Updates!!

Figured I'd take this moment of quiet to finally update on here!

I'm very happy to announce that on June 7th at 6:23 pm we welcomed our little boy, Samuel James Maida, into the world. He was 8 lbs 5 oz and 20.5 inches long (although my mom and I think they measured him wrong, he looks much longer!!) I was in labor for 16 hours. It was the most painful, and yet rewarding experience of my life. I wanted to go all natural, and I was able to do so. Although I won't lie, there were definitely a few moments where I was totally ready to give up. I got through it though, and I'm proud of myself for that. I'll post my birth story on here, but don't worry, I won't go into any gory details ;)


Sam's Birth Story 6/7/11

Around 2:30am on Tuesday the 7th I was woken up by a crazy tightening, squeezing feeling in my stomach. I assumed it was a contraction, but having nothing to compare it to, I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. So I pulled up the contraction timer app on my phone and waited to see if these feelings would come and go in any sort of pattern. Sure enough, they were lasting 45 seconds to a minute and coming and going between 5 and 7 minutes apart. I let James sleep for a while (I love him, but he's a grouch if you wake him up) because I was kinda paranoid that the contractions would stop. It was 4 days past my due date, but I was seriously starting to feel like there was no possible way I'd EVER actually go into labor. Around maybe 4 o'clock (ish) I woke James up to tell him that I was definitely having contractions and that I wanted to walk around to make sure they weren't going to stop. He said that was fine, but that he wanted to go back to sleep for a little while because (in his words) he wouldn't be any use to me later in the day without more sleep. So I started to pace our apartment. The contractions were definitely coming stronger, I couldn't walk through them so when they would come I'd lean over a counter or whatever I was near and breathe through them as best I could. Sometime around 5:30ish I couldn't handle it alone anymore so I went in the bedroom and woke James up. He started packing himself a bag (mine was already packed) and called work to let them know it was finally time for the baby to come. He then called the hospital to tell them that my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart, but that I wanted to labor at home as long as possible. They told him since it was my first baby they'd be okay with me staying at home until my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart for 2 hours, and to call when we were on our way. I braided my hair (it took forever because I had to keep stopping to breathe through a contraction) and we turned on "The Office" I sat on my big exercise ball for a while and that helped, but it didn't take too long for my contractions to start coming 2-3 minutes apart. We called the hospital and left the apartment around 8:30. Having contractions in the car was TERRIBLE, I couldn't wait to just get there. Luckily morning rush hour traffic was over so it didn't take too long. When we finally got to the hospital we, thankfully, got a very close parking spot and headed inside. Had to stop twice on the way in for a contraction. Probably scared the crap out of a few Jr. Marines passing by outside the hospital. hahaha

