Life Lately...

......has been so so busy! 7 weeks and 3 days with this little man has gone by SO quickly! 

I've gotten in to a little routine with him and am good with going out with him now. It may take me until noon to actually leave after he eats then I bathe him then I eat then he eats again then I shower. lol 

But it's been amazing. Nothing in the world compares to being a mama. And nothing in the world is sweeter than seeing my amazing husband become an even more amazing daddy....

I'm kind of obsessed with dressing him super ridiculously cute. And my absolute favorite clothes at the moment are Burts Bees Baby... I mean....

It has a matching bib too!

Since we've been home from the hospital, we've gone to Kohl's and Shoprite and a few other public places. Mostly though, we go to my moms. I can't wait till she's done working for the summer so we can hang there all the time. 

Last week, my mom watched him for me so I could get a much needed hair cut and color. It's amazing how a little hi lites and trim make you feel brand new!

And since Jakes SARDS diagnosis, we're talking about a bigger car with a hatch for the poor pup to get in. And honestly. Since I absolutely adore my Camry, a Toyota Venza is really all I'm considering. Well that and a Range Rover of course but let's keep it real. The Venza is almost identical to my Camry, just better. 

I've also gotten back into the swing of cooking dinner. And as much as I enjoyed NOT doing so, I genuinely love cooking for my husband and I.

I made this recipe (later on that) and omg it was amazing. 

And I may or may not be obsessed with Chunkys. So bad. You'd think I was still preggo!!!

We scheduled his christening and I bought this dress to wear. Hopefully it's everything I'm expecting!

On April 14th we celebrated One Montj with this guy, and were already almost at 2 months! It's amazing how quickly time passes!!

I slammed my finger in my car door, it closed, and then I yanked it out. That was fun. It took about 5 days for that to stop burning and throbbing. It's so nasty looking. 

Since this little man made a early entrance (4 weeks) Ted and I didn't have a chance to have our last date before baby like We planned. So my sweet mama watched Austin for us so we could spend some time together. And we both missed little man, but it was nice to just "be" with my husband. We went to the boardwalk, played arcade games, took a walk and ate boardwalk food. 

It was the great :)

So that's it for now. That's been life lately. My goals for the next few weeks are to read my "What to Expect the First Year" book, finish my Thank Yous, send out the birth announcements and try to convince Ted to relist the house alone than later. Oh. We diced the house we had a contract on and are looking to build new again.... We'll see how that progresses....

Also. Get back to blogging! Because I sure miss it!! 

Happy Thursday!

~Tiffany~

Friday Faves - Austin's Birth Story

Well - it's been a HECK of a past 4 weeks. I mean. NOTHING could prepare me for the craziness that has gone down since my baby shower on March 13th. NOTHING.

The weekend of March 12/13 was on my schedule for a long time.

I knew that Friday I was going to clean my house all day and get ready for my cousins to come from PA. I was clearing things out and making room for my baby shower stuff since my shower was that Sunday. Things were pretty typical. Or so I thought.

Rewind to Thursday March 10th.

That night my back was killing me. So I had Ted rub it.

Then of course I "over did" things on Friday with all the cleaning and didn't quite feel right.

Thought nothing of it though.

Saturday - we had a 1st birthday for our friends' son.

I felt awful. Huge, uncomfortable and AWFUL.

Back hurt Saturday too....had Ted rub it again til I fell asleep.

Sunday - my shower.

It was BEAUTIFUL!

However, I felt terrible.

But - like a lady, I put on a happy face and hammered through it.

Everyone helped bring things back to our house.

The unfinished nursery and our guest room were FULL of bags and gifts and boxes etc.

So we go to bed around 11pm.

11:45pm - I get up to use the bathroom, I feel terrible still and my back is killing me.

12:35am I get woken up by my water breaking.

Exactly 4 weeks early.

36 weeks pregnant.

12 hours after my shower.

Nothing ready.

I was terrified. 

