Nashville Wife

Lifestyle Blog | Recipes | Home Decor | Money Saving | DIY Wedding Planning

Kids

Baby’s 1st Zoo Trip

by 40 Comments

Spring has arrived, and the weather has finally warmed up! The three of us took a family trip to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere in honor of my birthday. Of course, Little Buddy’s vision is still developing, so he definitely couldn’t see the animals, but it was still an exciting milestone. Soon after we arrived, he decided that he needed to eat, but thankfully I had thought ahead and brought a bottle so we didn’t have to find a place to nurse. Mr. Handsome carried him and fed him while we walked.

Nashville Zoo

By the time we reached the rhinos, he had finished eating and immediately fallen asleep.

He completely missed the kangaroo exhibit, which is my favorite. It’s pretty much a kangaroo petting zoo. You walk into an enclosure that contains about a dozen kangaroos, and if they walk up to you or are near the path, you are allowed to reach out and pet them. Most of them were sleeping, but we were able to take a picture with one that was awake (see top photo). He was standing beside the path near the exit, almost as if he wanted his picture taken. And lo and behold, everyone stopped on their way out to take advantage of the photo op.

We thoroughly enjoyed our family trip to the zoo. It had been two-and-a-half years since Mr. Handsome and I had been (remember my post from October 2016?) My mother-in-law bought us a one-year membership for my birthday, so we look forward to many more trips. As the year progresses, I am looking forward to watching Little Buddy begin to recognize the animals. Maybe by this time next year he will be naming them!

Bringing Home Baby

by 36 Comments

In January, I posted my birth story in a series of three posts. In case you haven’t had a chance to read it, I’ll include the links at the bottom of this post. At the end of part three, I was in a wheelchair on my way to the room where we would be for the remainder of our hospital stay. By that point, Little Buddy was two hours old, and I had been in the hospital for over 24 hours.

I spent the rest of that day (day two of our hospital stay) taking short naps, while Mr. Handsome slept on the couch and Little Buddy slept in his bassinet. From the get-go, our baby had a difficult time nursing. The hospital had wonderful lactation consultants available around the clock, which was a huge help. When Little Buddy was too fussy to breastfeed, they helped me pump and feed him with a plastic syringe. I was shocked to learn that when babies are born, they can only drink a few milliliters of milk, but their stomach capacity grows each day.

My mother-in-law was around for the five days and four nights that we were in the hospital. She spent the nights on my brother-in-law’s couch and the days with us. I was exhausted, but I didn’t really know it because I was on such an adrenaline high. The maternity ward nurses were all so kind and down-to-Earth, and they all wore hot pink scrubs, which made the whole experience of having a baby feel even more “feminine” than it already was….

Read More

Baby’s 1st Day Out

by 46 Comments

Another blog post from Mr. Handsome…

Little Buddy just crossed the six-week mark, so his immune system is strong enough to where we feel comfortable taking him out in public. What better place to begin than church? You know, train up a child in the way he should go sort of thing? What could go wrong?

Well for starters, Ellie and I suffer from a chronic condition that is scientifically known as Interval Arrival Malposition Syndrome.” Basically the interval of time at which we arrive at church tends to be about 10-15 minutes later than the interval of time everyone else arrives at church and starts the service.

Ellie has been asking some questions to try to understand the reason for this arrival malposition, which I think you will all agree are completely unhelpful. For example, a question she may ask is, “Mr. Handsome, why are you just now starting to cook a 4 course breakfast when we need to be leaving for church in 20 minutes?” Or “Mr. Handsome, why didn’t you move the wash that contains all your church clothes to the dryer last night?” Or “Mr. Handsome was it completely necessary to run the car out of gas last night?” I am sure you all see that these questions are completely unrelated and unhelpful for the diagnosis and treatment of Interval Arrival Malposition Syndrome.

I’m sure it will be a shock to you all, but having a child in no way helps cure Interval Arrival Malposition Syndrome, and in fact it can make it quite a bit worse. We’ll just say there were several dirty diapers, spitup on the new bed, lack of sleep from the night before, and a hungry baby to blame. Of course soiling a perfectly good outfit didn’t help matters either, but I suppose young men are known to make a mess. I mean how, can I be blamed for spilling maple syrup all over my shirt when the pancake was really at fault for not absorbing it well enough?  Well anyway, long story short, our church starts service at 9:30am, and we arrived promptly at 11:15.

Thankfully, Sunday school starts at 11, so we jumped full throttle into the discussion. When I say we, I mean Little Buddy, who added various burps, belches, and crying sounds to help illustrate the depravity of man without Jesus. After a few minutes, Little Buddy was so moved by the lesson and became so overcome with emotion that I had to take him out into the hallway so he wouldn’t distract others with his crying. Crying soon led to screeching, and I discovered that the cause was in fact a dirty diaper. I thought, ‘Okay, no big deal, Daddy can take care of this,’ and I went into the men’s restroom to find a changing table. …

Read More

Birth Story, Part 3

by 109 Comments

A few days ago, I shared part two of my birth story. Here is part three…

I pushed for about 30 minutes (three long pushes and then a minute of rest) with only the nurse and midwife and Mr. Handsome in the room. For the final 40 minutes, a few other medical staff arrived, including a nurse who would tend to the baby and a doctor from the same practice that the midwife worked at.

