MASSIVE Update!

 Clearly it's been a hot minute since I've last updated this blog and boy oh boy do I have A LOT to update to you all! 

The last blog entry was June 14th and FIVE days later, I woke up in the middle of the night going into June 19th going into labor! I had always joked with our family that I was probably going to go into labor early with this little guy; however, I never anticipated two weeks early! Let alone the day after Father's day! 

The day itself was actually spent pretty relaxed. My husband got to hang out, relax and we even took Lou to the local city park and fishing(where my husband accidentally got a hook through his finger and needed to go get an updated tetanus shot since it had been an embarrassingly long time since he had last gotten one). After bath time, bedtime stories and Lou was tucked away into bed, we settled down for the evening ourselves catching up on whatever TV show we were watching at the time(I think it was probably Sopranos...but to be fair I couldn't quite remember). 

All I remember was feeling really tired and wanting to go to bed, so I went to the bathroom and noticed a 'warm' feeling that I quickly disregarded as me just peeing at a little after midnight. I tried to get. back into bed, but noticed a radiating cramping from my lower back to my abdomen area(again, disregarding because I had been having Braxton hicks for WEEKS up to this point). I tried to relax, but simply couldn't get comfortable, so instead of tossing and turning in bed I decided to go out to the couch and see if that helped. When I was pregnant with Lou for the last two weeks the couch was my bed because I could wedge myself into a comfortable position. 

WELL, that was NOT how this was going to go. 

The cramping started to intensify and it suddenly clicked "Oh....I need to start timing these". So I got out my Ovia app and started the contraction timer and noticed they were intensifying and getting closer and closer together. I decided to call nurse triage at that point and once connected to the nurse hotline they instructed me to go to the hospital, because it sounded like I was going into labor. By that point, my husband heard me talking on the phone and something instinctual kicked in as if saying "It's go time!". LUCKILY we had our bags already packed(all 3 of us) and we scooped up my poor 4 year old out of bed and headed over to my friend's house who was on baby watch to take care of our 4 year old while we were in the hospital. 

I remember sitting in the front seat, nearly in tears because the contraction pain hurt SO bad and my sweet, four year old saying "It's going to be okay mommy, I love you" in the back seat. We eventually made it to the hospital around 2:15 AM, where they took down our information and went to check to see if my waters had broken. Sure enough, my amniotic sack had ruptured and we were going to have a baby! 

This birth was SO different compared to our first where he was 3 days late and I had to evict him out via induction, and although I went into this kind of wanting to go without an epidural I decided after a couple hours of labor pains I personally NEEDED it. While waiting for the anesthesiologist, the only way I could get comfortable was standing up, leaning over the bed and having Hubs put counter pressure on my back through every time I would feel a contraction. Needless to say, I was very happy once the anesthesiologist came into the room with his kit. I laugh at the conversation we had because it literally went like this. 

Anesthesiologist: Have you had one before? 

Me: Yes. 

Anesthesiologist: Do you have any questions? 

Me: No.

Anesthesiologist: Do you just want me to start? 

Me: YES! 

THANK GOD for epidurals, because once the meds kicked in I was able to relax for a couple of hours, look at my phone(message my contact at work to let her know I would NOT be showing up to my shift the next day) and wait for baby to come. I swear, my kids always want to come during shift changes, because once the OBGYN was about to clock off, that's when I started feeling a little pressure(again nothing like my first where I felt EVERYTHING) and requested for the nurse to check me. I'm pretty sure the poor L&D nurse almost went into panic mode because baby boy was RIGHT there and the doctor barely had time to get into his gown before it was time to push. 

12 minutes of active pushing I had my sweet, beautiful, BROWN haired little boy in my arms! 

I'm not going to share his name, nor his face as I'm wanting to respect and protect my boys' identities through the internet, but for the sake of the blog I will add his little nickname we have for him here like we do for Lou's, Wooly Bear. 

Hence my 12 week absence to the blog. It's been a wild 12 weeks adjusting to a mom of two, navigating through our breastfeeding journey as well as discovering that Wooly Bear has a food intolerance that we discovered around week 4. 

