Zavier's Birth Story

I like to try to get this out in written form soon after birth so that I'm not forgetting any details. Here goes..

The date was August 15, 2013. It was a Thursday. My mom came the night before to spend the night since we'd be waking up early to head into the hospital. As you may or may not know, I never went into labor on my own and my OB would not induce due to my previous c-section, so we were headed in for a scheduled c-section Thursday morning. Our surgery was scheduled for 8:40am so we had to be there at 6:40am. We got all of our hospital things together that morning and arrived on time to the hospital.

We waited in the pre-op waiting room to for me to be called back for the first part of the pre-op process. This process included putting on my hospital gowns, having my belly prepped and getting my iv and fluids. They put me on two monitors, one for the baby and one for contractions (just in case? i wasn't having any so it didn't matter). I didn't enjoy those monitors, they were constricting. I had done well with the IV when I had Scarlett so I didn't anticipate any funny business (as prior to getting pregnant I was not the best with needles.. cue nausea) however they were already talking about my crooked veins and 'which hand would be better' and 'oh it's too far up by the wrist but let's try it anyway'. I started getting hot.. light-headed.. I asked for a sip of water and they said no.. I asked to sit up for just a second and they said no.. and apparently this is when I passed out. I was trying to relax and close my eyes and focus on breathing but it all happened pretty fast and I was conscious again. They asked me to open my eyes and it's as if I didn't miss a beat, in my own mind anyway.. apparently I full on passed out which made my little monitors dip for a second and baby's heart rate to drop (which meant I had to stay on the monitor even longer!). I felt instantly better after the IV was finally in but they decided in the middle of the fiasco to go for my other hand, which then felt like I had a needle poking into my wrist bone for a good long time, though obviously there is no needle in an IV after they get it into your vein. Aaannyway, that's when they allowed Alex to come back and we sat and waited to talk to the necessary doctor's before heading off to the OR.

Dr. Rapp, my OB came to see us. Then the anesthesiologist, even though he didn't do anything during surgery other than witness it. His assistant person, Doug was the one who did all the work. Alex scrubbed up and they made me drink a nice little anti-acid drink which was super sour but they told me to drink it fast so I listened. The same OR nurses that took me to the OR with Scarlett came and got us and we headed back. The walk to the OR is usually pretty surreal.. it felt like the last time for the most part but I was trying really hard to remember everything because with Scarlett I have some cloudy spots.

Alex waited outside the OR while I went in and was prepped. I sat on the table and got the spinal block, I remember feeling less with Scarlett, this time I could still feel things touching me at times but they didn't hurt. Last time I got nauseous when I laid down, this time I got sick. Bye bye sour juice stuff. I soon felt better though and Alex came in as they were getting ready to start. All Alex and I could do was look at each other because this time we knew what was coming! And we were excited after all the anticipation of not going into labor, waiting for days, etc.

Dr. Rapp said I would feel some pressure and to get the camera ready and then Zavier joined us in in the oxygen breathing world. He was so cute and had SO much hair! They took him to the back left (my laying down left) and Alex was taking pictures as I watched. They were putting me back together when Alex brought him over so I could 'hold' him and Doug the anesthesiologist guy took some really nice pictures for us. Soon we were both headed to recovery where we spent the next two hours waiting for my blood pressure to stabilize. I'm almost 100% positive it wasn't working right because my cuff was leaking. That was found later on that night. If only I had suggested they change the cuff I could've been out of there sooner. But Zavier and Alex were with me the whole time and I got some crucial skin to skin bonding and nursing time in. Zavier was a champ!

It didn't feel like we were there for two hours so after time passed we headed to our couplet care room. We were pleasantly surprised as the size of the room was definitely larger than when we were with Scarlett, not by much but enough to notice. I was transferred to my bed and they set me up. I was still on my IV until the next day so no food needed! I got to hold and nurse Zavier more and then they came to give him a bath. Alex took some video of this and pictures and then he decided that was a good time to head back to our house to get Scarlett. She absolutely refused to get into my mom's car, so Alex took our car back so she could ride in her normal car seat. After Zavier's bath, his temp was low (for obvious reasons) so the aid asked to take him to the nursery to go under the warmer since Alex wasn't there and I couldn't get out of bed. They couldn't technically leave him alone with me, which was a bit disappointing. I even requested skin to skin since that would've brought his temp up even faster but again, they couldn't leave him with me alone. So they took him to the nursery, and surprisingly I was okay with this. I don't think I would've been if he were my first baby but separation wasn't so foreign this time around. When Alex got back though I had him immediately go to the nursery to get him!

