Mac Davis Jones Delivery

We were so excited to meet our little man, and anxious for him to get here safe and sound.  At my 38 week appointment, my measurements were offering cause for concern.  My belly hadn't grown since week 36.  Our doc, Dr. Heinrichs, ordered an ultrasound just to be safe.  I was able to get in for an ultrasound that afternoon, and it didn't assuage our fears.  Baby boy was measuring about 5 lbs. 13 oz, which was okay, but his tummy was measuring in the less than 5%.  Because his belly was so tiny they weren't sure whether my placenta was still providing nourishment, or what exactly was up, but they were concerned.  The options were to induce me that day… yikes.  Not what I had planned for nor was I expecting.  Option two was to go home, come in every other day for tests, rest, and I was to monitor his movements, plus a scheduled induction at 39 and 3.  Matt wasn't with me at the appointment, so we discussed at home and decided to go with Plan B.  We were pretty shaken though.  Feeling guilty, like our little man was being starved inside my belly.  Also, concerned that there was a chance that things could really go awry and he wouldn't make it.  The stats they were giving us were making us pretty upset.  It was a difficult week and three days.

Sunday night, March 30, we were scheduled to come to the hospital at 8 pm to get things going.  I called at 6 pm, and they told me they were full, to just keep calling back.  This was pretty frustrating/heart breaking considering we were so anxious on numerous levels, I was uncomfortable and emotional as well.  My parents were in town, and planned to sleep in our bed since we were heading into the hospital.  So last minute I was washing sheets and trying to figure everything out.  I kept calling back to the hospital, until 11:30 pm, when they said I could come in… but we decided to wait and call in the morning.

Monday March 31, I called at 6 am - hadn't really slept, and was still just so anxious to get things going.  It was a hard way to start labor; upset, nervous for the baby's health, and exhausted.  They started the induction with a pill that was supposed to soften the cervix and start dilation.  They gave me one, then four + hours later they gave me another.  We kind of hung around watched a movie, worked a little on the computer… and just waited.  About 10 hours had gone by at this point.  They weren't able to give me the third bill because my contractions were happening too frequently, but my cervix wasn't dilated to match the frequency of contractions.  It was starting to get a little frustrating, and I couldn't really sleep because people kept coming in and out, the pain was starting, and I was all hyped up to meet our wee one.

Late Monday night we reviewed our options.  We were on the second round of staff, new nurse, new mid-wife, and our doc hadn't arrived yet.  They tried to insert a plastibell to encourage dilation.  ouch.  Not a fan.  They tried twice, and couldn't get it in.  So finally, we landed on a drip of pitosin through the night.  I tried to get some rest, but the pitosin drip was starting major cramps, they had to put me on oxygen because baby's heart rate was starting to drop without it, plus the needle in my arm.  All made for pretty uncomfortable sleep, if any.  I don't mean to sound negative, I'm just trying to remember how incredibly exhausted I was even going into the hard labor.

First thing Tuesday morning, my water broke naturally.  I heard it.  It was weird.  The nights cramping and contractions were incredibly uncomfortable, but the hard labor started then.  I escalated from a 0 to a 5 pretty quickly.  I was able to take a bath in the jacuzzi tub, which was nice between contractions, but the pain was still there.  I didn't take a hypnobirthing class, but I did read a book on it, practiced a ton of yoga and meditation… I guess I'm a little soft, because at this point we were 24 or so hours into the process and I was in incredible pain.  Matt and Lyza the midwife were encouraging me, lighting essential oils, rubbing my back, etc… which all helped the experience.

At this point, I decided I was comfortable with the epideral.  I was always open to the idea, but wanted to feel labor, and not miss the experience.   By now I had felt like I had felt labor.  The epideral was johnny on the spot, and the technician did a great job.  I could still move my legs, feel the pressure, and feel the delivery - without being in so much pain.  I don't regret the decision.

After the epideral everyone wanted me to try and rest and get some sleep, but I felt so much pressure there was no way I could've slept.  I didn't know that pressure meant the baby was close, I just knew I was too uncomfortable to sleep.  I mentioned as much to the midwife, and she checked me, and I was fully dilated and ready to push.  So after 28.5 hours of labor, I got an epideral an hour and a half before our little dude got here.

