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New delivery options

We just discovered 7-11 is now available on Grub-Hub. At first we were laughing — who in the world would get 7-11 delivered? I need Lunchables and beef jerky, pronto!!

But then the more we read through the menu, the more we realized it was kind of awesome.

You could get a gallon of milk at your door, ASAP! Or batteries! Or a carton of ice cream!

And of course, a Slurpee!

The more I think about it, this would have been pretty nice for all those random pregnancy cravings. It’s probably better that this didn’t exist back then, haha.

We haven’t actually ordered 7-11 (yet), but there was another intriguing new option that we did try: Potbelly groceries!

Instead of a pre-made sandwich, we got the ingredients — deli meat, bread and mayonnaise — from Potbelly’s to make our own lunches.

Now we’re basically having Potbelly’s every day. Pretty tasty!

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Happy due date!

Beckham’s original due date was today, June 16. (Also Colleen’s birthday!!) It’s crazy to think if I hadn’t been induced early, I would most likely still be pregnant (and probably for another week still).

Beckham already feels like he’s been with our family for so long, and the hospital feels like ages ago. Funny how that works!

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And the winner is…

Thanks to everyone who sent in their baby predictions! It was fun to read through your submissions.

For most of the questions I gave one point for each correct answer, and then for time, weight and length, I awarded one point to whoever came closest in each category.

It was a close competition, and we ended up with a tie for first place. Each with an impressive 5 point total, the two people sharing the crown are…

Aunt Kristen and Lisa Fish!

Congratulations!!! Enjoy a vanilla latte as your prize! 🙂

Some notable responses:

  • Kristen came within a mere 20 minutes of the correct date and time with her guess of 1:38 a.m. on June 10. Wow! SO crazy!
  • Aunt Ginny was correct in her guess that the first name would start with a “B.” I can’t believe there was actually a winner here with so many possibilities! Made it easy for me. Not sure how else I would have done it — count the closest letter in the alphabet?
  • I had the correct weight at 7 lbs 8 oz and nearly the right length with a guess of 21 inches. (I swear I never got any inside info from the doctors! Although I suppose I did carry him for 9 months… Either way, I’m not counting my answers in the contest.)
  • Respondents were split almost 50/50 on the gender but were nearly unanimous in predicting hair. (There was no mustache, though…Sorry, Dylan! haha)

Answer Key

Gender: Boy

Date: 6/10/20

Time: 1:57 a.m.

Weight: 7 lbs 8 oz

Length: 20.75 in

Hair or no hair: Hair

Eye color: Blue

First name starts with: B

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A virtual visit

Thanks to COVID, no one was allowed in or out of the hospital room.

So, for example, Justin couldn’t leave to get me some ice cubes. Or to pick up food the next day. (After our first order from the cafeteria, we learned we had to actually get two or three “meals” a person in order to not be hungry, lol.) And while normally spouses leave when you get the epidural for sterile reasons, this time they kept Justin in with us during the procedure.

Unfortunately, this policy also meant no visitors could come meet the baby. I was so sad that Jackson couldn’t visit us there. But as with everything these days, we had to make do with Zoom!

Initially I had the camera set only on me, and Justin was out of view holding Beckham. I didn’t want Jackson to be jealous or upset that we were there with the baby and not him.

He didn’t seem to mind, though.

After saying hello, he told me he was exercising and ran away. I thought for sure that would be the end of our visit, haha.

But he did come back to the camera, and I started asking him about what he was doing but he cut me off.

“Where did the baby go?” he said.

Apparently I didn’t have to hide Beckham, after all. We showed him Justin and the baby, who was sleeping, and Jackson said he was sleeping, too. When I said the baby was wrapped in a blanket, he ran to get a blanket, too.

Then Jackson showed us the little baby dolls my mom had brought for him. He was laying them down and putting on their blankets, too.

He was way more interested than I was expecting him to be. And the best part of our virtual visit is that I was able to record it, so now we have a video of the special moment that we can watch again and again.

