March Goals!
Already a few days in, but here are my "goals" for March. Did pretty decent on my February ones, so I'm hoping that writing out this list every month will keep me somewhat motivated. Some of these March goals are a continuation of what I didn't finish in February.
1. Get a redo passport photo for Cole and then take all of his documents that I gathered up in February into the post office and get his passport ordered. I could basically be done with this one if that idiot at Costco had done his job right. grr.
2. Get our taxes done. Yippeee totally my favorite thing in the world.
3. Print out Cole's 3 month pictures/pics off my phone for this month. When I finally printed everything from my phone since his birth a few days ago, I had 900 pictures to go through. Each month, I'm going to take my phone to Costco at the end of the month and print out what I want from that month. That way, I stay on top of it, add them to his albums, and keep up with his baby book.
4. Make a date with Erum and Nicole
5. Go on at least 1 date with my husband minus the baby. My parents will be back in town for Caleb's birthday, so hopefully they'll babysit. We don't have a babysitter yet besides Grandmas... we need to work on that.
6. Finish off the rest of the baby weight. I could probably knock that out with a 7 day cleanse but can't do that while breastfeeding so basically I need to cut out M&Ms for a month and I'll be fine. :)
7. Do at least 1 double digit run per week. I am running about 6 days a week right now, sometimes 5, sometimes 7. Most are about 6-8 miles. When I was training, I was doing 10+ mile runs every single week and I want to get back to doing at least one of those per week plus my other days of regular 6-8 mile runs. I'm not training for a specific marathon right now, but that doesn't mean I can't do some of the long runs. I miss those so much.
8. "Start" figuring out when and how much I'm going to go back to work. Right now, Jon doesn't want me working and to be honest, I'm not ready to leave the baby. But we need to start thinking about me getting back to the hospital, even if it's just a few shifts a month. I miss it.
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Monday, March 2, 2015
February Goals- Update!
Update on my February Goals:
Last month, I blogged about my goals for February... Looking back at them, I actually did pretty good... Here's how I did for February. My goals were:
1. Blog more! I need to catch up on the last few weeks of pregnancy posts and then Cole's birth and first month. I NEED to get those done before he gets any bigger and I get farther behind! I've been great about keeping up with his baby book, but I also plan to do a birth post and then posts for each month. I'm so sorry for the long zzzzz nap I've been taking away from the blog. We're just enjoying our new life here as a family of 3. (well 4 if you count Mady). Well, I did get his birth story written, and finished my pregnancy posts. Not amazing, but got somewhat caught up. I didn't blog a bunch of pictures of him... I put tons on Facebook, so check them out there. My FB name is Amy Nilles, so friend me if you haven't already, and you'll be able to see a zillion pictures of him.
2. Print out Cole's newborn pics and get them matted and framed Yay! Got this done this week. Printed out a ton of pictures and updated his baby book, put together an album of pics I've taken, and did 3 different displays in our house of pictures... We hung shelves with black and white pics in our family room, I did a small gallery wall in our dining area, and then I did a larger gallery wall going up the stairs. It feels great!
3. Get Cole's birth certificate and SS card and his passport ordered.... we are going international in a few months with our little guy... First family vacation will be to Mexico in June for my sister's wedding. Got this halfway done. His birth certificate is on the way to our house, I have his SS card, and I got his passport photo taken. Too bad the idiot at Costco didn't do the picture right and I have to go somewhere else and get it redone because Cole isn't looking at the camera. Ugh. Once I get his birth certificate and redo his picture, we'll ahead over to the post office and do his passport. That's a March goal.
4. Get back into my pre-preggo skinny jeans. Self-explanatory. I'm getting there but still have some baby weight to shed. It helps that I ran until the day he was born (with a few weeks of bed rest in there)... it's been easy to get back into the gym routine... not so easy to shed those last few pounds though. I still have around 10 lbs to go, but I did get into my pre-preggo skinny jeans and wore them last week when Jon and I took Cole on a family date night to the bowling alley. Felt amazing! I'm running 5-6 days a week and breastfeeding, but I haven't been the best with diet. Breastfeeding and running makes me starving! And sometimes it's easier to grab a handful of triscuits for lunch rather than make myself a salad or something. I honestly think I'm probably not eating frequently enough. I'll go the whole day without eating b/c I'm busy and then have McDonalds or something for dinner. I know what I need to do... eat small meals frequently, lots of protein and veggies and stop snacking on crap. But I'm only 2 months post baby, so I'm feeling pretty good with where I'm at. March goal will be to shed those last 10 and maybe another 1-2 so I'm in tip top shape for Jessica's wedding.
5. Have more playdates with friends. I still have some close friends to meet up with so they can meet Cole. He was born over the holidays, so that made it difficult and then the flu epidemic hit, so we've been waiting until everyone is healthy. Excited to introduce my little guy to all of my buddies! Did okay with this, but still need to do better. Liz came over and we introduced her baby Beckett to Cole. It was awesome and the pictures were priceless! I had a girls night with my work friends and had a blast. And I get together with my sister-in-law every week for wine night. Wednesday, Cole and I are going to my friend Nessa's to meet her and Tenele, my besties from work. Still need to get together with a few more of my friends so they can meet him. Another March goal.