The midwife was very encouraging and continuously told me that everything was going well and that I was doing great. Looking back, however, I have a feeling that the fact that she brought in a doctor at the end meant that she thought there was a decent chance there would be complications. I’m very glad that no one told me that while I was delivering and that I was too out of it to figure it out for myself.

Pushing with an epidural wasn’t too painful, but it was still a lot of work, and there was a lot of pressure. Mr. Handsome held my hand and talked me through each push. I was so grateful that the baby’s vitals remained strong–that was one less thing to worry about. The process was more calm than I had expected, and the midwife and nurse did a great job keeping me relaxed and focused. When the baby finally arrived and I heard his first cry, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Suddenly, all my fears of having a C-section or the baby having to be whisked away to the NICU had melted away. He was big, but he was healthy and happy.

Mr. Handsome cut the cord, and the midwife laid the baby on my chest. After a few minutes, the nurse asked if she could take him over to the scale in the corner to weigh and measure him, and I said yes. Mr. Handsome followed and took pictures. Baby was 8 pounds 12 ounces and measured 21 inches long. Within a couple minutes, he was back with me. It took about an hour for the midwife and doctor to finish stitching. Needless to say, I was very thankful for that epidural! My emotions were a mess, and I bawled the entire time. I tried to focus on the beautiful baby in my arms, but it was difficult not to think about the discomfort that the stitching was causing. …

Read More

Birth Story, Part 2

by 65 Comments

In part 1 of my birth story (Click here to read), I left off right as the nurse midwife broke my water. The actual breaking of the water was quick and fairly pain free, but almost immediately afterwards, the contractions became very painful. When she broke my water, I was about 3-4 centimeters dilated, but within about an hour, I was in full-blown labor. The contractions were less than one minute apart, and I couldn’t think about anything else but breathing through them.

Mr. Handsome was a strong rock through it all. He encouraged me through every contraction and reminded me to breathe. I tried to stay calm, but it sure wasn’t easy. Because I was hooked up to an IV pumping pitocin into my body, I spent most of the time just standing by the hospital bed. I was so overwhelmed by the pain that I couldn’t even begin to think about trying other positions.

My goal was to do a natural birth without any pain medications. In general, I try to avoid drugs whenever possible, and I didn’t want to take on the risks associated with an epidural. After a few hours of intense contractions, I was sure it wouldn’t be long before the baby arrived. Unfortunately, both the nurse and the nurse midwife told me it would likely be another several hours. At that point, I hadn’t eaten in almost 24 hours and was completely exhausted. The midwife suggested that I consider an epidural so I could catch some sleep and my body could relax and dilate while I rested.

It was honestly very difficult to make such a big decision while I was in so much pain, but I ended up accepting the epidural. Within 20 minutes, the nurse anesthetist had arrived and I had signed the paperwork. The insertion of the epidural was painful and created an odd sensation, but within minutes, my body was relaxed, and I was able to lie down….

Read More

Birth Story, Part 1

by 44 Comments

First off, I want to say thank you for all the support, well wishes, and prayers that you all have provided throughout my pregnancy. Being pregnant was a special time, but I’m so glad to have it all behind me and to have my baby in my arms. Waking up the morning after the birth without feeling nauseous and being able to brush my teeth without gagging was an incredible feeling!

Two weeks ahead of my due date, my blood pressure started creeping up. One week before, I spent a few hours in the hospital on monitors before I was released to go home. A couple days later, it was still high, so the nurse midwife scheduled an induction for the following day. She had also performed an ultrasound to make sure that Baby was doing well (which he was, praise God). The bad news was that he was measuring around 9 lbs, give or take about a pound. All the doctors and nurse midwives at the practice were shocked that I was “hiding” such a large child. I can only imagine how big he would have gotten if he had arrived two weeks overdue!

On the day of the induction, I had to fast starting at 3am, so I woke up and made myself a cheese sandwich. I understand that’s a bit of an odd thing to eat at 3am, but it was all that my tired self could come up with. We arrived at the hospital eight hours later, and the midwife started the induction drugs by 12pm. She started slow because I was only dilated 1 cm at that point. For the rest of the afternoon, my contractions slowly became stronger but were not yet painful, so Mr. Handsome’s mom and sister-in-law kept us distracted with games and conversation. The nurses were very kind and popped in frequently to make sure I was comfortable. I was surprised by all the menial tasks that they were eager to do for us, such as refilling our water bottles, fetching snacks, and re-positioning my pillows. They truly were there to serve their patients, rather than just monitor the medical side of things.

During those initial hours, the most difficult part was not being able to eat anything but clear liquids. By the time the baby arrived, I had fasted for 30 hours! I drank all-natural ginger ale to keep my stomach from becoming queasy and consumed who knows home many cups of Jello and bowls of chicken broth. Throughout the day, I felt my brain slowly becoming foggier, likely a combination of the drugs and a lack of food, so my mother-in-law ran to the store and bought saltine crackers. It wasn’t technically “allowed,” due to the risk of having food in the stomach if a C-section became necessary, but Mr. Handsome agreed that a few crackers wouldn’t hurt. And they really did help a lot!

Around 8pm, the midwife announced that it was time to break my water. At that point, Mr. Handsome was in the waiting room eating pizza that his dad and brother had made, but he rushed in to hold my hand.

To Be Continued…