#MomLife

Red + White // Wrap Up

February 3, 2016 by Rachel 1 Comment

The Arthritis Foundation of Northeast Ohio‘s annual fundraiser in Akron, Red & White on Thursday Night, is easily my favorite event of the entire year! Heck, even having just given birth, I desperately wanted to still attend. So last Thursday, at just 5 days old, Remy, Chad and I ventured to Quaker Station at Quaker Square for just a short time!

Luckily, we are very close to where the event is located; so with a babysitter for Ari [thanks, Grammy!], we bundled Miss Remy Bea up, and arrived shortly before 6pm. This was the 19th annual event for the Arthritis Foundation, and I believe it was also our 4th or 5th time attending [mommy brain is real, yo].

The entrance to the event was located at a different part of the building this year, and some new computer software they were using for auction-bidding slowed down the entrance process to a practical halt. My single critique of the event is that they should have set up the credit card/auto-bid process for the auction when people were purchasing tickets presale. Because it wasn’t set up that way, everyone who had a ticket in their hands, still had to wait in a half hour line. And for those of us with willcall tickets, we had to wait in line for a half hour as well. It was crazypants. And people were super upset. I was just super uncomfortable because I was babywearing Remy Bea.

When we finally got in, we went straight for the VIP room to meet up Crystal from EatDrinkCLE. Both Crystal and I weren’t feeling 100% well, but we managed to make sure we didn’t miss the event — even if that meant having to leave a bit early! After saying our hellos, I went straight for the wine and food [recognizing I’m a nursing mother, and I was wearing a sleeping baby, I recognized my ‘window of opportunity’ to taste a couple of sips of wine had to happen at the very beginning of the evening].

The VIP wine selection was beautiful. I wish I could say that I took a ton of pictures, but I didn’t. Because, babywearing an infant [duh]. But, thanks to the VIP section, I did have the opportunity to taste two fantastic wines — a Malbec and a Cab. And that was, sadly, all the wine I had that night. Because, nursing.

[borrowed this photo from Jen at Why? CLE]One of the awesome changes the organization did make this year was the introduction of a VIP Chef in the VIP lounge! Chef Dante Boccuzzi, of local Akron restaurant, dba, as well as Dante in Tremont, and Ginko in Tremont [as well as several other restaurants], was serving up tasty sushi!

We ate so much of this sushi. Seriously. I mean, I hadn’t really and truly had sushi in about 9 months, so I was pumped to not only have sushi, but really, really, great sushi!

After checking out the complimentary chair massages, courtesy of Massage Envy, and pastry and coffee bar, courtesy of Panera, we headed out to the general admission area. I’m not going to lie, I was super nervous to join the masses. I was afraid of judgment from other attendees for babywearing an infant at a 21 and over event!

To my surprise, people were just super excited to see a newborn baby! No judgment whatsoever. So we made the rounds! I knew I had a very strict food limit. Being postpartum and being sick means my appetite is close to nothing. So instead of hitting up every single place, I carefully planned my ‘attack.’ Ha!

Two places that were ‘musts’ were Nuevo Mod Mex [pictured above] and Melt Bar + Grilled. Nuevo had an awesome taco, but Melt disappointed me a bit. They had dessert cookie sandwiches. Bummer, cause I was totally looking forward to a tasty grilled cheese sample! Also, the cheesecake shooters [also pictured above] from West Side Bakery was awesome!

Chad hit up a few more restaurants while I chatted with Jen from Why? CLE and her husband, Matthew, as well as my longtime friends Cristin and Chris. [above picture also borrowed from Jen! Again, I didn’t have much access to my phone throughout the event.]

We ended up leaving around 7:30pm. I was just… tired. And I wanted to get Remy Bea home so I could feed her before bed. All in all, it was a great first night out and a great event, yet again!

Disclosure: I was asked by the Arthritis Foundation of Northeast Ohio to help promote Red & White on Thursday Night and run a ticket giveaway. In exchange, I received 2 complimentary VIP tickets. As always, all opinions are my own.