Last month, I blogged about my goals for February... Looking back at them, I actually did pretty good... Here's how I did for February. My goals were:
1. Blog more! I need to catch up on the last few weeks of pregnancy posts and then Cole's birth and first month. I NEED to get those done before he gets any bigger and I get farther behind! I've been great about keeping up with his baby book, but I also plan to do a birth post and then posts for each month. I'm so sorry for the long zzzzz nap I've been taking away from the blog. We're just enjoying our new life here as a family of 3. (well 4 if you count Mady). Well, I did get his birth story written, and finished my pregnancy posts. Not amazing, but got somewhat caught up. I didn't blog a bunch of pictures of him... I put tons on Facebook, so check them out there. My FB name is Amy Nilles, so friend me if you haven't already, and you'll be able to see a zillion pictures of him.
2. Print out Cole's newborn pics and get them matted and framed Yay! Got this done this week. Printed out a ton of pictures and updated his baby book, put together an album of pics I've taken, and did 3 different displays in our house of pictures... We hung shelves with black and white pics in our family room, I did a small gallery wall in our dining area, and then I did a larger gallery wall going up the stairs. It feels great!
3. Get Cole's birth certificate and SS card and his passport ordered.... we are going international in a few months with our little guy... First family vacation will be to Mexico in June for my sister's wedding. Got this halfway done. His birth certificate is on the way to our house, I have his SS card, and I got his passport photo taken. Too bad the idiot at Costco didn't do the picture right and I have to go somewhere else and get it redone because Cole isn't looking at the camera. Ugh. Once I get his birth certificate and redo his picture, we'll ahead over to the post office and do his passport. That's a March goal.
4. Get back into my pre-preggo skinny jeans. Self-explanatory. I'm getting there but still have some baby weight to shed. It helps that I ran until the day he was born (with a few weeks of bed rest in there)... it's been easy to get back into the gym routine... not so easy to shed those last few pounds though. I still have around 10 lbs to go, but I did get into my pre-preggo skinny jeans and wore them last week when Jon and I took Cole on a family date night to the bowling alley. Felt amazing! I'm running 5-6 days a week and breastfeeding, but I haven't been the best with diet. Breastfeeding and running makes me starving! And sometimes it's easier to grab a handful of triscuits for lunch rather than make myself a salad or something. I honestly think I'm probably not eating frequently enough. I'll go the whole day without eating b/c I'm busy and then have McDonalds or something for dinner. I know what I need to do... eat small meals frequently, lots of protein and veggies and stop snacking on crap. But I'm only 2 months post baby, so I'm feeling pretty good with where I'm at. March goal will be to shed those last 10 and maybe another 1-2 so I'm in tip top shape for Jessica's wedding.
5. Have more playdates with friends. I still have some close friends to meet up with so they can meet Cole. He was born over the holidays, so that made it difficult and then the flu epidemic hit, so we've been waiting until everyone is healthy. Excited to introduce my little guy to all of my buddies! Did okay with this, but still need to do better. Liz came over and we introduced her baby Beckett to Cole. It was awesome and the pictures were priceless! I had a girls night with my work friends and had a blast. And I get together with my sister-in-law every week for wine night. Wednesday, Cole and I are going to my friend Nessa's to meet her and Tenele, my besties from work. Still need to get together with a few more of my friends so they can meet him. Another March goal.
Here is Cole (on the right) with his best friend Beckett. Liz and I delivered on the exact same day! We've been best friends since we were 5. Pretty freakin' awesome. :)
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Cole's Birth Story.
December 12th was a day that started out very, very ordinary for what was about to happen. I felt decent. Worked out, cleaned the house, added some finishing touches to the hospital bag... even got a mani/pedi. Around noon, I was thrilled to learn that my best friend had her second baby boy. I texted back and forth with her throughout the morning to see how things were going. Jon and I even made plans to go surprise her at the hospital the next morning to meet her little guy.
Well, we never made it there, because we got our own surprise that evening.
Jon came home from work and then headed across town to get a haircut. I was in the process of coming up with something for dinner, when all of a sudden I felt a very sharp, intense pain in my right lower abdomen. It scared me, because it was right where one of my scars is. I laid down on my side immediately and hoped it would go away. I'd been contracting on and off for weeks, but this felt nothing like that. It felt like my scar had ripped open deep on the inside. Terrified, I called Jon and told him to get home right away. Then my labor & delivery instincts kicked in, and instead of better, I felt worse... I thought about what I would tell a patient who was 37 weeks pregnant with 10 previous abdominal surgeries who felt sudden, intense, constant pain. All I could think of was "abruption." I wasn't bleeding, so that was good, but I knew abruptions could be concealed. (An abruption is when the placenta breaks off from the uterus, cutting off blood supply to the baby and resulting in hemorrhage of mom and baby, and death if not treated/delivered FAST). I knew we were 45 minutes away from the hospital and Jon wasn't even home yet. I made it upstairs to the bathroom and grabbed my doppler (fetal heart monitor)... again, I'm an L&D nurse.... I checked LO's heartbeat and breathed finally when I heard it thumping away. Jon walked in and he started loading our stuff up in the car as I called the OB practice. The midwife on call told me to get to the hospital immediately, and that my doctor was already there, as she happened to be the "on call" hospital provider that night. God truly had set everything up perfectly for this baby. My doctor is unbelievable, but she works in a group where she's the only physician and the other 2 are midwives. They are both amazing, but they can't perform c-sections on their own, so one of my fears throughout the pregnancy was that my doctor would happen to be out of town or sick or busy or in another delivery when the time came to have Cole. Obviously, if I made it to my scheduled c-section date, she would be there for sure, but if it happened unexpectedly, there was a chance that a different doctor would have to deliver him, and that was the last thing I wanted. My doc knew the entirety of my situation and we'd had a plan in place for how the delivery would go down since the beginning.