The doc came in, our mid-wife was there as well as a nurse.  Matt scrubbed up, and got ready to catch. I started pushing and 20-30 minutes later our perfect, healthy, beautiful, little angel arrived.  It truly is a miraculous process, and I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it.  I know when we had so much trouble getting pregnant and keeping the baby one of the things that made me so sad was seeing babies in commercials or friends photos just after delivery when they are put on the mothers chest.  I started to think that was something I would never experience.  I'm pretty fortunate to say that's not the case.

 Mr. Mac Davis Jones - 5 lb 15 oz.  12:36 pm. 

Matt caught Mac when he was born.  Here he is with our wonderful doctor Gretchen Heinrichs who helped me through the whole process… former miscarriages, getting and staying pregnant and delivery. 

Getting Pregnant (a much more exciting title than the copy actually reads, sorry to disappoint)

I've been wanting to post for a while about our sweet, precious, new little man who joined us on April 1, but it's been such a long time coming that the thought of sitting down and writing this is incredibly daunting.  How far back do I go?  How much detail do I include?  Is this an outlet to share our story with others (the three family members who check this blog, who likely already know our story), or a record of our feelings and experience for us?  Or maybe both?  I don't know, this might be an un organized hodge podge of emotions and boring details, but here goes.

Matt and I got married in May of 2001.  We were young, but when it's right, it's right.  We always knew we wanted kids, but were fine experiencing life, traveling, working, and having all kinds of adventures before we decided to start "trying" to have little ones.  I think when we first got married we said we'd try for kids in 2-3 years, 8 or so years into our marriage we decided to "not prevent".  We actually got pregnant pretty quickly the first time, but miscarried at about 7-8 weeks, in March of 2009.   We were incredibly disappointed, but surprised to learn how many people experience miscarriages, how common they are, and that it likely was the case of something being wrong with the fetus.  There was a lot of tears and heartache, but we moved on and understood it to be "right".  After that, we decided to start trying, and not just prevent.  Over a year went by and we were incredibly disheartened. I did have a positive home pregnancy test, which was followed by two tests at the hospital that were negative, and then an incredibly painful period where I laid on the floor crying and vomiting.  Good times.  It's too bad that getting the news that you're not pregnant includes physical and mental pain - there's gotta be a better method for that.

After that, we went into the hospital to try to figure out what was up (actually a few hospitals, and got the run around a bit, all in all it was frustrating, but probably not worth going into).  This just added to the frustration, because they couldn't find anything.  Matt and I both were normal in every way.  I had a lapraoscopy to see if I had endometriosis, and plenty of other tests… but we fit into that 5% of people with undiagnosed infertility.

Then in 2011 I got pregnant again naturally.  We were in Europe for several weeks, had a lay over in Boston on our way home, and bought a pregnancy test at a Walgreens while there in Boston.  At 5 am we took the test and it was positive.  We were beyond thrilled, though slightly cautious.  Again, we miscarried at 7-8 weeks.  This time was horrible.  There was just a little bleeding on and off, we went into the hospital and saw the baby's heart beat were assured that things were looking good, then came home and bled more.  It went on for a week and was completely awful, full of up and down emotions,  and left me in a depression for many months.  So where do you go from there?  

We decided to keep trying for a while, another year, and nothing.  We were starting to accept the fact that it might never happen for us.  We got tired of "trying", buying ovulation predictor kits, etc… I know everyone says as soon as you stop trying, you get pregnant.  That wasn't exactly true for us.  We had stopped trying for well over a year and then it happened again for us.  We had been in South America for several weeks (notice a theme here - vacation is a great time to get pregnant, you're relaxed, have time together, eat whatever you want...), and although my body often acted like it was pregnant by displaying many symptoms, I had a hunch this time.  Matt wanted me to wait another week before I took a test, because I have a long cycle, but I bought one anyway.  I took the test in the morning while he was still asleep, and woke him up with a "Matty, wake up, I'm pregnant".  I think he was so confused and still asleep.  But given our history, we were incredibly timid and cautious.  This go round we didn't read many books, we took care of me, but we were very gun shy.  I was so nervous to do anything the entire first trimester.  I remember stepping off of a curb that was lower than I expected and I was nervous.  I thought my body was just so fragile based on past experiences.  I got into the hospital ASAP and they put me on progesterone and baby aspirin.  I don't know if those were the variables, but it kept.  of course, I bled a tiny bit at 8 weeks while Matt was out of town (had just landed), and he hopped on a plane to run home and take me to the hospital.  But, everything was okay.  We finally started telling people around 17-20 weeks, and overall the pregnancy went pretty smoothly.