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Finally — a name!

“Let’s just wing it,” Justin said when I was still pregnant and trying to brainstorm names for the baby.

We did have one name picked out for each gender, though, so I’m not really sure why we kept everyone in suspense for so long.

When the nurses asked right after he was born, I was the one who put off announcing it. There was too much going on — no need to make a decision on the spot, I thought.

I just needed a minute, but then it kind of spiraled from there.

Next Justin said we should sleep on it.

Sleep? Ummm… when exactly would that be happening?

Then, when we were in the recovery room, for some reason Justin thought this would be a good time to start looking up baby names.

“I’ve already read them all,” I told him. Literally, I think I read them all.

Still, I was nervous about pulling the trigger.

Is it the right name??? Is it too weird? It’s such a hard decision!! When someone came in for the birth certificate, I told them we needed more time.

Next Justin was second guessing whether we should flip the first and middle names that we had chosen. But I vetoed that idea pretty quickly.

My cousin reminded me to go with my gut. Everyone’s name always ends up fitting perfectly, after all.

Finally I was confident to make a decision. It flows nicely, it goes well with Jackson — plus it’s just an awesome name! And Justin was ready, too.

Back to what we originally picked out, we made it official: Beckham James Dardick.

Fun fact: I first came up with Beckham after I googled “names similar to Bennett” — which is Jackson’s middle name.

Another fun fact: Jackson’s first and middle name initials are JB while this baby is the reverse, BJ. That was not done on purpose, but still fun nonetheless.

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Warning: TMI

It felt like the next day (since he was born in the middle of the night), but really it was later that same day when I learned I wasn’t exactly in the clear yet.

Baby boy (not officially named at this point) was doing great.

But I ended up with a couple of blood clots and lost a little blood. The nurse came in for a regular check and discovered blood had soaked through my clothes, the mattress pad, etc. Next thing I knew a whole team was back in my room with a medical cart in tow.

Noooooo!

I felt exhausted and defeated. I was so over all the poking and prodding and just wanted to be done — for good!

First they got an IV ready and started me up on pitocin. Again. Then they put in a catheter (ouch) and manually extracted the blood clots (double ouch). They didn’t know where they were or how many there were so this process was mainly just kneading my stomach over and over — hard. One of the nurses squeezed my hand throughout.

Thankfully, they got them out and I was fine going forward. I didn’t end up needing any medication — or whatever was in the next step in their protocol for this situation — so that was good news.

I did have to keep the IV for awhile, and the nurses had to do more frequent checks on me. The “massages,” as one nurse called them, were light and easy the remainder of the time.

Everything was all good from then on, and I was still able to leave after 24 hours (a shortened stay due to COVID).

I couldn’t wait to sleep in my own bed again!

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L&D Part III: BOY!!!!!!

While it’s scary in the moment when you don’t know how things are going to play out, in hindsight my labor really couldn’t have gone any better.

For the majority of the time, I didn’t feel a thing and even when I did I thought it was manageable. The timeline was much speedier compared to Jackson, and while my blood pressure was initially a concern, it turned out to be fine throughout.

Pushing lasted about half an hour, a big improvement from 2.5 hours with Jackson!

This time around, I could feel when a contraction was starting so I had a better idea of when to push, rather than just relying on the machine (which apparently is a few seconds delayed).

At approximately 1:57 a.m., I thought I was just doing another regular push when I heard all the nurses reacting.

Wait, what’s happening??? Is the baby coming? Was the baby born?!

You’d think I know the answer. But I did not… and I’m pretty sure I even said that last one out loud…

Then I saw a baby in the doctor’s hands! And Justin announced: It’s a boy!!!

“No way!!!”

I was so surprised — I had been thinking girl — but was thrilled nonetheless.

“Another boy!!!”

I was also surprised that they then handed him straight to me. I wasn’t sure if that was really a thing or not. (Jackson had needed some immediate assistance so that didn’t happen with him.)

Enjoying our first little baby snuggles, I couldn’t get over how teeny his little body was.