When we got to the hospital, Dr. Y hooked me up to the monitors herself while the nurses started my IVs (two of them), and got all my consents, computer work, and paperwork signed in and prepped me for surgery. I was contracting about every 1-2 minutes and the pain was still there, although it wasn't constant anymore. My contraction pattern on the monitor looked like a classic abruption pattern, and even though the baby's heart rate looked good, my doctor wasn't taking any chances. She sat down with Jon and I and explained that she was beyond thrilled that I'd made it to 37 weeks. She never thought I'd get past 32. There wasn't a point in playing games, especially with this weird pain. She didn't know if I was starting to abrupt, or scar tissue was torn, or what was happening, and wouldn't know until she opened me up. She pulled Jon aside and told him that there was chance they'd have to do a hysterectomy if the scar tissue was on my uterus and causing too much bleeding. I didn't find this fun fact out until later.
She called in an extra OB, two additional surgeons, and a urologist. She also got the top anesthesiologist in the room and called in her midwife, Nicole. I had 2 special care nursery nurses, the neonatologist, 3 L&D nurses plus the charge nurse. Dr. Y was ready for anything. Blood was ordered and the decision was made to do the c-section in the main OR instead of L&D in case things went awry. I knew we were just being cautious, but when I got into the main OR and I saw all the staff, all the extra equipment, heard her on the phone with blood bank and saw her put in my catheter herself (usually the nurse does it), I started to panic. This all felt a little too familiar.
My nurses were friends of mine I worked with and I worked with my doctor and anesthesia as well, so I felt the love and care in the room, and they all calmed me down. I sat as still as I could for the epidural and Dr. Davis got it in easily. They laid me down, got Jon in the room, and started.
I felt like I couldn't breathe as I laid there and waited. Jon kept standing up and looking over the curtain and was fascinated. Dr. Davis and Dr Yockey were explaining everything that was happening, but I don't remember a word they said.... I just waited for the sound of the suction that I knew I'd hear when they'd break my water and the sound of the cry....
Very quickly, they got through the skin and uterus and I heard the suction. That's when the yelling started. They couldn't get the baby out. Dr. Yockey literally climbed on the table pushing as hard as he could while Dr. Pozzi pushed from the other end. Because of the scar issue and some abnormalities on the side from nec fasc, Cole was wedged in there pretty good. The pressure was immense, but I didn't even care. I was about to try and reach down and grab him out myself when I heard a pop and a yell out of Yockey and then the sweetest, cutest baby scream you've ever heard in your life.
Jon yelled, and tears just poured down my face. Never has a sound felt so satisfying. I couldn't let myself believe I was going to have a healthy baby until I heard that sound. The last 8.5 months hadn't mattered... I need to hear and see him myself. Dr. Davis pulled the curtain down and there he was.
Dr. Yockey was crying, Jon was crying, I was a hysterical mess.... the nurses were crying. We all were in awe of this miracle. 6 lbs and 18 inches of pure miracle. His head was covered in spiky dark hair (hello heartburn) and he had huge eyes. And he was the cutest baby I'd ever seen.
9 & 9 apgars. 3 weeks early, but a little, tiny bundle of perfection. Even the pediatrician told us he was the cutest baby she'd ever seen. He had olive skin and highlights in his dark almost black hair. He looked like a tiny version of Jon with my nose and mouth. Every inch of him is perfection in my opinion.
Dr. Yockey was thrilled to tell me that despite the mess of scar tissue I have in my abdomen, my uterus was perfect... not one single inch of scar tissue. I did have quite a bit of bleeding in the OR, but nothing that required major intervention. All in all, she told me she couldn't be happier with how well my body had done.
And most importantly, he is completely and perfectly healthy. I prayed everyday for a healthy baby and God blessed me abundantly. I prayed that I would know how to love him how I was supposed to, and God put more love in my heart that I ever imagined I could feel. Jon and I were absolutely smitten.
And here he is on the day he was born: Colton Mack Nilles, born 12/12/14.
Well, we never made it there, because we got our own surprise that evening.
Jon came home from work and then headed across town to get a haircut. I was in the process of coming up with something for dinner, when all of a sudden I felt a very sharp, intense pain in my right lower abdomen. It scared me, because it was right where one of my scars is. I laid down on my side immediately and hoped it would go away. I'd been contracting on and off for weeks, but this felt nothing like that. It felt like my scar had ripped open deep on the inside. Terrified, I called Jon and told him to get home right away. Then my labor & delivery instincts kicked in, and instead of better, I felt worse... I thought about what I would tell a patient who was 37 weeks pregnant with 10 previous abdominal surgeries who felt sudden, intense, constant pain. All I could think of was "abruption." I wasn't bleeding, so that was good, but I knew abruptions could be concealed. (An abruption is when the placenta breaks off from the uterus, cutting off blood supply to the baby and resulting in hemorrhage of mom and baby, and death if not treated/delivered FAST). I knew we were 45 minutes away from the hospital and Jon wasn't even home yet. I made it upstairs to the bathroom and grabbed my doppler (fetal heart monitor)... again, I'm an L&D nurse.... I checked LO's heartbeat and breathed finally when I heard it thumping away. Jon walked in and he started loading our stuff up in the car as I called the OB practice. The midwife on call told me to get to the hospital immediately, and that my doctor was already there, as she happened to be the "on call" hospital provider that night. God truly had set everything up perfectly for this baby. My doctor is unbelievable, but she works in a group where she's the only physician and the other 2 are midwives. They are both amazing, but they can't perform c-sections on their own, so one of my fears throughout the pregnancy was that my doctor would happen to be out of town or sick or busy or in another delivery when the time came to have Cole. Obviously, if I made it to my scheduled c-section date, she would be there for sure, but if it happened unexpectedly, there was a chance that a different doctor would have to deliver him, and that was the last thing I wanted. My doc knew the entirety of my situation and we'd had a plan in place for how the delivery would go down since the beginning.