So that in itself has been a wild ride that we're still navigating through and I'm sure I will write more about it being as I am now dairy free and working on being wheat/gluten free as we continue on our breastfeeding journey. 

In addition to the food sensitivity, we also discovered after taking him to an IBCLC he had a severe tongue and lip tie, which made reflux symptoms awful as well as nursing to be painful for me.  Luckily we got it correct and he's been nursing great ever since! 

Now at 12 weeks my supply is starting to regulate, which scares me since I always had an over supply with Lou and with Wooly I have just enough to feed him, which is great; however, I always liked to have a little extra...especially since I may never be able to use any of the milk I have frozen pre-dairy/ wheat/gluten(if the later two are the culprit). 

Other than that, the four of us are adjusting well to being a family of four. Big brother is completely over the moon in love with him and always wants to hold him AND Big Brother also started Preschool this year! That in itself nearly made me want to bawl my eyes out seeing him so grown up with his Spiderman backpack and brand new dinosaur shoes we picked out especially for his school year. 

I can't wait to continue to share my journey through motherhood with you all and I hope you all enjoy this journey together. 

-xoxo Midwest Mommie

Where the Wild Things Are: Our First trip to the Omaha Zoo(Weekend Recap)

 Whew! What a weekend! 

Most weekends in the DeMoss household tend to be nothing short of crammed with fun activities for this family of three. Since Hubs and I both work full time, Monday through Friday, we tend to try to fit in at least one fun activity for the family to enjoy compensating for the hectic work week filled with day care drop offs and pick-ups, cooking dinner and of course working the traditional 9-5 job(in my case 8-4). One of our really good friends from high school moved to Blair, NE a few years back, and each year we make an effort to go out and visit him and his family for a weekend. They actually live only 30 minutes away from the Henry Doorly Zoo(Omaha Zoo) so after careful planning the DeMosses and Smiths decided to plan a trip out to the zoo. 

I ended up being off work  on Friday due to me needing to attend a memorial service for my uncle that had passed away in December during the heat of the pandemic here in Iowa. I dropped off Lou at day care around his usual time and then headed straight to the service that was located in Kamrar, IA(which was about a hour drive).  I was driving solo(Hubs needed to work) so to bide my time and make my hour drive a little more bearable I put on Bailey Sarian and listened to her episode about a twisted love triangle. I always joke to Hubs that he would never be able to premeditate a murder because I would see it coming with all the true-crime shows/podcast/movies I watch.

 It was a lovely memorial service, and it was nice to see how loved and celebrated my uncle was. He most certainly will be missed. After the memorial service, I ran home to finish up some last minute errands(post office, grocery store, etc.) before packing for our trip. I'm a BAD procrastinator when it comes to packing and always wait until the very last minute to pack up everything Lou and I will need for the weekend. 

Luckily, Hubs got off early himself and was able to help gather everything we needed and load it up in the SUV. We opted to bring our big stroller instead of our pop-up, umbrella stroller we use at our local zoo and of course we couldn't forget the pack n' play for Liam. We also had ordered a stroller fan from Amazon due to the weather being rather steamy the past few weeks. Here is the one that we purchased, we liked it because it had a rechargeable battery and was able to wrap around the stroller(or any base) securely. 

The original plan had been to pick up Lou from day care, hang out at home for about a hour, and then drive the 2.5 hours to Blair, NE. Since Josh had gotten off earlier than expected, and we were already loaded up, we saw no point of unloading Lou only to load him back up again 30-45 minutes later(and risk a nuclear toddler meltdown). So we decided it best to just drive to day care together and then head out from there. We ended up stopping at a Casey's just before we headed outside of town to pick up the essential snack items(which can be also be found on the impromptu anniversary weekend getaway post) with a few alternations(a juice for Liam and nerds rope for me-been craving them lately) and checked on our tire pressure before making our trek to Nebraska. 