He was perfect!!!

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L&D Part II: ‘Arch like a cat’

One of the most frequently asked questions among women in my pregnancy forums was: Did you have to wear a mask?!

Unfortunately, yes. And it was definitely a strange experience.

Spoiler alert: I did end up feeling contractions, and it turns out breathing is pretty key to get through them.

I only had to wear a mask, however, when hospital staff came into the room, and towards the end it seemed like they didn’t disturb me as much. So the most challenging part as it relates to wearing the mask was during the epidural and while pushing. I am guilty of pulling it down under my nose during those particular times though. I desperately needed to breath!

Fast forward to after the baby was born when we were in the recovery room, we had a couple of nurses tell us they were thrown off by our masks. They had just been in on Monday, and it was not required for patients at that time. And we went in on Tuesday. So close!

Back to Tuesday evening: June 9. Winona had just left, and I was feeling a little something, kind of like cramps. “Are these contractions?” I asked. With Jackson, I never ended up feeling any so I felt very much like a first-time mom again.

I learned the answer as they intensified: Yes!

It didn’t feel like I imagined they would. I thought it would be sort of like the stomach tightening from the top of your belly and pushing down. It surprised me that it was always very, very low and more like a cramp coming and going in waves.

The rest of the night I sat like a weirdo upright in a chair, completely still and silent, except for closing my eyes, breathing deeply and squeezing my hands on the edges of the armrests every two minutes for each contraction. Hours must have passed, but I didn’t want to move or even flinch. I was in the zone, and this was oddly comfortable for me.

I remember the nurses had mentioned all these different positions you could try during labor, but I couldn’t even fathom it. At one point I finally got up to use the bathroom, and even that felt like it made it so much worse. All I wanted to do was sit in that chair and not move!

“On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?” I had a new nurse now, but can’t remember her name.

“Ummm… I dunno….what is pain, really?”

Such a difficult patient.

At some point — the tail end of this gets murky — I did go from a zero straight to a 7 or 8. I remembered they had advised me to ask for the epidural not at your breaking point but when you think you can only handle an hour more of the contractions (since it likely would take an hour to get the anesthesiologist in your room and all set up).

Feeling SO tired, I asked for the epidural then. In hindsight, I almost wish I never did. They waited to do a cervix check until after the epidural, and it turns out I was already 9 cm dilated. It was basically time to push. At my last check, I was at 4 cm, so had I known I was so close to the finish line, I feel like I could have just powered through.

Plus getting the epidural itself was not too fun. The anesthesiologist kept asking me if it was in the right spot — like, isn’t that your job to figure out?!?! As he re-did it a few times, they had me hunched over on the edge of the bed, and kept telling me over and over to arch my back like a cat. “Arch like a cat! Arch like a cat!” Add in the contractions and the mask, and I felt like screaming, “WHAT IS TAKING SO LONG?!!”

The epidural did allow me to relax and take a breather, but soon I was freezing and shaking uncontrollably. (The nurse said this was common due to hormones.) With the contractions, you got instant relief as each one passed. But this was just a constant torture.

“I can’t do this any more!” I kept saying to Justin. Oddly enough, not something I ever said during the contractions.

The nurse had put the peanut ball in between my legs — which I loved for Jackson — but this time I just felt so uncomfortable. I wanted SO badly to just rip everything off of me and get up out of the bed and be done.

Thankfully, it was time to push.

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L&D Part I: ‘Labor loser’

I tried to warn everyone that this was going to be awhile. Justin and I were certainly mentally prepared for the long haul. (Jackson, after all, took three days to make his debut!) But still the doctors and nurses were surprised when hours passed in the hospital without much action.

Apparently, among themselves, the nurses call it a “labor loser” — when they start their shift at 7 a.m. and don’t end up delivering the baby by the time they leave at 7 p.m. Sorry, Winona! Maybe next time you’ll bring home a W!