I thought it was too early.

I was scared the baby wouldn't be big enough.

I was nervous because my plan was a scheduled C-Section for April 5th

I didn't prepare for LABOR

Mentally. Physically. Everything. I was NOT ready.

But God had other plans....

So here we are in the middle of the night Calling the Dr.

Calling my mom.

Calling my best friend.

Scared.

Ted was in GO mode. He was so good. I'm so thankful for his calmness in my complete state of panic. It was bad. I might have been in shock.

After FINALLY getting word from a midwife from my doctors office, we were headed to the hospital. At this point, contractions were pretty close and strong.

Again, things that my naïve self was NOT prepared for.

 We got to the hospital around 1:30

I was 3cm dilated and 70% effaced.

In my mind - this wasn't good.

I was still high risk.

Baby boy was still breech and NOT moving out of that position.

I was checked by the midwife who told me my doctor was on his way.

Thank God my doctor was on call!

He walked in, looked at me and my chart and said Ok lets go.

I was off to surgery within minutes.

I was prepped and in the surgery room by 2:45

Ted joined me as soon as I was fully prepped.

He looked so cute in the scrubs.

I was shaking like crazy.

Nerves, medicine, being cold, I don't know but I couldn't stop.

Then before we knew it, at 4:06am

He was here.

7lbs 2oz 19" long

Austin Frank

Perfect.

All my concerns and issues - gone. 

He was here and he was HEALTHY. 

His weight was perfect. 

He didn't need oxygen. 

He didn't need a thing. 

I was so happy. 

Ted was so happy. 

We became mommy and daddy in that moment and we are forever changed. 

In the next week or so I promise to share my nursery reveal because it's FINALLY done after little stinker came in the middle of finishing it!

And I'll share my baby shower pictures too! But for now, some pictures from Austin's big welcome to the world...

At the hospital...ready to meet our boy!

He is here!!

Perfection 

Up for 24 hours but don't care!

The sweetest little nose!

Leaving the hospital! 

(I'll post again on what we grabbed because you know my bag wasn't packed lol) and what I needed and what I didn't need... I'm such a minimalist!

Best daddy ever 

Heading home!

We love you!

~Tiffany~

Update

3 weeks have gone by since this little man decided to join us 4 weeks early.

In those 3 weeks -

I've had to deal with bringing a newborn home to a house not ready for him.

Thankfully my mom is amazing and spent lots and lots of time here helping us.

We had a 1 week check in with the pediatrician and ended up back in the hospital with severe jaundice, low temperature and high heart rate.... for 36 hours.

We came back home and adjusted, again.

And then discovered something was wrong with our sweet pup Jake.

He was acting like he couldn't see.

So Ted took him to the vet that moment we noticed...

The next day we had an appointment with a canine eye specialist.

And we were told he was going blind.

He's 6.

We were devastated.

We go on Wednesday for a test to determine WHY this is happening.

And from what we were told it's one of two things.

It's either SARDS or something neurological.

SARDS is Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome

Basically - sudden total loss of vision for no reason.

Or

Something terrible like a tumor on his brain.

So we wait for Wednesday.

We hope it's neither.

But - the lesser of the two evils is SARDS.

Dogs can adjust to blindness. But it takes time.

We have both been taking it pretty bad.

And that seems to be typical - it's harder for pet parents than the pet himself.

Adjusting to a newborn....

and now the possibility of having a completely blind dog who needs us to help him...

all while re-listing the house and possibly moving.

It's a bit much.

I'm trying like hell to get myself together and take it all in and accept that this is Gods plan and that I know he only gives us what we can handle, but dang it's difficult.

So that's where we've been at for the past 3 weeks.

That's why the blog has been silent.

I'll be back with shower pictures.

And baby pictures.

But for now - I'm still just trying to get a shower in, make sure everyone is fed, and keep my poor blind pup safe in his home.  

 

 

Keep my Jakey boy in your prayers.

 

~Tiffany~