Once in the hospital they put me in a wheelchair and put me in a triage room. They hooked me up to monitors and checked me. I was 8 centimeters already! But my water hadn't broken yet, and the nurse explained that it was possible that when my water did break I could go down to 6 or 7 cm, but I was definitely in (very) active labor. So I was admitted and taken to my room. It was the one room in Labor and Delivery with a tub, but I never did get in it. My contractions were strong enough that I could barely move, and I was already exhausted. When they told me that my Dr. was the one on call up on Labor and Delivery that day I nearly cried I was so happy. I continued to breathe through my contractions, almost breaking all of James' fingers in the process. At some point (I had no sense of time at this point) my Dr. came in to check me. He said I was at 10 cm! So he broke my water and said I could push if I felt the need to. I pushed for a couple hours, but no progress was happening so I was checked again. Sadly I was back at 9 cm so I had to stop pushing. At this point I don't even think it was quite noon yet. I was at 9 cm for a looooooong time. The nurse had to sit by me wherever I was (standing with James, sitting on the ball, on the edge of the bed) and hold the monitor on because since my belly was so round the monitor kept slipping off and we weren't getting good readings of Sam's heartbeat. My Dr. came in after a few hours and said they were going to start me on some Pitocin to hopefully make me progress a little. I was scared because I knew Pitocin would make my contractions stronger and closer, but I was determined to still not have pain meds. They hung some Pitocin for me and sure enough, I felt the contractions even stronger. I was having some trouble staying focused, and in between contractions almost felt like I was passing out a bit. The nurse said it was because I was hyper-ventilating a bit during contractions. I had to have short/fast/puffy-type breaths to keep myself from pushing. Suddenly the nurse was telling me I needed to lie on my left side and a bunch of Drs came into my room really quickly. They explained that the baby's heartbeat was dropping too much during contractions and not coming back up fast enough. So I had to stay in bed lying on my left side with an oxygen mask on. After a while of that Drs came in and started talking c-section. They were not happy with Sam's heartrate at all. They said he was definitely in distress and we needed to get him out as quickly as possible. At that point I just wanted the pain to stop and for Sam to be okay so I wasn't going to try to stop them from giving me the c-section. So in between contractions I was signing consent forms. (At some point in all of this, my mom, dad, and Tommy arrived. Dad and Tommy went to the waiting room and my mom stayed in with me and James) While signing the consent forms and trying really hard to focus on what the Drs were explaining to me about the surgery. But then the urge to push became way too strong to resist and I started telling the Drs and nurses that over and over. Finally they checked me, I was still at 9 cm but the Dr (I was on my 3rd dr. of the day at that point I think...) said she could "help me push past that last bit" I won't go into detail on how that worked... So I started pushing with everything I had. It was pain like I've never felt or could have ever imagined. I pushed for such a long time, and at this point I was beyond exhausted. I wanted to cry like a baby and I just wanted it all to stop, but I just kept trying to breathe and think about my baby. He just wouldn't come out. And so the Dr. said we would try the vacuum. We had 3 tries to get him out with the help of the vacuum and if that didn't work I'd be immediately taken for an emergency c-section. They were still not happy with Sam's heartrate so I was trying to take as many deep, full breaths with the oxygen mask as I could in between pushes. James and my mom say that watching them use the vacuum was the most horrifying thing they've ever seen. I couldn't see it, but I can tell you it felt pretty horrifying as well :/ I pushed with everything I had, and FINALLY he came out. I couldn't hold him right away because they needed to check him. I found out later that he had had shoulder dystocia (his shoulder got stuck in my pelvis) and the cord was around his neck twice. We are VERY lucky that he came out crying and kicking and nice and pink. Shoulder dystocia, especially with the cord around his neck, can be extremely dangerous. James was able to cut his cord and once he got all checked out and cleaned up, I was finally holding my baby boy. It was so amazing to finally have him in my arms, and to know that we created this little person and he had grown inside me all those months, and there he was! Right there in my arms! Truly amazing, and truly a miracle.

So there it is. There's my birth story :) We're home now and Sam is doing great. He eats like a champ, and so far he's been sleeping pretty well at night. We have to wake him for feedings! At his 2 day appointment he had already started to gain back some of the weight he lost after his birth. They told me to keep waking him to eat every 3 hours, but as long as he's gaining weight well at his 2 week checkup, we can start stretching his feedings out at night. I definitely hope we can do that because a little extra sleep will most definitely help. The 2 hours of sleep I get between feedings is definitely good because they add up to a good bit of sleep each night, but I definitely don't feel as rested as I would with a few more hours of straight sleep. All in all we really can't complain though.

I will definitely post some pictures of our incredibly adorable little man next time I post. And I'd like to start using this blog some more now. Sam keeps me pretty busy, but I can already tell that finding little things to do for myself will be helpful. And blogging is something I'd like to get into some more. So hopefully I will!

Next post... pictures :)

Busy Busy Busy!!

Can you say NESTING??!! Not only am I entering the 3rd trimester of my pregnancy and so wanting to make everything perfect for my son, but we're also into the home stretch of this deployment and I want to have everything perfect for my husband! You know what's terrible about this nesting?? We don't move into our new apartment for another month. All I want to do is set up the nursery, and make our home look generally amazing. But instead I'm having to tear the apartment apartment apart and box things up. At least once we move I'll be able to do all the nesting I want :)

Sometime in the past week or so I've been really realizing all these awesome things we have coming up, and how much I need to do to prepare for them! The first thing, I leave for a visit to PA on Friday! Almost 2 whole weeks to spend at home with my family. :) Then I head off to the first competition that my students are in. Then... James will be coming home!! Then we will be going away for the weekend to celebrate, a belated Valentines Day (since we weren't able to spend the actual day together), James' homecoming, Christmas (we're using a gift card that was a Christmas gift for the getaway) some good relaxation before moving to the new place, and our 'babymoon' (last vacation without our baby!) Definitely looking forward to that weekend! Then we'll be moving, and hopefully getting a new car. THEN it's baby time! :) So much to do, pack, and get ready. And SO much to look forward to!!