When we arrived at the hospital that morning, a big storm was brewing and Winona told us it was already a busy day on the labor and delivery floor. Something about the inclement weather, she said, draws more women into labor.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for me. But my induction was underway and the pitocin was rolling by about 9:30 a.m.

I was very happy that I did not have to come in the night before and get that dreadful balloon inserted — as I had to do with Jackson. Shaving off that time and jumping straight to pitocin sounded like a much better plan! But as with Jackson’s birth, I didn’t initially feel anything from the medication.

By around 3 p.m., I had maxed out and reached the highest allowable dosage.

“On a scale from one to 10, how would you rate your pain?” Winona asked.

“Zero.”

Sorry Winona!

The good news, though, is that I was actually making some progress during this time. I started out the morning at 2 cm dilated, and to my surprise, I gained another centimeter throughout the day, despite feeling totally fine. That eased my nerves because I was worried that nothing was happening at all, and we were just slowing inching toward a c-section.

Meanwhile, through the walls we could hear the distinct sound of a baby’s first cry.

“Up, there goes another one!” I said, pausing from my slow loop around the room with my IV in tow and yet another HGTV show on the television.

One by one the other moms came and went, and suddenly that busy day for L&D was not so busy any more.

For me, next up on the schedule was breaking my water.

The doctor came in for what I thought was just a cervix check. But next thing I know he grabbed a long rod and asked if I wanted him to break the bag — while he still digging around for my cervix. Ummm, what??? I couldn’t even breath, let alone think or ask a question or give an answer. Not exactly the right time for a discussion!

Thank goodness Justin jumped in. He asked if that would start the clock ticking for a c-section, which is what I remembered from Jackson and exactly why I was hesitant. The OB stopped — finally — and I could breath again. He said it’s 24 hours from the time you break your water, which is more time than I thought, but to me it still felt like we were so early in the process. It’s still Day One, and only the afternoon — we basically just got started! (Like I said, we were mentally prepared for the long haul.) So we put the brakes on that and waited a bit longer.

Around 6 p.m. he came back again, and this time I was ready. I had gained another centimeter during that time so I was now 4 cm dilated. Breaking the bag was not exactly comfortable because apparently no water (or at least very little) actually came out so he had to double-check to make sure it was done. In other words, it took twice as long as usual — but yes, it had in fact been broken.

So at this point, I was having contractions, just not feeling them. And my water broke, but nothing came out. How bizarre is that??!!!

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?”

Winona was back. It was just before 7 p.m.

“Zero.”

Sorry Winona!

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It’s go time!

We head off to the hospital bright and early tomorrow morning. I still can’t believe it. It does not feel real AT ALL.

Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight, but I don’t know if that’s possible. Maybe finish watching Survivor?!

This evening Jackson joined me in bedrest for a bit, and I told him that tomorrow mommy and daddy are going to go to the hospital and then we’re going to bring home the baby.

“Well, I want to come, too!” he said. (So bummed he won’t be able to visit us in the hospital!)

Then a little bit later I said tomorrow is going to be such an exciting day because the baby is coming.

He started bouncing up and down saying, “I’m excited! I’m excited!” followed by “I’m laughing! I’m laughing!” as he panted like a dog.

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Walk-ins welcome

Justin realized he was going to look a little crazy in pictures with the baby, so he booked a last minute appointment at Mommy’s Barber Shop.

We managed to sneak in one more quarantine haircut the night before heading to the hospital. I think I’m starting to get the hang of it!

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Quiz: Baby Predictions

Fill out your predictions on this form here: https://forms.gle/E2evzVGSs5F4TaVB7

Winner gets a special prize!

I realize I still have not tallied up the results and announced the winner from Jackson’s birth…so you may not trust me this time around, lol. I wanted to do it now, but I’m having some difficulty accessing the old blog. So that one is still TBD!

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Moment of truth

I had to go to the hospital today for the dreaded COVID test. I have heard they are awful, but I was told this one would be a self-administered swab. So how bad could it be if I was doing it myself? This one must be a different kind of test, I figured.