Honestly, I'm so surprised and happy with how good Lou did on that long car ride. Usually after about a hour in the car seat he gets a little restless and wants to be out of the car. I really can't blame him because I'm the exact same way(I've never been a fan of road trips). It probably helped that we also had his iPad charged up and plenty of snacks on hand in case he needed them. I totally recommend the following apps for the 2+ age range, they keep Lou entertained and also have some educational value to them so it feels like he's not JUST playing a video game: DuckDuckMoose's Fish School & DuckDuckMoose's Trucks are two of our favorites(and the best part is they are 100% FREE). 

We made excellent time and were at our friend's house around 7 PM. By that time we were ALL ready to get out and stretch out legs as we started to lug in everything to the house and get Liam set up before we could relax and visit with our friends. Hubs and his buddy, Smitty, ended up popping out to the local grocery store to grab a frozen pizza for us, milk and some adult beverages for the weekend. While the boys were out running that errand, the girls(and Lou) hung out downstairs and just caught up(which we joked there really wasn't much to catch up on because it felt like there really hadn't been anything new or exciting happening in our lives). Lou and I ended up tucking in relatively early for the evening, opting to get some rest for our big day ahead of us. 

The next morning was a fairly early one since we wanted to get to the zoo right when it opened. So after we were showered, dressed, and I had a cup of coffee in me(I cannot function without at least one) we were already to load up into our vehicles and head out to the zoo where we were meeting another set of mutual friends with their two littles. If you ever have the opportunity to go to the Omaha Zoo, DO IT! Seriously, this place is massive and they keep adding onto it with attractions and exhibits. Since we are members of the Blank Park Zoo, we got 50% off our tickets and Lou got in for free due to him being only two. We also opted to add on the String Ray package for an addition $4 per person leaving the grand total of our zoo visit to be just a little over $33(that's a steal!). 

The first year that Hubs and I went to the zoo together(about three years ago) they hadn't completed the Safari Exhibit where they were getting elephants, so that was totally on my priority list to go see. We ended up working backwards through the zoo exhibits, leaving the desert dome and the aquarium for last as we left the zoo. The weather was honestly perfect, it never getting about 85 degrees, but needless to say I was happy we had purchased the stroller fan and I got a little bit of sun on my shoulders. We ended up breaking a couple of times, once around 11 AM to grab a hot dog and another time around 1 PM for the littles to have a snack break. The really cool thing about the Omaha zoo is they allow you to bring in your picnic lunches, so if you're looking for a way to cut cost that is totally the way to do it! 

After our little snack break(I might've gotten Lou and I a strawberry sundae to share) we headed towards the aquarium(my favorite exhibit). The aquarium is MASSIVE and has an array of fish as well as other sea creatures and aquatic animals(puffins and penguins). The place was crowded, so unfortunately we did more of a quick walk through much to my disappointment, but by the time we exited the aquarium Hubs and I both agreed it was time to probably head out...so we decided to skip the desert dome. Besides, Lou was tuckered out and was in dire need of his nap that had been pushed off an extra 30 minutes in favor of finishing up the zoo. 

We ended up meeting our friend's back at their place and we grilled steaks, potatoes, corn on the cob and asparagus for dinner. After a busy, fun filled day Lou didn't even fight me to go to bed at 8 PM and I followed suit around 10 PM after visiting with our friends a little while. 

(I think it's safe to say someone got spoiled at the zoo with TWO new stuffed friends-Thanks Uncle Smitty!)

Hubs and I ended up sleeping in a little later than we had wanted to(albeit the brief wake-up period at 7 AM that Lou thought we needed) and rose up around 10 AM. We showered, got dressed, and I made myself a cup of coffee as we gathered up our things and got ready to pack up for our long trip home. On the way out we ended up stopping at a gas station to fuel up(jealous of the gas prices over there!) and stocked up on some more snacks before it was time to hit the road. 

We really did make excellent time, other than the brief detour we had to take to avoid construction, and all three of us were happy to be home(our dog was especially happy to see us!).  I always joke that the worst part of vacation is coming home from vacation and doing all the odds and ends things to get ready for the work week ahead of us, such as: laundry, getting our house back in order and decompressing from the weekend. 

Needless to say, we had an amazing time and cannot wait to visit with our Nebraska friends again!(hopefully we'll get to see them soon and not wait a whole year!).