Scarlett met her brother, she wasn't very interested in him at all and was more interested in the balloon that my mom had gotten for Zavier in the shape of a whale.

They monitored me the rest of the day and evening. Much better than being monitored through the night! I got out of bed that evening two different times to get everything going. I'm not going to lie, it was tough. I didn't remember it being so difficult but luckily this time around I was smart enough to deny the painkillers (other than ibuprofen) so I didn't get sick!

Overall, I didn't remember a lot from the first time around. I didn't remember how hard it was or how annoying it was to get out of bed and move around. It was nice to know what to expect for sure but I have no interest in doing it again.

It's been three and a half weeks now and recovery went well. I was off the meds by the end of the second week and felt back to 100% a couple days after that. I was happy with that timeline and very thankful that Alex had a week off and my mom could help me for a week.

Scarlett has been transitioning with us through this, she has good and trying moments and has regressed a little bit when it comes to her independent play but she loves her little brother so that's all we can ask for.

We're excited to get more sleep in the future, though we know it's a little bit far off. Soon I will have a one-month update on Zavier!

And here are his stats:
Time born: 9:13am
Weight: 8 lb 10 oz
Length: 21 1/2"

Zavier getting cleaned up!

Getting some up close time and getting some smooches in too!

Daddy all over again!

In recovery doing skin to skin :)

Scarlett meeting Zavier

Our handsome, full head of hair baby boy!

First family picture!

Relaxing on Daddy's chest

Scarlett showing Zavier some love with lots of giggles!

Stigma

New Logo and Packaging!

I feel as though I've been posting a lot about Tastefully Simple lately but hey, it is a side business and I do think about it a lot so why not share my thoughts?

Tastefully Simple just did a rebrand of their logo and packaging. They announced it along with their new fall seasonal line of products at an event called Party Palooza which was held in Minneapolis where the TS headquarters is located. This event filled my Facebook timeline from Thursday to Sunday with excitement and new product info. This is an event where great achievers in their business get recognized. My sponsor was one of them. She is awesome and continues to surprise me with her dedication to TS.

What I really wanted to talk about in this post though, is the stigma associated with businesses such as Tastefully Simple (like Pampered Chef and Thirty One, etc). I hate it... the stigma that is.

Tastefully Simple is exciting to me. I love food! I love making food! I love making food from scratch and I love making food that's easy to prepare from boxes! I love dips! I love party food! I love going to parties partly because of the food! This is mostly why I love Tastefully Simple. It makes it so freaking easy to make food and it tastes good. I would eat all my inventory right now if I could.

Now here are a couple of things I don't understand.. (I just want to preface that this is not directed at anyone, this is a general thought/feeling and trust me, i've had it too about parties in the past before I became a consultant for TS)

1. Why host a party if you aren't excited to host a party?

Now I'm still learning how to properly coach my hosts into success. I think in the future I might approach hosts by asking about their excitement level of eating food, making food, having get togethers with friends and earning free stuff. I can only hope that they are honest with me. It's tricky because back before I did this (and I know i've mentioned this a bit before) I had a pretty successful Pampered Chef party and as the host I was excited about most of it. Once the consultant got me to agree to a date to set the party and I sent out the invites and got the RSVPs, I was excited to have people over to my house to eat food, chat and offer them a chance to order stuff from the catalog. I knew most of them hadn't been to a party before or hadn't been to one in years so this was perfect. The thing I wasn't super excited about was the stigma. The stigma that I was only inviting people over so they could buy stuff so that I could get free stuff. The 'pressure' that they may feel to order something just because I was having a party and just because they were my family/friends.

