adventures of a 2 Month Old

There are times when i can't believe I am doing this thing called motherhood. It's crazy to me that I am responsible for someone else. Pregnancy seems but a dream away now.

But then the majority of time I forget what life was like before Harvey and I can't imagine our family without him.

We had our 2mo. appointment at the doctor last Wednesday: 11 lbs. 3 oz. 23.25 in. long. He is growing great and moving on up in the world ;) Luckily he hasn't outgrown all of his 0-3 mo. clothes but unfortunately slowly but surely each day I put something else away that he can't wear anymore.

He's a blessing and a joy each day he smiles more and is awake more taking in everything around him. I have to say our lives pretty dang awesome with this little man in it!

One Month 

Two Months

in love with this cute boy!

adventures of birth

Having now been a mom for about 2 months (exactly as of Wednesday), I HAVE to write down his birth story. It's been on my list for a couple of weeks now so here it is.

This was the greatest thing I have ever done. I can't get over the incredible miracle of bringing a life into the world. There are days when I have to remind myself that we did it. We made a human being and he is ours forever.

On Wednesday December 11th Troy and I were scheduled to go to the hospital at 5:30pm to begin the induction process. I won't go into how chaotic but unchaotic the day was. We had an appointment with the specialist at 10am that morning. the last one. We saw our baby boy for the last time on the monitor and he was doing well. We went home and Troy went back to work as I set about the last preparations to bring our baby home. It was very surreal. It hadn't sunk in yet that this is what we were doing. I don't know what it feels like to have labor come on and I never will because I will always have to have my deliveries scheduled but I can tell you I knew in my mind what was about to happen and I began to get nervous. When this happens I normally get quiet and don't do anything. I don't know why I just can't focus on anything but this time was different I felt peaceful and I took a shower and loaded the car and waited for Troy to get home.
When Troy got home we were already late (luckily the hospital is ten minutes from us) but I was trying not to panic.

We got to the hospital at around 5:45 and it was like we were the only people there. Hardly anyone was on the L&D floor. We checked in and immediately got set up with the whole process of changing into a gown the 45000 question game and IVs being placed. At around 6:30 my doctor came in to place the catheter. Now I was already dilated to a 3 and about 60% effaced and while his head was down it wasn't as far as the doctor wanted. So he put the foley catheter in (probably one of the more uncomfortable things Ive ever had done). Before he left he told us that the nurse would give me the first dose of cytotec at 10pm and the second dose at 2am and then I would start pitocin at 9:30am. Basically we were in for an incredibly long 48 hours.

But this is not what happened. I started having contractions about an hour after the catheter was in (not intense but enough that I was beginning to get uncomfortable). At 10 I got the cytotec and then I was definitely uncomfortable. I was told that they could give me some pain medication for management but the medication they wanted to give me I didn't want (having had a bad reaction previously). I would like to tell you that I stuck to this but my contractions increased and were pretty intense and I wanted to sleep at some point so I asked for the pain medication and the sleeping pill the doctor prescribed that lasted until about 2am when my water broke.
What a strange feeling that was. It was difficult for me to grasp what had happened. Did I wet the bed? No, ok thats definitely my water. I called the nurse and said I think my water broke. And she goes um yep guess you don't need that second dose. At this point my contractions were so strong that I was having to focus on my breathing through them. They felt like literally the worst menstrual cramps I've ever had! I wanted the epidural but was told initially I couldn't get it until 10 the next morning! I had been on lovenox throughout my pregnancy and heparin the last 2 weeks before I delivered and my last dose was yes at 10 am Wednesday morning. This was a problem because they are pretty hesitant about giving you an epidural if any blood thinners are left in the body, but the anesthesiologist was ok with it and at about 2:30am I got an epidural. What an incredible relief I was able to sleep for about an hour when the nurse came in and told me there were fetal heart dips (i forget the correct term) but basically his heart rate would get very low and so she had me on my side switching every 15-30 minutes. I would have been more worried had I not been half asleep. Then at 5am the nurse came in and checked me again and she told me she could see his hair we were ready to start pushing!

I woke Troy up and told him he was coming! They called the doctor and got everything ready and at 5:30am I started pushing and at 6:21am Harvey James Richey was born at 6 pounds 1.7oz (11oz off of what the specialist thought he would weigh) 19.75 inches long and beautiful beautiful beautiful!

I want to mention at this point that Troy and I had been praying for MONTHS that my body would be ready to give birth that everything would go smoothly with the labor and delivery and that our baby would be healthy and strong. Every prayer was answered ten fold! We are so incredibly grateful that everything went so smoothly and that there were no problems or issues!

I know this isn't edited or proofread but incredibly raw. As I type this I am at the computer with the ergo baby carrier looking down at my sleeping boy, and my heart is so incredibly full! I have so much love in my heart for my boys! I feel incredibly blessed to have this sweet baby boy and a supportive loving husband by my side.

adventures of the last 4(ish) weeks

These last couple weeks have been really great. I  felt great! The little one was moving a lot and I loved it! I was getting a ton of stuff done,  and then it hit...

I am not sure what to call it maybe a fluke but I have been  exhausted. Like take multiple naps and still go to bed at 10 or 11 and wake up at 8:30 or 9 kind of exhausted. I have not been sleeping well and it gets progressively worse. I am also getting more nervous about the delivery/labor because there are a whole basket full of unknowns. Especially with my "condition", "issue" whatever you want to call it there is not a this is how it may go it could go all sorts of different ways which terrify the type A planner aheader me.

Anyway I have had to relax a lot. Because I can get extremely worked up about that and everything else that you could possibly think of. Needless to say a lot of prayers at all hours of the day have been offered.
It Helps.
It brings me peace when I literally have none left.
It keeps me sane and clear headed.
Although I can't control anything...
(except for my apartment... let's just say organized and reorganized repeat over and over again)
prayer is my peace mechanism right now and I know that's all I can do.

So the next four weeks I'm praying and waiting and organizing and cleaning.
because in the end all I want is a healthy, strong baby who we already love a million times over.

adventures of the stackable boxes DIY

So I have had these acrylic/lucite/ I have no clue what they are made out of boxes since I was a sophmore in college (the first time ;) ).
They were kinda ugly and I used them as shelving in my dorm and shelving in my first apartment and you get the idea basically I used them as shelving.
My mom actually gave these boxes to me she got them at a sample sale when she worked at Limited Brands. They have been the best investment yet.
Anyway Troy kept wondering why we had them and kept asking if we could get rid of them.
I knew they had a purpose somewhere down the line and lucky I stuck to my guns (and lucky there was a large apathetic hurdle he had to get past) because they are perfect for Harvey's room.
So here we have ugly boxes need something to do with them and I don't want to spend one more cent on his room then I have to (just wait for the reveal I am pretty proud of his on the cheap but chic nursery if I do say so myself).
It took me forever to figure out what to do with them but they turned out so great!

Here is how it went down:
PS this project is so super easy and really cheap (if you already have boxes to paint).

2 jars of sample paint from home depot--- any color gloss whatever you can do whatever your heart desires.
Paint brushes from the thrift store like $2.00 max
boxes
And patience

All you do is paint. I painted only the outside and bottom of the boxes because I his things will be in these and I am experiencing large amounts of paranoia about toxins and the baby right now. I pray that will fade.

This project took a couple days because I had limited drying space so I could only paint 1 maybe 2 at a time.

Before:

And After:

They look so great and I can't wait to fill it with all the great baby stuff he'll need.

Adventures of Fabric Garland DIY

I found this great blog via brickyard buffalo called Little Miss Momma. Can I just say that she is fantastic. I love her style and her DIY are really easy and not super time consuming to do.
So I decided I wanted to make her fabric Garland.
They are super easy like took me a couple hours to do.
I made one big one using 6 different fabrics and ended up cutting it in half and putting half in Harvey's room and half in our room.
They look so great!
I can't even describe to you how much I absolutely love it!!
Follow her directions because that is all I did.
So easy for a quick pick me up for any room.

The only thing I wish I would have done differently is buy cheaper fabric.
The cost ended up being more than I wanted but I am so happy with the end product that I can't stay mad for long ;) )

adventures of the maternity shot

There are few things in life that make me feel more awkward that taking pictures of myself.
 But I would much rather do it than ask Troy because then I would still be taking that same shot I asked for two weeks ago.
He is rather a perfectionist when it comes to pictures.
Anyway I sent my sister an email with pictures of what I look like as a pregger. (She's in Taiwan on a mission so I wanted to make sure she saw the infinite lovely that is Rauchelle pregnant).
As I sent them to her I felt like an idiot.
I'm not sure why but I did.
again it goes back to my loathing of the so called "selfie"
But I figured if I sent them to her I should share them with all of you. (the three of you that read this ;) )
So here you go.

The pictures progress as follows: 22 weeks, 27 weeks, 29ish weeks.
As of tomorrow I am 31 weeks which means I have between 7-8 weeks left (because they are taking me early).
I get a little anxious when I think about it because its going so fast right now.
We are so excited to meet little Harvey James. He will most definitely be our favorite.

Adventures of Bedrest

No pictures yet again... someday I will get the hang of this.

As can be assumed from the title I was on bed rest last week and the week before. Although I am up now and allowed to be moving around I have been an emotional wreck and not in a good way.
My poor husband...
Before I got pregnant I knew that it wasn't sunshine and daisies, that your body changes drastically and your hormones  are literally a roller coaster of highs and lows. I knew this...really I did...but it doesn't make going through it any easier.
I have been frustrated with my body.
Like super frustrated
I believed that I would run through my pregnancy and workout so that I would be healthy and my baby, my dear sweet baby, would be healthy
But instead I have exercised a total of 15 times for the past 5 months was deathly ill for the first 2 and a half months and now after 2 weeks of feeling great I was put on bed rest.
I was mad at my body that it couldn't withstand the stress of pregnancy, that it wasn't strong enough.

Then in the midst of my anger and frustration the other day it came to me that I should be grateful for my body. This wonderful gift from my Father in Heaven and I have been cursing it. I realized that I would be ok. That if I was on bed rest for the rest of my pregnancy it would be ok, that my baby boy comes first.
So I repented and have tried to have a better attitude.
My belly is bigger and I love it. I love feeling the twitches of my little one
Although some mornings I wake up so frustrated because I hardly slept I am grateful that I am constantly up and down because hopefully this is preparing me for the many sleepless nights that lie ahead.
So at this point I am not on bed rest but I am ok with whatever happens next.