When we got to the hospital, Dr. Y hooked me up to the monitors herself while the nurses started my IVs (two of them), and got all my consents, computer work, and paperwork signed in and prepped me for surgery. I was contracting about every 1-2 minutes and the pain was still there, although it wasn't constant anymore. My contraction pattern on the monitor looked like a classic abruption pattern, and even though the baby's heart rate looked good, my doctor wasn't taking any chances. She sat down with Jon and I and explained that she was beyond thrilled that I'd made it to 37 weeks. She never thought I'd get past 32. There wasn't a point in playing games, especially with this weird pain. She didn't know if I was starting to abrupt, or scar tissue was torn, or what was happening, and wouldn't know until she opened me up. She pulled Jon aside and told him that there was chance they'd have to do a hysterectomy if the scar tissue was on my uterus and causing too much bleeding. I didn't find this fun fact out until later.
She called in an extra OB, two additional surgeons, and a urologist. She also got the top anesthesiologist in the room and called in her midwife, Nicole. I had 2 special care nursery nurses, the neonatologist, 3 L&D nurses plus the charge nurse. Dr. Y was ready for anything. Blood was ordered and the decision was made to do the c-section in the main OR instead of L&D in case things went awry. I knew we were just being cautious, but when I got into the main OR and I saw all the staff, all the extra equipment, heard her on the phone with blood bank and saw her put in my catheter herself (usually the nurse does it), I started to panic. This all felt a little too familiar.
My nurses were friends of mine I worked with and I worked with my doctor and anesthesia as well, so I felt the love and care in the room, and they all calmed me down. I sat as still as I could for the epidural and Dr. Davis got it in easily. They laid me down, got Jon in the room, and started.
I felt like I couldn't breathe as I laid there and waited. Jon kept standing up and looking over the curtain and was fascinated. Dr. Davis and Dr Yockey were explaining everything that was happening, but I don't remember a word they said.... I just waited for the sound of the suction that I knew I'd hear when they'd break my water and the sound of the cry....
Very quickly, they got through the skin and uterus and I heard the suction. That's when the yelling started. They couldn't get the baby out. Dr. Yockey literally climbed on the table pushing as hard as he could while Dr. Pozzi pushed from the other end. Because of the scar issue and some abnormalities on the side from nec fasc, Cole was wedged in there pretty good. The pressure was immense, but I didn't even care. I was about to try and reach down and grab him out myself when I heard a pop and a yell out of Yockey and then the sweetest, cutest baby scream you've ever heard in your life.
Jon yelled, and tears just poured down my face. Never has a sound felt so satisfying. I couldn't let myself believe I was going to have a healthy baby until I heard that sound. The last 8.5 months hadn't mattered... I need to hear and see him myself. Dr. Davis pulled the curtain down and there he was.
Dr. Yockey was crying, Jon was crying, I was a hysterical mess.... the nurses were crying. We all were in awe of this miracle. 6 lbs and 18 inches of pure miracle. His head was covered in spiky dark hair (hello heartburn) and he had huge eyes. And he was the cutest baby I'd ever seen.
9 & 9 apgars. 3 weeks early, but a little, tiny bundle of perfection. Even the pediatrician told us he was the cutest baby she'd ever seen. He had olive skin and highlights in his dark almost black hair. He looked like a tiny version of Jon with my nose and mouth. Every inch of him is perfection in my opinion.
Dr. Yockey was thrilled to tell me that despite the mess of scar tissue I have in my abdomen, my uterus was perfect... not one single inch of scar tissue. I did have quite a bit of bleeding in the OR, but nothing that required major intervention. All in all, she told me she couldn't be happier with how well my body had done.
And most importantly, he is completely and perfectly healthy. I prayed everyday for a healthy baby and God blessed me abundantly. I prayed that I would know how to love him how I was supposed to, and God put more love in my heart that I ever imagined I could feel. Jon and I were absolutely smitten.
And here he is on the day he was born: Colton Mack Nilles, born 12/12/14.
And here he is now... 11 weeks old!
Saturday, February 7, 2015
25 Things!
25 Things!
I was looking at Facebook today and found an old, old post from like 2008-- basically people wrote out 25 interesting things about themselves that their friends may or may not know. Everyone was doing them and I found mine and it was funny to read back... I can't believe how much my life has evolved since then! So, I thought it might be fun to blog a revised list. Here are my 25 things.
1. I just gave birth to my first child, 8 weeks ago, a boy... Colton Mack Nilles (Cole). He is my life! I am just obsessed with my little one.
2. Cole was a miracle baby- I was told I'd never get pregnant or carry a pregnancy and 3 months later, without trying or help (actually we were preventing), God shocked me with a pregnancy. Things were touch and go the entire pregnancy, but God followed through and gave us our blessing, healthy and stunningly gorgeous. 3 weeks early but perfect!