Remy Bea // Birth Story Part 2

January 28, 2016 by Rachel 5 Comments

See Part 1 of Remy Bea’s birth story here.

Okay, I know I said the last post was going to be super long, but this one is even longer… sorry!

I really should have known (or at least checked) to see that it was a full moon. However, the rest of the regular ER was empty. Weird.

So we got transported (immediately) up to Labor and Delivery Triage, where I was to be examined to determine if I was in real labor or not. I still wasn’t convinced of anything. In fact, I was certain that because my upper abdomen wasn’t at all contracting, we would be sent home.

I saw a nurse in triage — one I had seen during a previous visit when I was there for high blood pressure — and I wasn’t too keen with our first interaction. From my previous experience with her, and the beginning of this one, she was short and curt. Not the most friendly bedside manner, but I knew she was just getting me ‘checked in’ anyways.

Of course, when I got to the exam room, my contractions were spaced out about 10 minutes. But they put me on the monitor, to catch contractions and to monitor Baby Girl. I started having contractions again, but I was still able to answer most of the nurses questions in between the contractions.

The resident came in to do a check for dilation and, of course, I was having a contraction. To my surprise, when she checked me I was 3cm. The nurse came back and decided that they needed to monitor Baby Girl just a little bit more because they weren’t picking up many of her movements. So they strapped me to the monitor and I started having even more contractions. [PS. not ONE of my contractions was ever picked up on the doppler monitors because they were all too low — I NEVER had an upper abdomen contraction. Not even one.]

About 15 minutes later, I had a hep-lock put in (instead of an IV). Just as she was putting in the hep-lock, I had a mega contraction. I started to feel incredibly nauseous. I asked for a barf bag and began vomiting uncontrollably. Then another doctor came in to check on me and see my progress. He/she (is it sad that I don’t remember this part) checked to see how dilated I was. And it turns out I had progressed from 3 to 5cm in just 15 short minutes. Right then, Baby Girls heart rate dropped significantly. The nurse ordered me to flip over to all-fours to try and get her heart rate back up, which I did. The nurse made sure her heart rate was back up before I flipped back over for another exam.

I was already at 6cm. Up a centimeter from the last check. The nurse started to freak out because I was dilating so quickly (especially after hearing that I stayed at 3cm with Ari until the last hour — and then in just 60 minutes I had dilated to 10cm with him). She said they didn’t want to wait for a wheelchair; she wanted to just wheel the whole bed down to my labor and delivery room.

[Funny side story: On my way to my room, I asked why the hall was SO quiet, considering there were about 6 people in labor. The nurse laughed and said “they all chose to have an epidural!” PS. Thanks to me, it didn’t stay quiet!]

The nurse told us she would be with me for the duration. They were super backed up — my doctor, alone, had 2 other women in active labor at the hospital). At this point my contractions were coming and going, lasting only about 45-60 seconds each [so, so, much different than with Ari!]. I was still able to talk between my contractions, which made things easier. In fact, I was even laughing a little bit!

My doctor arrived and let me know that he had another patient ready to push, so he would come back when she was done and break my water. He’s thought [and the nurses thought] behind doing this was that it would speed things up and I would deliver in no-time at all.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t convinced. I knew that breaking my water would cause the contractions to become even more intense. And while, yes, it could help progress labor, it may also stall it. I was nervous, but Chad and I decided that we trusted these people who were already helping so much!

Through each contraction, my nurse and Chad both helped coach me… to continue breathing, to relax, and to just keep breathing. I remembered thinking “each contraction is bringing me closer.”

Before I knew it, my doctor had come back in. He said the other patients contractions were stalling, so he wanted to break my water. Before he broke my water, he checked me — 7cm! While he was prepping to break my water, my nurse was prepping the labor tub. I was determined to get in that tub to help me through my contractions. Upon breaking my water, it was determined that there was a lot of meconium in my fluid. So no tub allowed for me. 🙁

Because of the heavy meconium levels, the NICU team was prepped and ready for delivery. But right after the doctor broke my water, he left the room to check on another patient. And I had an incredibly strong contraction. I told the nurse, “I need to poop!” It was the strongest feeling I had had, yet. She called the Resident in because she wanted her to check me, again — already.

