in and our amazing doula, Bonnie, met us there.


Bonnie was amazing. I loved having her as my doula. We met her through our hypnobabies course that we took to prepare for the birth of our little man and I knew shortly after we started that class that I wanted Bonnie as my doula. She visited with us for a little bit as I got prepped and then they inserted a drug called Cervidil inserted up by my cervix. This drug was to start softening my cervix and (fingers crossed!) get labor going. Stacie said I was a "soft one" when she inserted the Cervidil which was better than the week before when I was barely a one. Bonnie warned that we could be in for a long night and that we should just go to bed and reminded us to call her when we were ready for her to come back. We didn't listen and instead played a few card games and watched Jimmy Fallon and tried to go to bed around 11 pm.


I say tried because about 11 pm the contractions started. These contractions weren't that hard, they were just very uncomfortable. The nurse brought me a ball after I requested it. Allan kept trying to catch some sleep and every hour or two I would wake him up for some support. These contractions were coming every 3-5 minutes and were so uncomfortable it was hard to sleep. At 2 am I called my nurse and asked her to check me. I had put into my birth plan that I wanted to be left alone and I'd ask for checks - but I wanted them to be limited. I was declared to be a "two." I continued to labor through the night, tried to find a good birthing position but nothing was jiving. I am not sure when Allan called Bonnie, but he called her and she came. At this time it was shift change for the nurses and I was told the Cervidil would be removed soon.


Bonnie arrived and they took out the Cervidil. I was still a "two" which kind of deflated me. Bonnie was an angel. She helped talk me through some options and it was decided I would have a short break before they put me on Pitocin (which was part of the induction plan from the beginning). I was able to take a bath and sitting in that deep tub was the best part of my labor. Allan went to get breakfast and Bonnie stayed with me and helped provide counter pressure and read some of they hypnobaby scripts.


Allan returned and the Pitocin drip started. I was on a VERY small dose and the contractions started to get harder. Bonnie was applying counter pressure on my hips during a contraction at one point and she and I both felt and heard a "pop." I then though I had to pee...come to find out my water had broken as it kept trickling out. I got up on the bed and found my side to be the most comfortable but I was SO tired. I hurt all over and was thinking I couldn't do this anymore. It was about 9:45 or so at this point (I think, times are all a blur to me) and Bonnie and I started talking pain management. I knew I didn't want an epidural, but I needed something because I thought I had many, many more hours of laboring. I believe we settled on a dose of something (Demerol maybe?) but in order to get it I had to be checked first. My laboring noises had changed (I guess) and Bonnie thought that I might be starting to push. So the nurse checked me and said something along the lines of "oh! Your baby is right there you can do this!" So no pain management for me, baby was on his way! This was about 10 am I believe.


I followed my body and pushed when it told me. I don't remember everything Bonnie said, but I remember Allan repeating what she said and that bringing me a lot of comfort. There started to be a lot of action in the room with other nurses coming in and such and then Stacie arrived. At one point the nurse was worried that Stacie wouldn't make it! Stacie let me do my thing and said reassuring things. At one point she told me to reach down and I'd feel baby's head and that was a crazy experience! Moments later my sweet little boy was out and on my chest. He had SO MUCH HAIR!!!


Michael Allan Ambrose III was here and our little Trey (his new nickname based off being the "third") had made it safely in just 2.5 hours from the time I started to progress. He was a speed demon!

7lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long....

 We did it!

Soon after he was born though it became apparent that Trey was having a hard time breathing so he was whisked off to the NICU. I wasn't allowed to go anywhere as I had some significant tearing and was losing a lot of blood. Things get really hazy here, but I remember Allan going off with Trey and Bonnie staying with me.  They put me under because the pain was getting to be unbearable. Come to find out I lost one liter of blood. The next few days would be an adventure....stay tuned for Part Three....

that one time when I had a baby PART ONE

Hi friends. It's been a long, long time. Blogging kind of ran away from me, but I really want to try to be better. Again. I can do this friends, I really can.....and starting now I'm making a new plan. I'm not going to try and go back. Go look at Instagram and that will tell my life. We'll start from now and see how life treats me. Maybe blogging isn't my thing anymore....but I would really like it to be a thing still in my life. So we'll try again.


Let's start with the whole having a baby thing. I love reading birth stories. I think they're fun. So here's mine. It won't be crazy gory, but it won't be G rated either. You've been warned.


In order to tell you my birth story we have to go back a few weeks to March 14, 2016. I was 34 weeks and 4 days. The past several days I had been EXTREMELY itchy. I had had this itch in February, but it only last a couple of days and I attributed it to being too hot at times. (My office was SO hot while I was pregnant. I had to get a little desk fan!) In February I mentioned the itchiness to my midwife and she said "and you probably read about ICP on the internet" I affirmed that I had and she asked if the itchiness was on my hands and feet and I said no. She said to watch it, and if it came back to come in immediately....don't wait!


So, back to March 14th. I had been itchy all weekend. The night before I could barely sleep I was so itchy. My soles of my hands and feet itched, a classic sign of ICP. I decided to go in that very day to see my midwife even though I had my 36 week appointment the next week. I went in and told Stacie (my midwife) what I was feeling. She put me on the monitor to check on baby (he was doing GREAT!) and then ordered a full blood work panel to check for ICP. There are two parts to this test, one would have results (that would either show, you might have ICP or you don't have ICP) the next day and the other would take several days depending on the lab.


The next day Stacie called me to tell me that the first test showed I could have ICP and that we'd have to wait for the second test to come back. So I sat and waited. That Friday, the 18th my dear friend Becky came into town so we could play and she could throw a baby shower with my sister BreeAnn. Shortly after I got home, just as I was saying hi to her Stacie called me. My levels of bile were very high and she confirmed that I had ICP. She wanted me to go to a specialist ASAP so that he could give permission for an induction. See, with ICP there isn't really an danger to mom (except for the insane itchiness) but it causes several risks for the baby. They always recommend an induction by 37 weeks. We had to move quickly. I was SO GLAD Becky was around. We went out and got a mani/pedi which turned into my pre-baby mani/pedi and we went shopping and ate yummy food. We had a grand time and it was nice to have the distraction.


I met with the specialist on Monday and he confirmed the ICP diagnosis, they did an ultrasound of baby and he looked fantastic! I had an appointment later that day with Stacie and we talked induction. We set the date to start induction on the evening of Tuesday the 29th. The day after our 3-year anniversary. I would come in later that week for monitoring and then again the day before my induction. I was starting to come to terms with everything, but basically had a week to get my life in order before my sweet baby made his appearance.


This is getting long....stay tuned for part two. :D