3. I am obsessed with taking pictures of Cole and posting them on Facebook. I love for my family near and far to be able to see him grow and change. And I'm just so proud of him, I love to show him off! :)
4. I should probably find other things to talk about besides Cole. :)
5. I married my high school sweetheart Jon on May 26, 2013. He's an amazing husband and knocks my socks off as a daddy. There is nothing better than watching my husband love on my son.
6. On November 12, 2012, I had a near death experience when I contracted Necrotizing Fasciitis in my leg, and spread to my abdomen. Nec fasc is otherwise known as the flesh-eating bacteria. I was given a 5% survival chance, and I survived!
7. I was hospitalized for 2 months with the nec fasc and in a coma for 5 weeks. I underwent 10 total surgeries to remove the infection and skin grafts. Most of these surgeries were abdominal, which is why the doctors told me it would be impossible to conceive. They were wrong :)
8. I am a die-hard marathon runner. I've run 16 marathons and 12 half marathons. My favorite was Big Sur in California.. it was mostly up a mountain, but so stunning it was worth the pain.
9. I am somewhat addicted to reality television.
10. But I am more addicted to diet coke.
11. I am a labor & delivery nurse and love my job, but for the past 2 years, my job has been recovering from necrotizing fasciitis, getting through a very difficult pregnancy, and taking care of a newborn. Will be hopefully returning to work in another month or two. Right now, my hubby and I can't imagine handing him off to anyone. Luckily, my hub has a great job and has been able to support us.
12. My family is beyond amazing. My parents are better than yours. Period.
13. My beagle Mady made me a mom. I love her so much it hurts sometimes. She's the best dog ever and when I'm not posting pictures of Cole, I'm posting pictures of Mady. She is very protective of her baby brother, but isn't quite ready to show her affection. We can't wait for the day they can play together.
14. I love interior design, style, and fashion, although most of my ideas come from pinterest. I don't know what I'm doing, but I love looking at pretty homes and pretty fashions.
15. Kauai, Hawaii is my favorite place on earth. It's literally the closest thing I can imagine to Heaven. I cannot wait to go back!
16. Speaking of Hawaii, I ran a marathon there, too.
17. I am an obsessive clean freak. I clean and clean and clean the house... and even more since the baby was born. Nothing is better than the smell and peace of a clean house.
18. I LOVE eating snow. No, really. Every hour or two, I fill a cup up with fresh snow and eat it with a spoon. It is so weird but I LOVE it. What am I gonna do when it melts??
19. I have a very strong sense of smell, and am obsessed with smells... my favorite smell is the wood aisle at Home Depot or Menards. One day, I strapped the baby on me and walked the aisles for over an hour, just smelling the wood. Mmmmm... I might just go do that again when i'm done with this list.
20. I finally know what people are talking about when they say being a mom is the very best thing ever and a love like you've never known, but also the hardest thing ever. It is just as hard as it is amazing. And it is so worth it.
21. Alright this list is taking a long time. Maybe I should've done 20 things.
22. If I could be anything I wanted, I'd probably be a dancer. I danced as a child, but stopped at 12 and I wish I hadn't. My very favorite show is So You Think You Can Dance. Dance just speaks to me.
23. I am a horrible sleeper. Borderline insomniac.
24. Some people say college was the best time of their life-- for me, it was high school. I loved my friends, sports, just everything. I miss it so much.
25. Despite loving our life in Naperville, I'm still trying to get my husband to move us to Hawaii. I'm sure my family would follow. :)
I was looking at Facebook today and found an old, old post from like 2008-- basically people wrote out 25 interesting things about themselves that their friends may or may not know. Everyone was doing them and I found mine and it was funny to read back... I can't believe how much my life has evolved since then! So, I thought it might be fun to blog a revised list. Here are my 25 things.
1. I just gave birth to my first child, 8 weeks ago, a boy... Colton Mack Nilles (Cole). He is my life! I am just obsessed with my little one.
2. Cole was a miracle baby- I was told I'd never get pregnant or carry a pregnancy and 3 months later, without trying or help (actually we were preventing), God shocked me with a pregnancy. Things were touch and go the entire pregnancy, but God followed through and gave us our blessing, healthy and stunningly gorgeous. 3 weeks early but perfect!
3. I am obsessed with taking pictures of Cole and posting them on Facebook. I love for my family near and far to be able to see him grow and change. And I'm just so proud of him, I love to show him off! :)
4. I should probably find other things to talk about besides Cole. :)
5. I married my high school sweetheart Jon on May 26, 2013. He's an amazing husband and knocks my socks off as a daddy. There is nothing better than watching my husband love on my son.
6. On November 12, 2012, I had a near death experience when I contracted Necrotizing Fasciitis in my leg, and spread to my abdomen. Nec fasc is otherwise known as the flesh-eating bacteria. I was given a 5% survival chance, and I survived!
7. I was hospitalized for 2 months with the nec fasc and in a coma for 5 weeks. I underwent 10 total surgeries to remove the infection and skin grafts. Most of these surgeries were abdominal, which is why the doctors told me it would be impossible to conceive. They were wrong :)
8. I am a die-hard marathon runner. I've run 16 marathons and 12 half marathons. My favorite was Big Sur in California.. it was mostly up a mountain, but so stunning it was worth the pain.