The nurse advised me not to push yet… so I just held to the side of the bed and screamed in agony. The Resident checked me right afterward and said I was still just 7cm. Another strong contraction came on and I screamed “I NEED TO PUSH NOW!” and so the nurse & resident told me to push as hard as I could, while simultaneously they yelled “DR. H! GET IN HERE NOW! — NICU TEAM, NOW!” and I pushed but nothing was happening.

I looked at my nurse and screamed and cried and yelled “I CAN’T DO THIS!” She yelled back at me to breathe and to calm down and to just keep breathing… She assured me I could do this.

Before I knew it there was a whole team of doctors in my room. I couldn’t open my eyes, though, so I can’t remember who they were. I yelled, again, “I HAVE TO PUSH!” and even though I was only 7cm, the doctors & nurse yelled at me to push as hard as I could. I was still laying on my side and my nurse told me I needed to lay on my back (because I was literally closing myself off by laying on my side in a fetal position). I screamed “I CAN’T!” and she yelled back “YES YOU CAN!”

As she was screaming at me, someone (I’m honestly not sure who — Chad? A doctor? Another nurse? No clue.) pulled me onto my back and held my leg down and my shoulder down. And they all screamed at me to PUSH!

So I did. As hard as I possibly could. Meanwhile, my doctor and the resident were both physically helping to open up my cervix — which hurt. A LOT. So my physical response? Was to kick at them. Because that s*** hurt. Still the same contraction, I pushed again. And screamed a lot. And they continued to work on my cervix. And then one last HUGE push…

And in that one push her head and shoulders came out and my doctor pulled her out.

And they all told me to look down at her, but my eyes were squeezed so tightly closed that I couldn’t see anything when I opened them.

As soon as she came out, a HUGE, I mean HUGE, gush of fluid/water came out of me. ALL of the pain I had from pregnancy was explained in that one huge gush… I had an excess of fluid in me; specifically in my upper abdomen (where I’d been so uncomfortable all along).

With the excess fluid came even more meconium than the doctors had anticipated. She was whisked away to be checked by the NICU team. During the ten minutes that separated me and Remy, Chad kept a close eye on her and I delivered my placenta… which had so much meconium it was green on the inside. Super scary!

She was cleared by NICU and weighed at 6lbs 15oz, 20 inches long! Chad snapped this picture while we were waiting for the all-clear:

I had well over two hours of skin-to-skin. She latched on immediately for seriously two hours of nursing! I was amazed. Ari had failed to ever latch and this girl was a latching machine!

My labor and delivery were not at all as I anticipated. I didn’t actually think I could do it all-natural and drug-free. In fact, looking back, I’m not certain I would ever, ever, make that choice again. But I did it. I can’t believe I did it.

And the nurse that I thought, upon admission, was salty?? I honestly could not have done it without her. She got in my face and screamed at me when I needed it (in the most loving way possible). And my husband helped me through contractions with helping my nausea disappear (thanks, essential oils!).

And I only threw up once! Hooray! Much, much different than my experience with Ari.

Once we made it up to our Mother/Baby room, I was able to get up and walk around with seriously no pain (except for an aching back from intense back labor). It’s amazing how quickly my body has been able to ‘jump back,’ which I totally credit to a short/natural labor.

Extra bonus? Remy Bea’s head is super round — almost like a c-section baby! — because she spent literally like 30 seconds in my birth canal. LOL!

So to the doctors, the nurses, and the entire staff at Summa Akron City Hospital, I thank you for your love, support and guidance throughout my labor!

PS. I asked Chad to get a vasectomy before I even met Remy Bea. Ha! Yep, natural labor sucked.

