He's heeeeeere!

Mason Peter Lawless

7lbs 10oz 20in

6/24/11 2:01pm

As planned, Mason joined us via a scheduled C-Section on Fri June 24.

We were surprised however to discover that he was breech and the joke in the OR was that he literally came into the world ass-first. No kidding, he was pulled out ass-first, and once he was brought to the baby table to be cleaned up he peed all over everyone.

 Twice.

 Atta boy!



All went well and the only complication ended up being that I developed a Spinal Headache, which is caused when the needle they use to give the spinal block punctures the dura containing the spinal fluid and causes a small leak of spinal fluid. The loss of volume in your spinal fluid is what causes the headaches and man what a  headache they are.

I have never had a headache so bad in my life.

I finally realized something was wrong on Sunday when I had a headache that just wouldn't go away, even with all the pain meds I was on. Ryan figured out what it was and called his buddies in anesthesia and one of them came to see me. He said the conservative treatment is copious amounts of caffeine and lots and lots of fluids, all while laying flat because the higher up you sit, the faster the fluid leaks out. In fact, laying down almost completely rid me of the headache!

He also said that if that didn't work they can do a procedure called a "blood patch" where they take 20cc's of blood from your arm and inject it into the spine, filling in the space of CSF volume that is missing while the leak heals itself. He said that it's an instant relief once the volume is back to normal.

So I went home on Monday am, and by Monday night I was  experiencing a headache so excruciating I couldn't stop crying, and it was frustrating because I was finally home with my new baby and not only did I have C-section pain, but now I had the mother of all headaches and can't even get off the couch. Talk about feeling like a shitty mother. Thank God my Dad was still here for one more night and was able to deal with diaper changes for 2, yes 2 babies, and a whiny toddler while I wanted to die on the couch. 

Ryan had gone to Philly that night to pick up his Mom at the bus station and when he got home I was practically begging for a blood patch. He called his anesthesia friends again and they said they were short-handed overnight but they would drop what they were doing if Ry wanted to bring me in then and there. We opted to wait it out overnight and go in the morning.

When I woke in the morning I felt better, but still had a headache if I was on my feet for more than a few miutes so we called anesthesia again they said that if it got reallly bad again to just come in and they would do the procedure. To avoid that I had a steady stream of caffeine in my system and laid on my back allllll day. Each day the headache has gotten better and today is the first day I haven't had to lay on the couch at all!! Woo hoo!!!

Things around here are starting to get slightly more back to normal now that I can get up and walk around...Aidan can't quite get away with as much now that I can get up and yell at him haha. I still can't pick him up or lift anything heavier than Mason because of the C-Section, but everyone is helping out and helping to make my life a little bit easier during this crazy transition!

Aidan loves, loves, loves Mason and is always very interested in helping me. He likes to feed him, tell him he loves him, hold him and today he even asked to burp him haha. He even likes to share his toys and when he walks into the room and sees the baby he says all cheerfully:
"oh hi, Mason!"

It still hasn't quite sunk in that we are a family of four now.....

One more day!

So it looks like this will be my last blog entry before Baby Brother's arrival.

The excitement is mounting by the minute around here and my Dad is on his way from NY to stay with Aidan while we head in to the hospital tomorrow morning.

I tried explaining to Aidan that tomorrow I go to the hospital and Baby Brother will come out of my belly and I will be bringing him home to live with us. Not so sure how much he actually understands yet though, only being 23 months old.

Oh, but he'll get it when the baby is home and crying though, won't he? ;)

 

Some favorite moments from this week:

He brought me his easter bunny ears from his toy box, and asked me to put them on. He then looked at me and said "you look good, Mom."

At Katie's baby shower, Tara asked him what was in my belly...and he proceeded to try to lift up my dress while he said "let's open it!"

As I sit here and type, he has a pile of pillows on the couch and he is throwing himself into them squealing with delight. At one point he started having a dialogue with himself, asking a question and then anwering it himself:

 "What's that sound, Mom? Sounds like Aidan. Sounds like Aidan jumping."


Tomorrow begins a whole new Adventure...when we add "Another Munchkin"!
Stay Tuned!!!

A night out and a great honor for Ry

Last night was the annual dinner for the Lehigh Valley Hospital Surgery Department that welcomes the new Interns as well as says goodbye to the graduating Chiefs.

Pretty bittersweet

. Each year as a wife I tend to know more faces and make more acquaintances...just to have them all slowly get ready to leave when their husbands graduate residency.

Ryan has also been very busy working on some research papers and submitting them into contests, and in fact he was recognized last night in front of everyone for the award he won a few weeks ago. This award is apparently quite prestigious and not only did he win a framed certificate, he got a check for $1000 and a chance to present at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress conference in San Francisco in late Oct (which apparently someone at his level of Residency doesn't get the opportunity to do!). From what I was told last night, it's one hell of an honor, and I'm extremely proud of him. His attendings are always "volunteering" him for presentations and research so it's nice to see it all pay off because I swear he is always working on something and being "forced" to go to Philly or Pittsburgh to do presentations at smaller conferences.

We have 2 more years before we're in the residency graduation boat though, so until then we just sit back and enjoy the ride. Once the next 2 years is up Ry will be doing a Trauma Surgery Fellowship and that can be a one year or two year program depending on which hospital he chooses to train at, and then after that we're hoping to come back to the Lehigh Valley, where Ry will be the Trauma Attending. but who knows. So much can change before then...

Meeting Ry's attendings at these functions is always fun too because some of them are quite entertaining. These are men that have been in surgery for longer than I've been around, and they know their stuff, and they have plenty of entertaining stories. Plus since I work in the lab it's nice to be able to put faces with the names of doctors whose labs I work on daily.