9. I am somewhat addicted to reality television.
10. But I am more addicted to diet coke.
11. I am a labor & delivery nurse and love my job, but for the past 2 years, my job has been recovering from necrotizing fasciitis, getting through a very difficult pregnancy, and taking care of a newborn. Will be hopefully returning to work in another month or two. Right now, my hubby and I can't imagine handing him off to anyone. Luckily, my hub has a great job and has been able to support us.
12. My family is beyond amazing. My parents are better than yours. Period.
13. My beagle Mady made me a mom. I love her so much it hurts sometimes. She's the best dog ever and when I'm not posting pictures of Cole, I'm posting pictures of Mady. She is very protective of her baby brother, but isn't quite ready to show her affection. We can't wait for the day they can play together.
14. I love interior design, style, and fashion, although most of my ideas come from pinterest. I don't know what I'm doing, but I love looking at pretty homes and pretty fashions.
15. Kauai, Hawaii is my favorite place on earth. It's literally the closest thing I can imagine to Heaven. I cannot wait to go back!
16. Speaking of Hawaii, I ran a marathon there, too.
17. I am an obsessive clean freak. I clean and clean and clean the house... and even more since the baby was born. Nothing is better than the smell and peace of a clean house.
18. I LOVE eating snow. No, really. Every hour or two, I fill a cup up with fresh snow and eat it with a spoon. It is so weird but I LOVE it. What am I gonna do when it melts??
19. I have a very strong sense of smell, and am obsessed with smells... my favorite smell is the wood aisle at Home Depot or Menards. One day, I strapped the baby on me and walked the aisles for over an hour, just smelling the wood. Mmmmm... I might just go do that again when i'm done with this list.
20. I finally know what people are talking about when they say being a mom is the very best thing ever and a love like you've never known, but also the hardest thing ever. It is just as hard as it is amazing. And it is so worth it.
21. Alright this list is taking a long time. Maybe I should've done 20 things.
22. If I could be anything I wanted, I'd probably be a dancer. I danced as a child, but stopped at 12 and I wish I hadn't. My very favorite show is So You Think You Can Dance. Dance just speaks to me.
23. I am a horrible sleeper. Borderline insomniac.
24. Some people say college was the best time of their life-- for me, it was high school. I loved my friends, sports, just everything. I miss it so much.
25. Despite loving our life in Naperville, I'm still trying to get my husband to move us to Hawaii. I'm sure my family would follow. :)
Monday, February 2, 2015
up to 37 weeks
Almost 37 weeks! I cannot believe I've made it this far and am so happy and blessed everyday he stays in there and is able to grow and develop.
Around 34 weeks, I started not feeling great-- not uncomfortable pregnancy stuff- something else.... I was flushed, felt hot in the face, started swelling in my hands and face, besides my bad leg which had been swelling for several weeks before that. One Saturday, I felt excruciating pain in my left side and I thought- this is it... something is wrong- we're gonna have to go to the hospital... I'm probably pre-eclamptic and abrupting and they're gonna have to crash section me at 34 weeks (the mind of a labor & delivery nurse) haha. I did everything I knew to do to try and stop that sick feeling all over and the pain, and I finally fell asleep that night feeling a little better.
I went in for my appointment 2 days later, and my doctor was worried. "Why didn't you call? You should've called... you know better," she scolded. "I know, but I didn't want to bother you if it was nothing at all..." She shook her head and smacked me in the arm. "You L&D nurses are the worst patients." The pain was gone completely by that point, so I wasn't that worried anymore, but she was. My blood pressure was up and she immediately drew pre-eclampsia labs, which ended up coming back quite abnormal. She told me then that she hadn't expected me to get past 32 weeks, and every week since then has been a blessing. She put me on bed rest and biweekly appointments and we started doing 24 hour urines to watch for the pre-eclampsia to worsen. "Let's try and get to 35 weeks," she told me. I wasn't excited about bed rest, but I was happy to be staying pregnant and giving the little one some more time. Honestly, at that point, I think had I told her I was worried enough, she would've delivered him that day.
I've been on bed rest since then, and we've had some ups and downs since then, but I'm still pregnant and he continues to grow and develop, and we're just so blessed for that. My pre-eclampsia labs and blood pressure have remained fairly stable, except for my hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, which have been low since nec fasciitis, which took a dive last week and required an IV iron infusion. This week, they're stable, so we're shooting for another week. Once I hit that 37 week mark and he's considered "term" I'm going to feel so much better. I started contracting yesterday and they've become more and more regular and so I'm a little concerned that we might not have much more time, but I'm laying on my side and drinking water and keeping that little bugger in there as long as I can. My scarring feels pretty miserable. When I contract, I can feel my abdomen harden, but it pushes against the scars and it won't give way. That part is pretty darn painful. But honestly, after skin grafts and wound vacs, what's a little scar ripping? (which is what it feels like).
The nursery is done and looks awesome. I'm so happy with it. It was alot of work but we got it done, and now it's all ready for a baby. Working on packing on my hospital bag and doing last minute things, but it's hard because I can't really be on my feet. The room is grey with one grey and white striped accent wall. His furniture and bedding are from Pottery Barn and we found his glider chair at Walmart.
***
Finishing this post up as the baby is 7 weeks old :) I was on bed rest until 37 weeks with a couple ups and downs-- contractions, scar pain, and signs of pre-eclampsia that came, then went, then came again. When I finally hit 37 weeks (and my dr was THRILLED), I was able to come off bed rest. That very night, I went back to the gym and hopped on the treadmill. I was going so stir crazy that I couldn't wait to be active again.
And that was enough to do it! I got to meet Cole just 3 days later... to be continued to Cole's birth post!