On that note, I should probably get off the computer and get to work! :)

It's rainy and I'm sick... oh what a combo...

I don't hate rainy days. I actually enjoy them most of the time. What I hate is a rainy day when I'm sick and my husband is gone. :/ I woke up in the middle of the night feeling sick and now I'm just lying in bed feeling like crap. And I thought I said good-bye to nausea when I said good-bye to my frist trimester... Ugh, I think I probably caught a stomach bug from one of my students. Those kids are crawling with germs when I see them for ballet class after school. Hopefully though this is just one of those quick bugs. Here and gone in a day. Hopefully.

So we're about 2 weeks into this stinkin South America deployment. The beginning is always the hardest, I can feel it getting easier already. I hope that means that I'm getting over that awful 'beginning of deployment hump'. It still sucks though. I of course love my husband with all that I am and wish he was here simply so that he could be HERE and not THERE. But the selfish, and let's be honest, whiny part of me is coming out today and I want him here because I need to go to the grocery store for some Gatorade and crackers and I just don't want to get out of bed. Like I said, selfish and whiny.

Sometimes I think, or I okay I KNOW that I complain far too much. Especially when James is gone because I just miss him so much. It's one of my pet peeves about myself. I really need to stop complaining. He's on a non-combat deployment. He's not going to be gone very long at all in comparison to a combat deployment. After this he's changing from a regular old grunt to a combat instructor at SOI. Non-deployable until 2015. When he is home he's an incredibly supportive, helpful, and loving husband. He doesn't spend hours on end playing video games, even though he loves them. Instead he'll play on the nights when I'm off teaching my classes. He makes every effort to spend as much time with me as possible, is quick to do or say something sweet and/or romantic, and tells me he loves me multiple times every single day. I have a family (in-laws included) who love and support both of us in everything we choose to do. I have a close group of friends, both here and back at home who are always there for me. I'm so lucky to get to experience the miracle of having a life growing inside me, and in just a few months we'll get to meet our first son. I have a passion that's been with me my whole life, and I'm lucky enough to keep that passion alive when I'm teaching ballet classes. And I have the freedom to wake up each day in a country where I can choose to live as I want, and with pride! Knowing that my husband is one of the ones out there fighting for that freedom...

There. I feel better. Sometimes I get so caught up in the day-to-day silly complaints, that I truly forget how many blessings I really have. My goal for this year (I don't really like the term 'New Years Resolution' because when I hear that I always think of stupid diet plans that don't last into February. So it sounds better to me to say 'goal') Anyway, goal for this year: Complain less and count blessings more. Especially because I don't want to be one of those new moms who complains about their baby 24/7. Whenever I hear that I think, "Well why did you choose to get pregnant and have a child in the first place?" I know I'll be sleep deprived, I know I'll get frustrated and that the housework won't always be done, I know I'll be covered in spit up and maybe won't get out of the house as much as I'd like, but I'll have a precious little baby boy. Sure I'll have my bad days, but I hope to be the kind of mother who finds the good in everything and doesn't dwell on the stress and who doesn't sit around counting the hours of missed sleep. I want to enjoy my baby, and I know that I will :)

This post is kind of all over the place isn't it? haha It's actually really helped me out of my funk a little bit. My stomach is still queasy, I still have a headache, and I still miss my husband more than words can say. I'm just a whole lot less grumpy than I was when I started to type. So I will call this a successful blog post :) And off I go to the grocery store for a little Gatorade...

One of those days...

