I will do individual "posts" on some of these events, but I am just going to lay it out here in bullets:
- In January, my husband started a law enforcement academy. This entailed 16 weeks of him leaving the house on Sunday evening and not returning until Friday afternoon. Thankfully, he was able to call most nights to talk to Kale and check on me. I was 20 weeks pregnant when he started the academy.
- We put our house up for sale. We knew there was a small chance we would be "placed" in Pulaski county, but we also knew there was a greater chance we would be moved to an adjacent county or even further away. Ever tried to be 20+ weeks pregnant, chase a 3 year old, work full time, and keep a house "show worthy" on a daily basis? I do NOT recommend it. Thankfully, my mom came running anytime I needed her help. Between the help of my mom and watching a show on Lifetime called "Coming Home", I kept my sanity (mom) and perspective (show).
- Somewhere in here, we started packing. Part of our stuff went to storage. Our house was 2000+ sq ft and we were pretty certain that our next place might not be that big. Ever tried to pack a house and still live in it for an undetermined amount of time? I don't recommend that either!
- The first week of April, my blood pressure started climbing. Given my experience in my last pregnancy, my doctor sent me home on bed rest. He thankfully allowed me to work 4 hours each day from home and my employer agreed. However, that four hours was either from the bed, couch, or chair with my feet propped up. I started going to the doctor weekly, getting to pee in a jug for 24 hours each week, and visited the hospital for a short (4 hours or 12 hours) stay three different times over the next 7 weeks. Doc let me know that one little hint that I wasn't following my strict orders and my tail would be confined to the hospital. I played by the rules. This is pretty much where I took my mom hostage Sunday night through Friday afternoon.
- My husband got his first assignment (location) and his graduation was nearing. He was headed to Sebastian county. Our house still had not sold. I had a baby to birth in Little Rock (not changing docs or hospitals). His graduation was April 28th. He reported for duty in Sebastian county on May 1. The rest of us were still in Little Rock. I fully took my mom hostage.
- We got a date. After almost 38 weeks of carefully growing our little girl, it was decided that she would arrive via c-section on May 17th and be full term. Yay!
- Scout Gracyn Fletcher was born at 1:23pm on May 17th at 8lbs and 5oz. She was 20 inches long. Her daddy watched as they pulled her out of me, just like he did with her big brother. The next thing I know, my little girl is looking over the top of the drape at me (thank you Dr Breniman for doing that!) before she was whisked away to get cleaned up. After several minutes went by without them bringing her to me, I knew something was wrong. Scout had managed to get some fluid in/around her lungs and the nurses weren't happy with how her breathing sounded. So, to ensure her entry into the world was dramatic like her big brother's, off to the NICU she went. We kept her NICU room quiet and visitor free to let her rest and heal. The only person in our family who saw her on her day of birth was her big brother. Everyone else had to wait. Its not easy explaining to your family that they have to wait yet another day to meet a new baby, but my husband did a marvelous job of managing that task. An EKG was done on Scout to eliminate her having the same heart condition as her brother. She does NOT have WPW. However, she showed the doc that she had a long QT wave at the time, so that resulted in a follow up EKG and cardiologist visit. Scout recovered quickly from her lung situation and was released to my hospital room about 10 minutes before we all left the hospital. We had spent 30-60 minute blocks of time with her in the NICU. This straight from NICU to home thing came back to haunt me.
- Scout came home, her brother finally got to touch her instead of just look at her, and all was well for a few hours. Then mommy promptly started falling apart. Call it what you will, but I believe it was a small case of post traumatic stress combined with postpartum emotions and hormones. I was completely bombarded by anxiety, fear, and emotions. I stopped being able to keep food in my body. It was a very rough few days.
- We took Scout to the pediatrician on Monday and got a clean bill of health. We took her to get her follow up EKG on Tuesday and waited to hear back on that.
- On Wednesday, I managed to get an appt with my doc to get control over whatever was going on in my body. On our way there, with Kale and Scout in the truck with us, we got rear ended in my mom's Yukon. Traffic was stopped. We stopped. The car behind us did not and was pretty much totaled. The Yukon stood up like a concrete wall and that amazed me. I still look at the back of my mom's truck in amazement. We eventually made it to the doctor. I told the nurse that maybe the accident would snap me out of whatever was going on within my body. Apparently, I was right. That evening, I was starting to feel better and it was all uphill from there.
- Somewhere along the way, we came to the decision that we were not going to continue living in two separate places after Scout was born. So, pretty much for the week following me/Scout coming home from the hospital, our house was being packed. We had some generous help from family and a few close friends. By the Friday that Scout was 10 days old, our house was empty and the keys were handed over to our renters. I don't recommend having a baby and moving all in 10 days either.
- We arrived at our rental house in Greenwood and it took us all of a week to decide that a 1400 sq ft house is not big enough for these four Fletchers! Yet, here we are. The unpacking commenced and is still ongoing.
- Somewhere in the moving madness, one of us got strep. Scout is the only one who escaped it. I don't ever recommend getting strep, but I REALLY don't recommend getting it on the backside of having a baby and moving.
- It didn't take long for Kale to be sick of his mommy 24/7. Each day he would ask me "mommy, what are we going to do here today"? He didn't quite understand or like the reply of "Kale, its hotter than hades outside and you have a newborn sister...we aren't doing much besides taking care of your sister, playing with toys, and watching tv." He kept begging to go outside. That is when I started looking at summer daycare options. He has been enrolled now for 2 weeks and it is working out well so far. He gets to play with kids his age and not hear me telling him no constantly. I get to keep what little sanity I have left.
- I have quietly started looking for work here. As of Friday, my employer now knows I have moved and will not be returning from maternity leave (unless they let me work remotely, which I doubt). I actually had a job interview last week. Notifying my current employer was what required all of the chaos above to be kept quiet as it was ongoing. I didn't feel comfortable with the stability of my job situation and wanted to be sure that I would have my maternity leave.
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