Around 34 weeks, I started not feeling great-- not uncomfortable pregnancy stuff- something else.... I was flushed, felt hot in the face, started swelling in my hands and face, besides my bad leg which had been swelling for several weeks before that. One Saturday, I felt excruciating pain in my left side and I thought- this is it... something is wrong- we're gonna have to go to the hospital... I'm probably pre-eclamptic and abrupting and they're gonna have to crash section me at 34 weeks (the mind of a labor & delivery nurse) haha. I did everything I knew to do to try and stop that sick feeling all over and the pain, and I finally fell asleep that night feeling a little better.
I went in for my appointment 2 days later, and my doctor was worried. "Why didn't you call? You should've called... you know better," she scolded. "I know, but I didn't want to bother you if it was nothing at all..." She shook her head and smacked me in the arm. "You L&D nurses are the worst patients." The pain was gone completely by that point, so I wasn't that worried anymore, but she was. My blood pressure was up and she immediately drew pre-eclampsia labs, which ended up coming back quite abnormal. She told me then that she hadn't expected me to get past 32 weeks, and every week since then has been a blessing. She put me on bed rest and biweekly appointments and we started doing 24 hour urines to watch for the pre-eclampsia to worsen. "Let's try and get to 35 weeks," she told me. I wasn't excited about bed rest, but I was happy to be staying pregnant and giving the little one some more time. Honestly, at that point, I think had I told her I was worried enough, she would've delivered him that day.
I've been on bed rest since then, and we've had some ups and downs since then, but I'm still pregnant and he continues to grow and develop, and we're just so blessed for that. My pre-eclampsia labs and blood pressure have remained fairly stable, except for my hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, which have been low since nec fasciitis, which took a dive last week and required an IV iron infusion. This week, they're stable, so we're shooting for another week. Once I hit that 37 week mark and he's considered "term" I'm going to feel so much better. I started contracting yesterday and they've become more and more regular and so I'm a little concerned that we might not have much more time, but I'm laying on my side and drinking water and keeping that little bugger in there as long as I can. My scarring feels pretty miserable. When I contract, I can feel my abdomen harden, but it pushes against the scars and it won't give way. That part is pretty darn painful. But honestly, after skin grafts and wound vacs, what's a little scar ripping? (which is what it feels like).
The nursery is done and looks awesome. I'm so happy with it. It was alot of work but we got it done, and now it's all ready for a baby. Working on packing on my hospital bag and doing last minute things, but it's hard because I can't really be on my feet. The room is grey with one grey and white striped accent wall. His furniture and bedding are from Pottery Barn and we found his glider chair at Walmart.
***
Finishing this post up as the baby is 7 weeks old :) I was on bed rest until 37 weeks with a couple ups and downs-- contractions, scar pain, and signs of pre-eclampsia that came, then went, then came again. When I finally hit 37 weeks (and my dr was THRILLED), I was able to come off bed rest. That very night, I went back to the gym and hopped on the treadmill. I was going so stir crazy that I couldn't wait to be active again.
And that was enough to do it! I got to meet Cole just 3 days later... to be continued to Cole's birth post!
Friday, January 30, 2015
February
One of my favorite bloggers does a monthly goals post at the beginning of every month to lay out her goals for that month... some goals are simple, like laugh more... others are more work... like read 3 books this month. I like this idea-- especially since this little newborn of mine requires so much of my time and energy that lists are absolutely ESSENTIAL now. Not that they weren't before (I'm a type A list writer, just like my dad).
So here are my February Goals.
1. Blog more! I need to catch up on the last few weeks of pregnancy posts and then Cole's birth and first month. I NEED to get those done before he gets any bigger and I get farther behind! I've been great about keeping up with his baby book, but I also plan to do a birth post and then posts for each month. I'm so sorry for the long zzzzz nap I've been taking away from the blog. We're just enjoying our new life here as a family of 3. (well 4 if you count Mady).
2. Print out Cole's newborn pics and get them matted and framed
3. Get Cole's birth certificate and SS card and his passport ordered.... we are going international in a few months with our little guy... First family vacation will be to Mexico in June for my sister's wedding.
4. Get back into my pre-preggo skinny jeans. Self-explanatory. I'm getting there but still have some baby weight to shed. It helps that I ran until the day he was born (with a few weeks of bed rest in there)... it's been easy to get back into the gym routine... not so easy to shed those last few pounds though.
5. Have more playdates with friends. I still have some close friends to meet up with so they can meet Cole. He was born over the holidays, so that made it difficult and then the flu epidemic hit, so we've been waiting until everyone is healthy. Excited to introduce my little guy to all of my buddies!
That's about it for goals. I think that'll take me until March...easily. Keep watching for more posts very soon... LO's birth, first month, and our new routine. Thanks for your prayers for a smooth delivery and healthy baby... God blessed us beyond our wildest dreams. We're obsessed with little one and he's healthy and gorgeous and we're so happy :)
So here are my February Goals.
1. Blog more! I need to catch up on the last few weeks of pregnancy posts and then Cole's birth and first month. I NEED to get those done before he gets any bigger and I get farther behind! I've been great about keeping up with his baby book, but I also plan to do a birth post and then posts for each month. I'm so sorry for the long zzzzz nap I've been taking away from the blog. We're just enjoying our new life here as a family of 3. (well 4 if you count Mady).