Today has been one of those days where I just don't want to do anything. I'm exhausted from my lack of sleep due to stress and James being gone and I'm feeling supremely lazy. Lucky for me, I didn't have anything to do today anyway. The house is clean, there were no errands to run, I didn't have any plans with friends, and no ballet classes to teach. And so I gave in. Movies and computer and books in bed. Can week 1 of this deployment be over now? Please? I hate the first week of seperation from my husband. Obviously I don't like being away from him ever, but the first week is always the worst. I know staying busy is the key to getting through a deployment, and today I'm doing the exact opposite of keeping busy. But it just feels like this is what I need today.

You know what's the worst part of the day when he's gone? Right as the sun starts going down. Normally that would be when he's getting home, and I'm starting dinner. We'd talk about the day we each had, we'd eat dinner and he'd help me with the dishes, and then usually we'd watch a movie or some tv before bed. Maybe it doesn't seem like anything special, but it is. So now when the sun starts to go down, regardless of what I'm doing or who I'm with, it just hits me like a punch in the stomach. :( This time apart seems harder than other's we've been through for some reason. It's not like we're not used to be apart. We know how to be apart, we've had to do it so many times that we're good at it. Maybe its the pregnancy hormones making me feel extra emotional. Or maybe its the weather, I never like this time of year. I like winter during the holdiays when everything and everybody is so excited and rushing around. But January to March winter... no thank you. :(







As hard as it is. As much as I miss my amazing, wonderful husband. I have something to help me through the rough moments. Little Sam growing in my belly. Whenever I'm feeling especially sad or lonely, he starts wiggling around and kicking in there. And just knowing that a part of James is with me at all times, this perfect little boy who I already love so much, makes everything easier to bear.



This post is not exactly upbeat is it? But I'm okay. Tomorrow I'll get up and stay busy all day. But for the rest of today, I'm going to have pizza for dinner and watch a sappy movie or two. I'll think about how much I love my husband, and how much he loves me too. How happy I'll be when James is home in a couple months, and complete our family will feel when we finally meet little Sam in June. So much for us to look forward to :)

Long time!

I slacked a bit on my posts didn't I? That's an understatement... hehe Let's see if I can do a recap of the past 6 months...

Before I pick up where I left off (the wedding) 1 bit of exciting news first! We're expecting our first baby!! I'm exactly 20 weeks pregnant today (halfway there!) We found out last week that we're having a little boy :) Due June 3rd! So incredibly happy! But more about the baby later... let's start with the wedding...

Our wedding was absolutely beautiful. A perfect AMAZING day! (Just a recap... We married officially in a courthouse on May 28th in order to get all the military paperwork taken care of. In August we had a ceremony and reception at my parents house in order to celebrate our marriage with family and friends) The week leading up to the wedding was crazy busy with crafts and cooking, it was definitely a DIY wedding :) When the big day finally came it was everything I could have hoped for and more. We saw a lot of friends and family who we hadn't seen in a long time. The food ended up being absolutely perfect (although I only know this from other people's comments and from eating leftovers the next day. I didn't get a chance to eat much on the actual day. And I had always said that I never understood brides who don't eat at their weddings, but there I was... too busy making the rounds and being way too excited to eat!) Here's a few pictures from our beautiful amazing wedding :)








So thankful for such an amazing day :)

After our wedding we spent some time at the beach which was lovely and relaxing and then we settled back into our normal routine. In the beginning of September I had a feeling that I just MIGHT be pregnant so I asked James to grab a few tests on his way home from work. I took a test the following morning when his alarm went off for work (at 0400... it was still dark. hahaha) and sure enough... it was positive! We were both ecstatically excited! Shortly thereafter I was struck down with 'morning' sickness (YEAH RIGHT... morning sickness is a ridiculous term. I felt nauseous 24/7) That finally starting lifting sometime around Thanksgiving as we started to gear up for James's deployment to South America, and for Christmas at home with our families.

James finished his reenlistment package and we were officially signed up for 4 more years. He was slated to deploy with his current unit to South America in January. Luckily it was a training mission-type of deployment. Military to Military training. Sharing info with the military down in South America. A short and safe deployment. The best kind! If he has to be away at least its short and at least its safe. Luckily our Dr. let us do our 20wk anatomy scan a week early and so James was able to be there for the ultrasound and we found out that its a boy! His name is going to be Samuel James.