I want my Tastefully Simple hosts to be excited about the products. I want them to feel so excited that they want to share these things with their friends and give them an opportunity to get excited as well. I don't like the stigma of the 'pressure' associated with purchasing something just because someone asks you to look at a catalog. I'm a pretty honest person in life and if I don't really want something, I don't buy it. I may look at it but I don't buy something just because she bought something from me at my party. That can be a vicious cycle.

One more thing, this isn't just for women.. men like food too. Get your male friends, boyfriends, husbands involved.

2. RSVPs

We live in a different world now. A world where the RSVP doesn't mean sh*t. Excuse my language but seriously, it means nothing! People used to care when they couldn't attend something and would have to call and verbally tell their regrets to the party host via phone. Now we have text and email and Facebook. If you can't go to a party or event that someone invited you to, cool.. that's fine, why wouldn't it be fine? Just RSVP no if they ask for regrets OR RSVP yes/no if they just ask for an RSVP. I understand that things come up and sometimes a yes becomes a no at the last minute BUT these days it seems like people do a lot based on how they feel that day. "Oh we'll see how I feel that day about going.." "Eh.. I don't really feel like it, and even though I RSVP'd (or worse, didn't even respond!) I will just go about my day like I was never invited to anything in the first place"

Can you tell this is a sore area for me? :) This is definitely a direct correlation to events I've hosted in the past. Sorry I'm not sorry. See, honesty! Feels good, right?

3. Facebook Events and Specials

I recently ran a July Special because there was a sale of 20% off the Tastefully Simple large drink buckets and I wanted to incentivize people to buy them or other products they might've needed to stock up on. I'm just going to be honest on here and tell you that only one person took that offer. ONE! I'm not disappointed because I couldn't make money off of orders that were placed. I'm disappointed because those drink buckets are DELICIOUS and because they were an AWESOME DEAL and so many people missed out on them. Now, lucky for you all, I happened to stock up on some so if you're interested, I do have some I can sell you at the 20% discounted price which is $7.99 BUT I have to charge shipping on top of that because.. hello, I paid shipping, and tax actually. So that takes the price from $7.99 to $9.49 ..... original price (if purchased direct from me) would be $11.86 so you're saving $2.37. It's like a sale at the liquor store only better, and tastier. Samba Sangria Slush is yummy, trust me and perfect for parties. Sheesh! This gets me all kinds of hyped up and I really don't even know why but a deal is a deal, people!

Take advantage of specials, that's the bottom line. I create them to offer you something, not to take your money. And if you aren't interested in them, RSVP NO! to the event. You WILL NOT hurt my feelings, I promise!

If you're interested, 'like' my Facebook Page. If you see the value of marketing, share some of the posts that I put up so that your friends may have the opportunity to see them. I'm not going to lie, this would help me tremendously and only takes a millisecond to click 'Share'.

~

This is getting long.. probably too long but I needed to get all of that out. So thanks for reading if you've even made it this far.

I would LOVE to hear your comments on this, if you don't want to log in, just comment anonymously, I will never know who it is but will at least get some feedback. All I ever want is honest feedback. Think the products are too expensive? Tell me! Think they taste like poo? Tell me! Think hosting is dumb? I want to knooow! Thanks in advance!

The Waiting Game

The first time around, I knew Scarlett's birthday for weeks ahead of time. This time is a lot different, obviously because I'm now waiting to go into labor.

I really do not enjoy waiting of any kind, I never have. There's a ton of anticipation though with a birth which makes it even harder!

Today, at 39 weeks and 5 days, I had my membranes stripped. I found out that I made no new progress from last week but luckily I had a man doctor and he was able to perform the strip. I really, really hope that this jump starts us somehow. Since coming home from my appointment, I've had maybe two contractions.

Each night I go to bed hoping to be awoken by pain. I have never wished for pain more in my life (or ever?) .. but I keep hoping it will happen sooner rather than later.

Through all of the waiting, I am also taking time to relax.. as hard as that can be. I am squeezing Scarlett extra tight, holding on to these last couple of days with her as my only baby. It's hard to wrap my head around what's coming but at the same time, I also know what's coming. It's tricky.