2. Print out Cole's newborn pics and get them matted and framed
3. Get Cole's birth certificate and SS card and his passport ordered.... we are going international in a few months with our little guy... First family vacation will be to Mexico in June for my sister's wedding.
4. Get back into my pre-preggo skinny jeans. Self-explanatory. I'm getting there but still have some baby weight to shed. It helps that I ran until the day he was born (with a few weeks of bed rest in there)... it's been easy to get back into the gym routine... not so easy to shed those last few pounds though.
5. Have more playdates with friends. I still have some close friends to meet up with so they can meet Cole. He was born over the holidays, so that made it difficult and then the flu epidemic hit, so we've been waiting until everyone is healthy. Excited to introduce my little guy to all of my buddies!
That's about it for goals. I think that'll take me until March...easily. Keep watching for more posts very soon... LO's birth, first month, and our new routine. Thanks for your prayers for a smooth delivery and healthy baby... God blessed us beyond our wildest dreams. We're obsessed with little one and he's healthy and gorgeous and we're so happy :)
Sunday, October 12, 2014
30 weeks!
30 weeks! Can't believe it. We are down to the final stretch.... and stretching certainly is happening.
I have good days and bad days... yesterday was a bad one-- I was contracting on and off all day.. not really painful, but scary, because the last thing I want is to end up in the hospital- at least until he's born. Then I'll be happy to be there. I had done some cleaning and walking- nothing to out of the ordinary, but I didn't feel right all day and then noticed that every time I'd stand up, I'd contract. I drank a bunch of water and laid on my side (my labor & delivery skills kicking in) and called Vanessa at work just to fill her in and make sure I was fine to stay home. I didn't want to bother the dr if I didn't have to. She suggested drinking Smart Water (new tip, which was awesome) so I did, and then finally got some sleep last night.
Today, I'm still having an occasional contraction, but not bad and I feel a little better than yesterday. It's crazy how I've been a labor & delivery nurse for the last 8 years, but it's totally different when you're pregnant. I try to give myself advice I'd give a patient, but when it's me, I start to panic a little. Anyways, I see my OB again on Tuesday so I'll fill her in and she'll probably check things out a little further if I'm still contracting.
The nausea hasn't stopped so I'm still on the zofran as needed, and I'm still puking probably once a day, sometimes more. Nothing like it was the first 22 weeks though. He's growing proportionally, and everything has looked great on all of his ultrasounds besides the 2-vessel cord and the foci on his heart that hasn't closed yet.
The nursery got painted last weekend thanks to the enormous help of my mother-in-law, father-in-law and hubby. It took four of us to create the grey stripped accent wall-- oh my gosh, so difficult. The room looks amazing though. I am so excited to get the furniture in there and all of the finishing touches. I'll post some pics when it's all put together. It doesn't really have a theme- It's grey and white with some accents of navy and orange. There is also some nautical and rustic touches since I have always envisioned myself as living on a sailboat for the rest of my life. I'll have to settle for an Anthropologie sailboat on his shelf for now.
Here are some 30 week pictures. Please excuse my messy bedroom and horrible picture taking skills. I hate selfies and it's really hard to do one when you're this pregnant. I wasn't gonna do any more belly pics but here you go. I'll update again soon! Keep praying for my L.O. (No, he doesn't have a name yet, and the way it's been going, he probably won't until he's born and Jon and I are forced to come to a decision). :)
I have good days and bad days... yesterday was a bad one-- I was contracting on and off all day.. not really painful, but scary, because the last thing I want is to end up in the hospital- at least until he's born. Then I'll be happy to be there. I had done some cleaning and walking- nothing to out of the ordinary, but I didn't feel right all day and then noticed that every time I'd stand up, I'd contract. I drank a bunch of water and laid on my side (my labor & delivery skills kicking in) and called Vanessa at work just to fill her in and make sure I was fine to stay home. I didn't want to bother the dr if I didn't have to. She suggested drinking Smart Water (new tip, which was awesome) so I did, and then finally got some sleep last night.
Today, I'm still having an occasional contraction, but not bad and I feel a little better than yesterday. It's crazy how I've been a labor & delivery nurse for the last 8 years, but it's totally different when you're pregnant. I try to give myself advice I'd give a patient, but when it's me, I start to panic a little. Anyways, I see my OB again on Tuesday so I'll fill her in and she'll probably check things out a little further if I'm still contracting.
The nausea hasn't stopped so I'm still on the zofran as needed, and I'm still puking probably once a day, sometimes more. Nothing like it was the first 22 weeks though. He's growing proportionally, and everything has looked great on all of his ultrasounds besides the 2-vessel cord and the foci on his heart that hasn't closed yet.
The nursery got painted last weekend thanks to the enormous help of my mother-in-law, father-in-law and hubby. It took four of us to create the grey stripped accent wall-- oh my gosh, so difficult. The room looks amazing though. I am so excited to get the furniture in there and all of the finishing touches. I'll post some pics when it's all put together. It doesn't really have a theme- It's grey and white with some accents of navy and orange. There is also some nautical and rustic touches since I have always envisioned myself as living on a sailboat for the rest of my life. I'll have to settle for an Anthropologie sailboat on his shelf for now.
Here are some 30 week pictures. Please excuse my messy bedroom and horrible picture taking skills. I hate selfies and it's really hard to do one when you're this pregnant. I wasn't gonna do any more belly pics but here you go. I'll update again soon! Keep praying for my L.O. (No, he doesn't have a name yet, and the way it's been going, he probably won't until he's born and Jon and I are forced to come to a decision). :)
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