LIES!!! ALL LIES!!!

It was not self-administered. And it was awful.

I drove up to the ER and a guy came out to my car all dressed in protective gear. He gave me the test right there through the car window.

At first it seems like it’s not so bad, but then they keep going…and going…and going. They do both nostrils, too, so you have to go through it twice. My eyes were watering, and my head and the back of neck hurt for awhile afterward.

“Sorry I made you cry!” he said.

At least the whole thing is quick. And they were quick to give me the results, too. They called me within an hour or two and let me know it came back negative.

PHEW!!!!!!!

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My loyal pup

Luc has not left my side throughout this entire period of bedrest. He leaves to go to the bathroom and eat, but otherwise comes running straight back to me. (He probably just wants that pregnancy pillow!)

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Good news

I had a doctor’s appointment today to follow-up on my hospital stay. I was told to prepare to be sent directly to the hospital again (and to have the baby this time) so I got about as much ready as I could while being on bedrest. (Still was waiting on two key deliveries, though, which got delayed due to protest curfews: one for dog food and another for deodorant!)

Thankfully, since my blood pressure has been stable, the doctor was comfortable with sending me home again as long as I kept up the monitoring and the bedrest. The goal would be to make it until 39 weeks. And then schedule an induction for then.

Basically by 39 weeks, the baby would be fully developed. But waiting any time past then would increase the risks for both me and the baby.

I had originally been hoping to avoid an induction, but I did at least feel a little bit better when the doctor said he didn’t think I would need to go in the night before for the balloon or any other tricks. And generally he said the process goes faster for the second kid.

So unless anything changes until then, we’ll be heading in to labor and delivery on Tuesday! Ahh!!

(Of course, that still might mean the baby’s not here till Wednesday… or Thursday… )

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Inducing…today?!?!?!

I went in for my regular OB appointment at 38 weeks, and the doctor sent me straight to the hospital for preeclampsia and warned me that they may have to induce labor right then on the spot.

Ummm… say what now???!

My blood pressure had spiked and it turns out I had protein in my urine, which he said are the two factors used to diagnose preeclampsia. So he said they could do some additional monitoring and lab work at the hospital to get results back quicker. But he added since I was already full-term that they may decide to induce me right away.

Needless to say, I did NOT see that one coming!

I couldn’t help but think of all the ways I wasn’t ready yet for this baby. I had no bags packed, the car seat was not installed, we didn’t really finalize any names, there was no milk (or any food really) in the fridge for Jackson, the bassinet was still filled with socks and of course the house was in shambles.

And yet there I was driving to the hospital.

Once inside, they got me all set up in a delivery room, gave me an IV and hooked me up to all the machines. My blood pressure readings had been fine — until the doctor walked in and said, “OK, are we ready to have this baby?!”

Apparently he thought that was the plan right from the get-go, and when I looked confused he asked me what I thought the plan was. I said I thought we were going to do some monitoring first, and then make a decision. He said that was fine, but just like the last doctor, emphasized that at 38 weeks it may be best to just do it now.

Of course at that moment the blood pressure machine went off, and I’m sure my numbers were off the charts.

Thankfully, though, for the rest of the time, my blood pressure remained stable. The lab results showed some protein but below the threshold for an induction. The nurse said I was kind of in this middle area and asked what my preference would be. I told her as long as the numbers looked fine, in general I had been really hoping to avoid an induction.

After a few hours of monitoring, to my surprise, they did let me go home. The nurse told me that preeclampsia tends to progress quickly so I had to remain on bedrest, try not to talk too much, continue monitoring my own blood pressure and watch out for other symptoms. (“So I can’t go home and wash all the floors?!” I said.) She thought I may have bought myself an extra day or two, but warned that I still may not make it to 39 weeks.

I was happy to go back home — and immediately packed my bag when I got there!

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Scooch over

Stole my spot when I went to the bathroom again. This last time, however, he refused to move. I had to try and squeeze in there with him somehow!

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