Please cross your fingers and toes for me that it happens soon, goes fast and ends healthy :)

Stay At Home Mom Life

I basically want to start every post I write with .. "Here's the thing.." but that seems silly, right? I should think of more creative titles. It's hard I tell you!

So i've now been a Stay At Home Mom (SAHM) for the past four weeks. I haven't quite gotten into a rhythm yet and what's the point really? I'm going to have another baby in a couple weeks which would throw it off anyway! I am most definitely enjoying spending so much time with Scarlett though and the only thing I miss about work are the people. I feel a ton more relaxed and I've gotten more housework done than I have in months.

We've had a couple of play dates with little friends so far and I have a couple scheduled for next week as well. Trying to keep things busy and interesting for Scarlett because she likes that sort of thing, plus it gets us out and about which is sometimes hard with my 'before baby to-do list' and the general tired/laziness that pregnancy often brings. Not to mention, she may have about 4 weeks of being less mobile than usual because of me recovering/getting the hang of mothering two children!

Here's a couple things I've managed to do so far:
Set up the Crib in our room! Originally, I thought I would be putting Scarlett in this crib and the new baby in Scarlett's current one but they're both drop side (read: convenient) and Scarlett is used to hers so why switch now. I learned this of course after setting the new one up in Scarlett's room only to take it down and set it up again in my room.

Upstairs bathroom cleaned! Honestly, I've never deep cleaned that bathroom before. We've lived here 3 years. Sorry past house guests! I have cleaned it, just not extensively. I recently mopped the floors and got in the crevices (gross!), changed out the shower curtain, etc. Our tub and toilet up there are blue. It's wallpapered and I don't enjoy the flooring. The toilet is completely facing the wrong direction. I usually just can't go in there and Scarlett takes baths in our bathroom so I have little use for it. After this baby arrives and I have some time, I plan to at least paint the cabinetry and remove the wall paper. Eventually we'd like to completely renovate the whole thing and close off the jack/jill-ness.. I'm just not a fan of those.

Master Bathroom Windows/Blinds cleaned! This was long overdue. I need to do it in every room but I started with ours because of all the dust on them. Babies don't need to breathe extra dust.

Baby Laundry! This has been done and put away in two of my dresser drawers. I have far more clothing for him then I did for Scarlett for the first three months. Thank you consignment sales! I do need to get another crib sheet though and perhaps a crib skirt if I can find one I ilke.

Vacuuming! I do this multiple times a week now. The house just isn't clean enough and having cats surely complicates this. I don't think I notice this as much in the winter bc I walk around in slippers but with bare feet in the summer I hate feeling debris beneath my feet.

Making Dinner! I've started meal planning and buying accordingly while trying to stay within a budget at the grocery store. This has proven difficult so far because I love the grocery store and I love sales at grocery stores. It's always hard to resist a 2 for anything! I did join Amazon Mom though and have started utilizing more coupons online for different things. So that will pay off very soon.

Other Random Stuff! I feel like that list is pretty short but I'm not going to put daily chores like laundry and dishes on there. Just seems silly to write a paragraph about that sort of stuff but trust me it's getting done!!

Still To Do:
Deep Clean Master Bathroom
Shampoo Master Bedroom Carpet
Vacuum Car
Organize Kitchen Desk
Wash Blinds/Windows in Every Room
Organize Actual Office Desk
Clean/Organize Fridge/Freezer
Sew Memory Foam Covers (for Scarlett's Crib, Toddler Bed & Pack N Play)
Recover a bumper for Baby Boy's Crib and Fix Scarlett's bumper ties
And probably more..

I take this SAHM thing pretty seriously. Alex has a job and so do I, to run a household. I try not to let him do most inside housework because he already does a lot outside and the inside is my territory. Who wants to work all day and then come home and have to do more work when I'm here all day? We'll see how crazy it gets once I add another baby to this picture though, ha!

Can I have a successful VBAC?