To make our night out possible my friend Krysta agreed to come hang out with Aidan for the night. She even brought him presents, of which there were some squirt guns, thus making her the coolest person in his eyes!

Apparently he was on his best behavior for her and when she told him she thought it was time to put his PJ's on and get ready for bed he said OK and headed up the stairs to his room! Haha man he's funny!

I stole these from Krysta:

When he woke up this morning I told him I heard he was a good boy for Krysta and he said "yeah!" and when I asked him what they did he told me all about how they played with the squirt guns (or nerf guns as he refers to them). Then when we got downstairs he looked around and said "Where Krysta go?" I'm glad he was good for her and doubly glad that he had such a good time with her!!!

Thanks again, Krysta!!

Nesting...

With Aidan, I didn't get a chance to go into "nesting" mode. We were in the process of having our house built and were moving into it 2 weeks afer Aidan was born. Thus, the apartment we were living in in Emmaus was full of packed boxes, and Aidan didn't even have a nursery set up!! In fact, all the nursery furniture was still in the boxes it came in.

This time I see what nesting is.

It's a mix of making sure everything the baby needs is ready at home as well as making sure your house is clean and prepped for visitors.

Since I am having a c-section again, this means I will need help for the first 2 weeks afterward (no driving, minimal stairs, and no lifting anything heaveier than my newborn...which sadly includes Aidan :(  ). There will be at least one grandparent in the house at all times for a full 2 weeks. So trying to make sure we have everything they might possibly need while they're here is bunched in with making sure all the stuff is ready to go for baby as well. Will there be enough coffee? Toilet paper? Etc.? Yikes.

Man, am I tiring myself out!

The new bassinet, ready in our room

I forgot how much I hated to wash bottles....

The swing is ready, too. Aidan decided Ducky had to take a test swing today

I'm also hitting that point of the final 1.5 weeks where being on my feet for longer than 15 minutes or so makes my feet throb like you wouldn't believe. My hands are so swollen my joints actually hurt when I bend my fingers. And yesterday to top it all off I had one random swollen ankle when I got home from work. Ry made me kick my feet up in the hopes we could relieve it. He figures maybe the baby was positioned on one of my veins or something. It must have been the case because I woke up today with 2 normal-sized, puff-free ankles. Woo hoo! 

While I had my feet kicked up Ry made porkchops and brown sugar cinnamon apples on the grill. The apples were sooooo yummy!

A Day at the Pool

Jess and I decided to take the boys to the pool on Thursday because we both decided it was too hot to be pregnant!!

Cheese Doodle Break!

Plus, if we took them to a real pool, then we could swim too, which was fabulous. That's right, the 2 preggos and their toddlers must have been quite the sight that day!

It was our first public pool experience, and we couldn't complain. We ended up in Macungie and since school isn't out yet, it wasn't crowded at all.

Both boys had tons of fun, but there was a little play area set up between the baby pool and full size pool that they deiceded they would rather play in, with a little wading pool set up. Seriously guys?

Overheard while on the steps with Aidan in the shallow end:

girl #1: "How old are you?"

girl #2: "I'm four."

girl #1: "I'm six."

Aidan: "I'm seven."

Yup. That's my kid. At least he knows seven comes after six.....

After fun at the pool we took them to McDonalds where they feasted on french fries, hamburgers and chicken nuggets. What a life!

Daddy the Horsie

Ryan was laying on the floor last night when Aidan ran and climbed on his back while yelling "like a horsie, like a horsie!"

And the horsie rides commenced:



After a few instructions on how to hang on so he didn't fall off every time Ry got up, he was a pro.

Out of the mouths of babes.....

Here are some things that Aidan has said recently that have made me chuckle:

While I was doing some sort of task, he praised me with "good job, Mommy"

Today while in his pirate pool he said "I'm habbing fun!"

I told him he needed to go upstairs and take a bath and he started up the stairs and said "I have to hop in da shower"

Eating a PB&J for lunch he kept saying "yummy, tummy, yummy, tummy"  then started trying to sing the Yummy yummy yummy I got love in my tummy song from a TV commercial. He then stated "I sing song 'bout yummy tummy"

Tonight he decided to grab one of my books and lay on his belly "reading" it. When I told him it was time to get ready for bed he said "I'm too busy". I stood there trying not to laugh my ass off and he turned back around and said again "I'm busy, Mommy" and then went back to "reading".

We went to a BBQ at Dr. Rovito's house on Sat, and he proceeded to call him and his wife Dr and Mrs "Dorito".....

While at Kohl's today I told him it was time to go home and he said he didn't want to so I asked him if there was anything else he needed while we were there and he randomly responded with "yeah, a epps you eee" which is "SUV". What??

sick baby

Aidan developed a fever Thursday, and when that happens he becomes the most lethargic sleepy kid ever.

I can tell he's sick when he'll fall asleep in my lap or snuggles up on the couch like this and will watch a movie for an hour without stirring:

After we asked him a couple of times if he was sick, he started walking around the house saying "I'm sick" in a pathetic little voice. It was quite funny actually.

I even had my first "I have to leave work early at the last minute to bring my kid to the Dr. " experience. He was at Michele's and once she told me his fever hit 101.6  it was time to get to the Dr to rule out an ear infection. Good thing he was in good hands while I was at work!

Aaaannnnnd...no ear infection but as far as the doc could tell it is just some sort of virus that'll run its course. Easy for him to say, he doesn't have a whiny clingy toddler at home who keeps asking Mommy to carry him constantly. My poor buddy!

Last night he insisted he had to have his "big pluto" as well as his "baby pluto" in bed with him. When Ry and I went up to bed this is what we found: