The Story of Mary Jo

DISCLAIMER: This is a birth story, so read at your own risk! I'll try not to get too graphic. This little girl has been stressing me out this last month or so of pregnancy - and unfortunately her birth was no different. The plan was for me to be induced at 39 weeks, so my parents came up on Sunday night, the 10th. I already mentioned this but it was nice to have things in order before the big day. We even made a reservation at The Melting Pot and took my parents out to celebrate my Dad's retirement (back in November) - we didn't eat until 8 so I could tuck my kids in bed first. It was a sweet time and I enjoyed my last pregnant meal to the max. Thanks Benne for watching the kids!! 

Congratulations Daddy on your retirement! I hope we look that good when we retire! 

The next morning Steven and I were up and out early, arriving to the hospital at 6:30am. An IV, labwork, Pitocin, Dr. came in and broke my water....finally my contractions got going around 9am. Mom stayed home to get Sadie and Eli off to school, then came to the hospital around 9:30, Daddy stayed home with David and took care of the household the rest of the day. Like all my labors, I progressed slowly. I got my epidural around  1:45pm and it was a good one. I tried to rest some. Mary Jo did great with labor initially, but around 5pm she started having trouble. Like Sadie during labor, her heart rate would decelerate every time I had a contraction. We tried different positions and oxygen. Dr. Richardson came in and determined that her head wasn't positioned right, which is probably why I hadn't fully dilated yet. She stayed with me for the next hour or so (don't think I would have gotten that with any other OB!) and made sure her heart rate stayed up during the contractions. I flipped every which way trying to get her to turn (which is pretty interesting with an epidural dead leg). I was getting pretty anxious and hurting worse and worse but all the sudden it was time to try and push. I've never had to push for long with my other babies but this time I felt like it was important to get her out fast. Thankfully, I did! She was born at 8:18pm, a little blue but she cried right away. Her little cord was short which may have been the problem with her growth and with labor. I was never so thankful to have labor over with! 

  She is my smallest baby by far - 5 pounds, 7 ounces, 18 1/2 inches long. But perfect in every other way! I was smitten immediately. 

Unfortunately, our first night in the hospital had a little more excitement than I would have liked. Mary Jo's blood sugar dropped so I made the emotional decision to give her some formula, feeling pretty sure she would be admitted to the NICU if I didn't. Simultaneously I was having a post-partum hemorrhage, I passed  out in the bathroom about 2am and got another visit from my doctor a couple hours later. After some more IV fluids and meds for me to stop the bleeding, and 2 small bottles of formula for Mary Jo - I was able to get up without passing out and Mary Jo's blood sugar was up. 

Sadie came that morning with my parents (we let her go to school a little late) and she was so excited to meet her. She brought her a homemade card and a couple of her toys. 

 With our rough night I hadn't done much to myself - thankfully Sadie wasn't put off by the IV and pale puffy Mama.  

 Eli and David went to BSF that morning with my mother-in-law, so thankfully I had time to get a shower and look a little more "normal" before the boys came. Eli climbed up on the bed, looked at her, and said "we need to take her home and put her in her crib." After that he didn't pay her much attention. We couldn't even get David to sit for a picture with her, he looked at her in my Mom's arms one time and said "Ew...trash." 

Here we are on Thursday after coming home - this is a good reflection of D's feelings. 

 I can not believe I have 4 children! 

 I am in love with my little sweetness. 

And so is her big sister! She loves to hold her. She's gotten to feed her a bottle, help with bath and diaper changes, and has been pretty helpful. Unfortunately Mary Jo hasn't taken off with the nursing like my other babies did. Her mouth, like the rest of her, is tiny. She was also tongue tied, which I decided to have it clipped. It was much rougher on me than her, I think, and thankfully it has helped with nursing. She's still preferring the bottle but is doing more and more nursing every day - hopefully we'll transition to all nursing in the next few weeks. Right now I'm pumping 3-4 times a day, plus nursing, plus supplementing, so it's pretty exhausting. My Mom stayed with me until yesterday, which was a huge help, by kid # 4 I have learned to accept help in pretty much any form. 

As for the boys they are adjusting fairly well. I can't trust D for a second with her - he isn't mean but his fine motor skills are lacking and he can be pretty rough. He is a little rascal, too, one of his favorite activities is to find her paci and run away with it in his mouth. Eli seems a little indifferent, which is probably typical for a 3 year old boy. He has been a little weepy lately (not as much as me) so I think he is struggling a little more than we realized. Steven took the big 2 kids to Richmond, VA, on Saturday for a trip - he was speaking the next morning at a church there. They ate a ridiculous amount of candy, saw a movie, and had a blast. It was good for Eli to spend that time with his Daddy, and I've tried to squeeze in some 1 on 1 time with him (near impossible). 

I think Mary Jo is going to be the perfect little caboose for this Harrell train. She might be the runt, but she's a sweet little thing. The Lord is so good, and I am beyond blessed to hold these 4 sweet babies in my arms every day. 

Ugly ankles

Pregnancies are so different, it seems. When I was expecting Sadie, my first, I felt great. I remember going to work when I was 40+ weeks (I worked a full 40 hours that week, climbing stairs whenever I had down time), and one of the doctors asked me if I was "showing off" my ankles. I was wearing some closed toe heels to go with my skirt, and I didn't really get it, but obviously I had no swelling. It just took one more baby for me to understand the swelling thing. I was showing Sadie tonight that disgusting "sock dent" that I have at the end of every day, and I said "Sadie, look at Mommy's ankles!" She answered "I can't see them!" She does offer to massage my hands and legs, which is so sweet, and tries to help me up, which is a joke since I weigh probably 5 times what she does. The good news is I think I've at least peaked with my weight - it hasn't changed in the last 3 weeks - and hopefully I will never be that high again!  I have continued to go in to the doctor's office at least twice a week for monitoring since she's supposedly small - and the plan is to be induced next Tuesday, the 12th, unless I go into labor before then. I am having some contractions, but nothing that is going anywhere. I've needed Pitocin with every baby, even my first two who I waited over a week to go into natural labor with, so while I would love to just go into labor and have this little girl a few hours later, it probably would never happen. And there are definite advantages to planning the date - I can get my house clean, do the laundry, plan meals for the week, and make sure my parents are here, etc. Plus, I'm really trying to enjoy my kiddos before chaos begins, Sadie has been doing better this week with her behavior but I'm fully expecing a relapse when the baby comes. And poor D, he is clueless as to how his little world is getting ready to change. Thankfully, he wont remember it. Eli seems ok, pretty excited that his Charlotte grandparents and maybe even cousins might come up when she gets here. I really can't complain, I've figured out how to sleep without making my hands ache too bad, and I can tell she's not huge as I've just started to waddle. Thankfully it's winter so I don't have to actually show my fat ankles to anyone. I will try to be grateful that I have now experienced most of the "joys" of pregnancy, and truly I am thankful. Lord willing I will be holding my sweet girl in my arms in just a few short days, with 3 other little rascals that call me Mommy, and a sweet guy who has made it all possible. The Lord is good!