Beach Babe

Did you do a newborn photo shoot? I never got around to doing this with either of my children, but I LOVE to look at professional newborn photos. They are always fast asleep and posed in the sweetest positions with colorful accessories…hats, buckets, wagons…

How about this darling little girl/mermaid? So so sweet!

A bit about the photo shoot from Mama, Marissa:

Attached are my daughter Stella’s newborn pictures. We live in Florida and her name is Stella Maris. It means “star of the sea” so I wanted my beach babe to have her first photo shoot as a mermaid. People always ask if they are real and, yes, she was on a rock in the ocean : ) I blog over at Controlled Chaos: www.marissastratton.blogspot.com about my crazy life with my almost two year old twins and my six month little babe.

P.S. Marissa was standing a foot away while the pics were being taken. So no worries about Stella!

Birth Story

This is Benjamin’s birth story. I hope that you share. I love reading birth stories, especially while I was pregnant. I loved them so much that I had to write my own experience down. Please feel free to reference my blog if you would like… allthingserika.blogspot.com
Thank you, Erika

Benjamin’s birth story starts long before labor began. I was 37 weeks pregnant when I went to my OB and she advised I was 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. My doctor gave me a membrane sweep and said she would most likely see me over the weekend. I walked, ate spicy foods and pretty much did every recommend home remedy to get labor going. I was having contractions for weeks. I had been 2cm dilated and 50% effaced since my 35 week check up. I enjoyed being pregnant more than anything. It was a wonderful experience and I miss it already. However, by the time I was 38 weeks, I was so over being pregnant and very anxious to meet our little guy. Plus, all of the ultrasounds were predicting a big baby and the doctor wanted to induce if I did not go into labor naturally by 39 weeks.

When the doctor said she’d see me over the weekend, I was convinced it would happen any second. The weekend came and went and by Monday I was still pregnant. I went to the doctor on Monday and even after 4 days of contractions, I was still only 2cm dilated and made no progress. She did another membrane sweep, although I was not convinced this time that it would work. When I didn’t go into labor that night I gave up trying. No walking, spicy food, castor oil or anything was going to get Benjamin to come out until he was ready.

It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I got up and went to work as usual. That evening as I was watching TV with my husband I was having regular contractions. I was not timing them though because I was having regular contractions the week before and made no progress. I figured I would know when it was for real without having to time every crampy feeling.

It was around 11pm when we went to bed that night. I felt a sort of POP inside me and I just had a feeling that it was my water breaking. I got up to go to the bathroom to check. I wasn’t sure what it was like to have my water break naturally since my daughter was induced and they broke my water for me. Sure enough, my water broke. It just kept gushing and gushing. No one told me that when your water breaks it just keeps gushing non-stop. I just stood there leaking all over the place. After a few minutes my husband asked if I was ok and I responded, “yea, but my water just broke!” He called his mom to come stay with our daughter while I called the doctor who told me to head on over to the hospital.

I thought that the second labor is easier and much faster. I was told by several people that second and third babies come quick and that once your water breaks labor goes really fast and the baby will just pop right out. This was not the case for me. We put a few extra things in our hospital bag while we waited for my mother-in-law to arrive (she lives twenty minutes away). After she arrived, we rushed to the hospital (only 3 minutes away)!

I was checked in triage by a midwife and was only 4cm dilated. After getting checked in and situated into our room, I was surprised to learn that my doctor still wouldn’t stop by the hospital until the next morning. I quickly caved in and got an epidural. I was a little hesitant because I had such a miserable experience with my first baby. However, as cliche as it sounds, I loved my anesthesiologist. He made my labor an amazing, enjoyable experience! Eleven hours flew by and before I knew it my doctor told me I was 10cm and could push if I wanted or wait an hour and give my body time to feel the urge to push. I opted to wait for the urge. An hour later I started pushing. It took over an hour to push Benjamin into the world. The epidural was incredible during labor but I could still feel everything at this point. My husband held my hand (and my leg) and coached me during each push, got me water and gave me a cold rag when I needed it. I felt the baby’s head crowning and during this period the baby became in distress and they had to give me a little oxygen in between pushing.