Remy Bea // Birth Story Part 1

January 27, 2016 by Rachel 4 Comments

Bear with me… this is a bit lengthy…

Guys. I was desperate — absolutely desperate — to go into labor. On Thursday of last week, my due date, I saw my OB. I was only 2 centimeters dilated and not at all effaced. I was incredibly disappointed that the next words out of his mouth were that we would be scheduling an induction for 41 weeks. To be honest, I don’t think I would have gone through with the induction, but the pressure of hearing that word was enough to send me into a near-panic.

I was discouraged and in so. much. pain. I could barely walk. The suggestion of sex to induce labor (which was made by my doctor twice), was met with a half-hearted smile from me and a “yeah I can barely move, let alone have sex,” comment. So I decided to do the next best thing — mall-walk with Ari.

My parents ended up coming into town for a family emergency Thursday evening, but they weren’t around on Friday. So Ari and I went to the mall by ourselves (I know, not necessarily the smartest move going solo). I pushed him in his umbrella stroller and just walked and walked and walked. After just about 15 minutes, I started feeling some pain in my lower back/tailbone area. It lasted for like a minute and then would go away for about 10 minutes before returning. I brushed it off, thinking that I was imagining things; but continued to walk.

After about an hour of (super slow) walking, I had to stop during the pains. I just stood there, gripping Ari’s stroller, holding myself up. People at the mall were just staring at me; not certain what was going on (truthfully, people were surprised I was 40+ weeks pregnant. So they probably had no idea). I called Chad and told him what was going on and told him I was stopping by the grocery store + then heading home.

I continued to have ‘contractions’ and to time them. They were consistently about 5-7 minutes apart, with no breaks. I called my mom and dad and they decided to come back to our house from where they had gone. But until they got back to our house, and until Chad came home from work, I was solo with Ari — just laboring away.

I’m so grateful the contractions were relatively short, because that was the only way I held my s**t together with a toddler in my face. I still didn’t think I was really laboring because I had no telltale signs of what I remembered as “labor”:

No mucous plug; no diarrhea; no swelling/contracting of my upper abdomen at all; no clear-as-day signs like I had with Ari. None of it.

But I continued to track it. And continued to have a “normal” evening.

We went to dinner at a local Thai restaurant. I made sure not to overeat, just in case. I would pause once in awhile for a more intense contraction. And even after dinner, we went to the store to get Chad some snacks ‘just in case’ we were in for a long night. We didn’t even get home til after 8:30. Chad put Ari down for bed; I took a shower; contractions kept coming. I tried to let them slide but eventually they became intense enough to where I was no longer able to speak through them.

And then I had to change positions to get comfortable during them… which happened to be in a modified childs’ pose on the floor. And finally, after my parents went to bed, I told Chad that he needed to come down and help me through them.

The contractions were 2 minutes apart for about 30 minutes. Then they became inconsistent… 2 minutes. 3 minutes. 5 minutes. 7 minutes. 3 minutes. 10 minutes. 2 minutes. 3 minutes. But they were consistently occurring. And painful enough that I was standing up and leaning forward against a wall to make it through them.

I decided to call my OB. Chad was unsure if it was ‘time,’ but I was sure that my contractions were happening for long enough to warrant a call. At 12:30 AM on Saturday, my OB answered and then I had a contraction. I couldn’t talk to him. And he knew it was time. And told us to go to the hospital and get checked out. So we took a half hour to gather up our belongings and pack up our car (ie. get the car seats loaded back in since I had cleaned/vacuumed out the car).

We arrived at the ER at 1:30AM on Saturday and had to go through the main entrance, not Labor + Delivery triage. Apparently the ER said that I was the fifth person trying to get to L&D that night — and it was a full moon! Whaaaat? Should have known…

Hello, World!

January 25, 2016 by Rachel 5 Comments

Miss Remy Bea decided to make her grand entrance Saturday morning!

It was a long, but good, weekend. We came home last night and got settled in as a family of four. Ari is in love. We’re all in love!