That's little Sam's picture at 11wks. :) I started feeling him moving around in my belly around Christmas time, but I was sad because I figured it would be a while before those little flutters would be felt from the outside. So I thought it would be a long time before James got a chance to feel his son kicking away. WELL! One night I was reading in bed and James was watching tv in the living room and Sam was kicking away! So I had James come in and rest his hand on my belly. Sure enough! Within a couple minutes he felt some movement!! He then tapped my belly with his finger and said "Thank you for kicking for me little man. High five." And Sam 'high fived' right back! It brought tears to my eyes :)

James just left for South America and I'm taking it kind of hard. I won't harp on it too much right now because I know its always tougher for me in the beginning so I know I'll feel better soon. (plus this post is already super long) I just hope I can find plenty of things to keep me extremely busy so that the time goes as fast as possible. Can't wait to be back in his arms!

I think that's about it. Covers the big things that have happened in the past 6 months anyway :) Hopefully now I'll be able to go back to posting regularly!!

Wedding Bells Getting Close...

So on Saturday, I'll be marrying my husband (again). I left North Carolina this past Saturday and I'm spending the week at my parents house, since that's where the wedding is going to be held. Its nice because since we're already married, its like a lot of the pressure is off, and its hopefully just going to be a really great party with our families and really close friends. James will drive up here on Friday for the rehearsal. He's home alone in NC now.

Its so strange being apart this time. Its not like we've never been apart. But we had just started to settle into our husband-wife routine in our apartment, and now we're apart and its so strange. I'm guessing its probably a good sing that I'm feeling homesick for our little place. I guess that means that we're really settled. As soon as I got on the train this past Saturday to go to my parent's house, I immediately felt homesick. And then as the train drove through Quantico and a bunch of Marines got on board, I felt close to tears. I miss my husband. I miss my daily routine. I even mess picking up after him. I miss our evening routine of dinner, tv, talking, reading after he gets home from work. I just miss it. It is nice to be home with the family, its just the first time I've left my husband behind in our home. Maybe the reason this feels so strange is that I'm always the one being left behind, and this time I was the one doing the leaving. Hmmm... that's an interesting thought...

On a less melancholy note, my best friend from forever is coming home tomorrow to help get ready for the wedding. She's my maid of honor. We've been friends since we first danced together back when I was 10. We talk all the time, but lately we've only been seeing each other for 1 day once a year (if that). So I can't WAIT for her to be here tomorrow :) She's going to come over in the evening and then on Thursday she'll be here helping us cook (my mother is the caterer for this wedding... are we crazy? Yes probably, but I'll let you know how it goes) and then we'll go out to dinner and have a sleepover, like old times :) Its going to be a blast!

For now I just have to keep plugging away at my To-Do list, lots to do before Saturday, and hope that the next few days go by quickly. I can't wait to see my husband. And I can't wait to marry him again in front of all our family and friends :)

The Field

So James left for the field this morning. Short trip though. Should be back tomorrow. He was saying last night that for so long they've just been sitting around doing nothing and now that he's married, BOOM... they're in the field all summer. Its true. But like I said, this one's not so bad. Just one night alone.

Small update on the 2nd bedroom. I went through a couple piles of papers and filed them all away. Progress. Very small progress. But still, progress.

So on Saturday I'm hopping on the train and going home to see my family and to help get ready for our wedding ceremony that we're holding at my parents house next weekend. We got married in a courthouse in May so that we could get all our paperwork taken care of. BAH and my military ID and all of that. But now we're going to have our 'real' wedding at my parents house with all of our family members and a few friends. I'm excited :) Both to see my parents and brothers, and also for the wedding. It's going to be super super low key. Pretty much just a big family picnic. But its going to be so much fun and I can't wait :) After that James took a whole bunch of leave and we're going to hang out at home for a little while, and then go to the beach for 5 days. I'm going to start planning our beach menu sometime this week. Growing up my mom made a lot of lists, and we had written weekly menus on the fridge. And whenever we went on vacation, well that menu planning was pretty intense. And you know what they say, like mother like daughter :) I'm lucky to have such a good role model!

So my week is mainly going to be made up of list making. Packing lists for me. A list of things I'll need James to bring up when he comes for the wedding. Last minute wedding planning to-do lists. And packing lists and menus for our beach honeymoon. Good thing I love lists!