After twelve hours of labor and an hour and a half of pushing, Benjamin Cory was born on November 23, 2011 at 12:20 p.m., he weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.

When he finally came out, he was facing up, what we learned is called “sunny side up,” and he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck twice. After Benjamin was born and the doctor put him on my stomach to see him and he wasn’t crying. He looked a little blue and his body was limp and I kept asking the doctor why he wasn’t crying.

As I laid there getting stitched up for what seemed like forever (I had third and fourth degree tears – youch!), NICU doctors and nurses flooded the room. It all happened in a haze of confusion. I held Benjamin for a brief moment before he was taken to the NICU. He had a tough entrance into the world that caused some respiratory issues. I was still in the hospital for Thanksgiving. Christopher’s family brought us a nice Thanksgiving dinner to eat in our hospital room. Chloe made me a turkey handprint… later that day when we went to visit Benjamin in the NICU, the nurse had helped Benjamin also make us a turkey handprint!

The NICU had “care times” where we could come change and feed him every three to four hours. He was on IV fluids for days before we were allowed to feed him. It gave me time to pump and build up a good colostrum/milk supply for when he was ready to eat. We were able to give him his first bottle after a few days (I couldn’t nurse him yet because they needed to monitor what he was eating).

It was such an emotional and stressful time for us. He was only in the NICU for a week and one day. It doesn’t sound like a long time but it was the longest week of my life. Getting discharged from the hospital and going home without him was heartbreaking. I felt so very blessed and fortunate to live 3 minutes from the hospital. My mother-in-law stayed with us to help with Chloe that week so that we could go to as many care times during the day and night as we could. Although I know that week was just as tough on my husband as it was on me, he was so amazing and still found a way to make me laugh every day. I couldn’t have made it through that time without him.
We were so happy when Benjamin was finally off of IV fluids and oxygen and we could see his beautiful face without all of those tubes and wires!

We were able to bring Benjamin home on Thursday, December 1 and he finally got to meet his big sister!

Although Benjamin’s birth didn’t go as I imagined it would, it doesn’t matter. He is perfect and amazing and I love him more than I thought possible. Our family was together, happy and healthy just in time to enjoy the wonderful holiday season!

Now, almost two months postpartum I am in a constant haze of exhaustion, I smell like spit up, my hair is always a mess, I have 30 pounds to lose and live in my sweat pants but I am happier than I ever could have imagined.
Erika
allthingserika.blogspot.com

click here for info on how to submit your birth story.

photo of the day

I took this photo of my little Ananda for her birthday invite, her very first birthday.
Amie

To share your favorite photo on Spearmintbaby.com email it to spearmintbaby@gmail.com (subject: “Photo of the Day”)

Modern Nursery (No Pastels)

Happy Friday! I have so many gorgeous nurseries, baby bumps, & birth stories to share with you in the next few weeks. This morning I discovered this refreshing gender neutral nursery in my inbox. So lovely, don’t you agree? I love that Mary used a “REAL” tree on the wall! & her rug makes the nursery feel very outdoorsy.

a bit more about Mary’s vision, and challenges:

Hi Shari,

All the best,
Mary

photo of the day

This is a picture of our sweet boy John Ryman around 4 weeks old!  He has so many precious expressions, but I think his big yawns are my favorite

everydaypitterpatter.blogspot.com

To share your favorite photo on Spearmintbaby.com email it to spearmintbaby@gmail.com (subject: “Photo of the Day”)

Glittery Animals

YES, YES, YES! What a perfect touch to your baby’s nursery. Place a sweet glittery animal on the wall shelf or at the end of his bookcase. So so cute! But be sure to place out of reach once baby starts moving around on his/her own.

to purchase visit Wish Daisy

P.S. I really want the pink penguins for my own office!

photo of the day

source

To share your favorite photo on Spearmintbaby.com email it to spearmintbaby@gmail.com (subject: “Photo of the Day”)

Valentine’s Day

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day! To those of you that know me, my husband is home from the hospital and doing extremely well. We were able to spend the day together…even had a romantic lunch at Panera Bread!

The card says, “Here is to an amazing 2012!” I only hope that we stay healthy and live our lives to the fullest! xoxo, shari