I can’t wait to tell you all about it. But for now, I’m going to soak in a little time with my little family. ♥

postpartum fitness // wishes + plans

January 17, 2016 by Rachel 1 Comment

I know I’m not postpartum yet, but gosh, I cannot wait to get back to feeling like myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’m giving myself as much time as necessary to heal, postpartum. However, this warmer than usual winter has had me in a bit of a jealous fit from time to time. Especially since it’s been absolutely perfect running weather up until recently. And here I am, barely able to walk up the stairs without peeing myself. Ha!

Postpartum, however, I will not let a little pee stop me from getting my workout on! Thank goodness for Depend Silhouette Active Fit womens briefs. Trust me, I know I will need them after this child is born (heck, I need them now!). And I totally know that I’m not alone! In fact, more people have bladder leakage in their 20s than people in their 80s! And if you’re a mom, you probably know what I mean!

Barre Fly. This studio opened up in Canton a while back and I’ve been dying to try out their aerial yoga! And I’m sure it will feel awesome on my postpartum hips! And perhaps I can even (finally) check out a barre class!
Balance + Brews. Basically, yoga in a brewery. Umm, yes please! Again, these started like right around the time I found out I was pregnant. I’ve been itching to get to one of these classes, because, beer… and stretching!
PureMvmnt. I’ve always wanted to try pole classes. However, I have zero rhythm and absolutely no core strength nowadays. This space was created to empower women! And what better way than by building core strength.
Believe In CLE. I missed the last couple of Believe in CLE yoga events and I’m dying to get back to a huge practice!
GrooveRyde. Dying to try out this new cycling and yoga studio!

Luckily when I head out on my new fitness adventures, no one will have a clue that I’m struggling with some light bladder leakage. And I’ll be spreading #underwareness because they are SO discreet! With a lower rise, Depend Silhouette Active Fit briefs both fit and feel like real underwear — so I don’t have to worry about something embarrassing happening while I’m doing aerial yoga. Ha!

You can try them out for yourself for FREE! Get a free sample here and check out how Depend is entering year three of #Underwareness, a social movement and charitable cause to break down the bladder leakage stigma! And most of all, don’t let a little bladder leakage hold you back from getting out there and moving!!

Many thanks to Depend for sponsoring today’s story and spread #underwareness cause.

A PSA to our friends + family // It’s not you, it’s me.

January 13, 2016 by Rachel 5 Comments

It’s not you. It’s us. Well technically, it’s both.

This may be the most uncomfortable blog post I’ve ever written. But here it goes: We will not be accepting visitors for a few days after this baby is born.

If you’re nodding but saying “Surely, she doesn’t mean ME, though“. Sadly, yes.

Let me explain:

After ari was born my need to please was on a roll. We had a constant parade of visitors at our house. Meanwhile, I had to keep it clean. And here’s where all of you say “but we don’t care if your house is a mess!” But see, I do. And *I* want it clean for visitors.

Plus, I was having major troubles nursing. So I was pumping. A lot. Like once an hour or so. That alone was exhausting. Add in a colicky baby, adjusting to motherhood, and the physical and mental trauma of labor and delivery that is so often ignored by our society, and enter a severe case of PPD.

See? I told you it was me. But it’s definitely also you. But don’t take offense. It’s just our culture.

Other cultures tend to the postpartum mother and give her a chance to bond with her baby (see this article). But ours gets googly-eyed over newborns and clings to just “5 minutes” of holding them. And it can be a bit overwhelming. I know. I’ve been the visitor before. But after having gone through it, I can honestly say that I am so much more conscious of the fact that a family needs time to heal and time to bond.

So this time around we’re taking some time for ourselves as a family. I’m not naive. I know this transition from a family of three to a family of four will be challenging. And as much as I appreciate the well-wishes that come with a new baby; I truly and desperately need some time this time around. ♥ So please, please, don’t take offense. Just give us some space and some time and we’ll let you know when we’re accepting visitors.