At 38 weeks we had some concerns because my doc said it appeared that baby boy hadn't grown.  Of course we were feeling like everything had been too good to be true.  He was measuring in the 20th percentile for size, and less than 5 percentile for stomach size.  What does that mean?  We felt like we were starving our baby, but didn't know what to do about it.  It was pretty rough, and we felt helpless.  I was afraid to do anything… a familiar position.   They monitored me closely for a week, and then induced me on Monday March 30.  The labor story, to be continued…

Super Bowl 48

When your team makes it to the Super Bowl, and that Super Bowl is in New York City… you go.  Or at least you give it the old college try.  It's so fun to see the energy a city gains when their sports teams do well.  Denver was on fire for a couple of weeks, unfortunately just not the week it mattered the most.  Oh well, we had an action packed weekend full of energy and delicious food in NYC (again with a cold, and 7.5 months pregnant).  It went a little something like this… 

Thanks to Voodoo Donuts' voodoo Brady donuts, Denver properly shellacked the Patriots in the AFC championship game.  

I was fortunate enough to have a front row seat (er… no seat, but stand) in the sunshine.  

After going down multiple paths, and trying multiple sources, we finally made the ticket purchase and were on our way to NYC.  Of course hotel, flights, and restaurants were booked (a la Matt) before the Broncos even won the game.  Who's surprised?

Our lovely hotel in the perfect location for our activities.

We went to Buddakan the night we landed.  It was worth going just to see the restaurant.  Huge, diverse, gorgeous, and the food was awesome too.  

A little dim sum variety to get the party started

Lobster something or another fabulousness

The best dessert we've had in NYC, and trust me… that's saying something.

Of course we had to visit the Doughnut Plant again for a little taste of something sweet and fried.  

Okay, this is a little out of order… but "conveniently"  there was a major UFC bout in New Jersey the night before the Super Bowl.  Being the fan Matt is, we went to that too.  It was clearly a weekend of food and sports.  

Broncos gear, check… we started the journey to the stadium.

Too bad he doesn't have any muscles.  

The hugeness and large scale production of it all made it so fun… regardless of the outcome.  At this point we were still optimistic, unaware of what was about to hit us.  

These LED hats were awesome, they went off at different times making all kinds of patterns in the stands.  

Bruno Mars and Red Hot Chili Peppers put on an incredible halftime show.  

Too bad the confetti was the wrong color… 

The meals are out of order, but we ate some of the best, most extensive, most elaborate meals of our lives over this little weekend.  The meal that starts above and continues below was Eric Ripert's Le Bernadin. It was worth the hype.  

tuna tartare over toast and fois gras

I already can't remember all of the ingredients, but know it was a scallop in a shell, with an amazing broth.  

Lobster lasagna with caviar on top

salmon with some mushrooms and other ingredients which I also can't remember…. sorry.  This was a really earthy dish.  They're all tiny, so you can eat them all, but you definitely leave quite full.  

white fish with a port reduction over a quinoa cake, and tropical fruits on top

I'm not doing any of this food justice… but there are like 30 processes in this little plate pictured above. some meringue, some demi glaze, some dehydrated oil, etc… 

Matt in his required "jacket" and super bowl bracelet which he wore for at least two weeks after we got home.  

chocolatey, nutty, caramely, fudgy, creamy dessert

Second desserts… because they HAD to congratulate the pregnant lady.  

The view from our second world renowned restaurant… Thomas Keller's Per Se

This meal was even more elaborate than Le Bernadin.  The classy part, I was sick and had to keep blowing my nose and using the potty because baby Jones loves sitting on my bladder and all.  

When the staff brought out the different menu items, they would tell you where each of the products were purchased from, etc… 

"Oysters and pearls" dish that Thomas Keller serves at his other flagship restaurant The French Laundry in San Fran.  It was truly out of this world.  

Passion Fruit mousse… the first of at least 5 desserts.  Seriously.  

Because two desserts just weren't enough - we were then served truffles, french macaroons, and toffees/nougats.  

Next layer of dessert… Matt carefully choosing which fine chocolates he'd like to try.

When I said five desserts, I think I meant 7.  

This had a cappuccino flavored ice cream in it.  It was a never ending display of gluttonous, beautiful sugar.  AND they sent us home with a box of treats for "later".

The central part of NYC was bonkers.  There were people everywhere.  Some people were watching live broadcasts, some were trying out their kicking legs - trying to make field goals in the center of Times Square.  There were a ton of festivities.  

And the day we left… it snowed.  Adieu NYC until we meet again.