As you may or may not know, Scarlett was frank breech and had to be delivered via C-Section. At first I was disappointed by this, however it truly was the only way she could come into this world safely and that is really all that mattered. The thing about having a scheduled C-Section is.. you're fully rested when you go in. I didn't go through 20 hours of labor or any amount of time pushing, my body was rested not exhausted. I believe that made my recovery faster and easier. And that's what scares me about a VBAC (among other things).

What if I go through 20 hours of labor this time and spend some time pushing and THEN end up with a C-Section anyway? One of the main reasons I want to attempt a VBAC is for a faster recovery, so that it doesn't hinder my ability to care for Scarlett as well as our new baby.

Now, I do have a couple things going for me here. I am almost a perfect candidate for a VBAC. The only reason I had a C-Section was due to her position, not because my hips were too narrow, etc. This gives me great hope that I can do it. However, from what I've read, and I'm not sure if my midwives would admit to this if asked, is when a VBAC patient comes into the hospital, the staff is immediately nervous due to the added complications that could occur. Honestly though, I did wait long enough for my scar to fully heal so a uterine rupture shouldn't be an issue but I am sure they will have it on the brain.

Another fear.. the unknown. I know what a C-Section is like. I do not know what a contraction feels like, what labor will feel like, what delivery will feel like or what recovery will be like. Obviously, first time moms probably have this fear and for some reason, I wasn't scared of the C-Section. Maybe because it was a surgery, not hours of pain. Add to this that I am planning to have an unmedicated birth. Not having had any crazy amount of pain before in my life (besides some terrible gas pains in the beginning of my first pregnancy), I'm not even sure of my pain tolerance level.

One thing I do know, this is going to be a wild ride and in the end, I get a baby. I am positive he will be worth any pain I have to go through to get him here. Things I plan to remember (or that I will be reminded of by Alex during labor..) are:

This terrible pain has a purpose.
This pain has an endpoint.
Count slowly to 30 and the contraction is half over.
You CAN do this.

That's all I have so far. If you have any motivational phrases that worked for you during labor/delivery, I would love to hear them!

I hope to have a successful VBAC birth story once this little one arrives. Send some good vibes into the universe for me!

Life as a Tastefully Simple Consultant

So i'm not sure if anyone is really curious about this or not, but since I care about it I'm going to go ahead and write about it.

Back in October (as I believe I wrote on here) I was looking for something to do in my free time that would generate some income. My mom mentioned Tastefully Simple, which I had heard of very briefly. I looked at their site and decided that people like food, right? How hard could it be to sell that?? After writing about it on here, my now sponsor Tracy contacted me to see if I wanted more information and after talking with her, I joined up!

I started with a Grand Opening Party in November which went very well and I had a great time making the easy to prepare food, explaining it to my family and friends and then I chose a winner for the rewards the party generated. I have learned a TON since that first party and at each party I learn a little bit more.

I've done a handful of parties for friends and family since that time, one fundraiser for Relay 4 Life and one event, which was a community yard sale. Some parties weren't super successful and some were. All great learning experiences for sure! I have an event coming up on Saturday at Seven Valley's Winery in York which I'm very excited about. I know I will learn a lot from this too and I really hope to book some catalog parties for the months of July and August as well as some possible Fall Tasting Parties.

A Tasting Party is where the host prepares food samples for guests to taste before ordering. A Catalog Party is where the host takes catalogs and order forms around to family and friends over a longer period and collects orders to earn rewards. I set up Catalog Parties to also include two samples for tasting purposes. Facebook is pretty big right now with these types of parties because family and friends can just go online and order directly if they cannot make the Tasting Party or won't see the host in time to order for the Catalog Party.

Like I said, I have done one fundraiser so far. I am very interested in doing more but it's a little bit hard to get my name out there currently since I don't have school aged children. There are ways to do it that I plan to look into but for now, I send out messages to people I am interested in working with to see if they're interested in working with me.

Overall, the experience has been very positive and fun! My sponsor Tracy is amazing and she answers any and every single question I have and is a great role model because she has a ton of fundraisers going and sponsors a large number of consultants and that number keeps on growing! I'm part of her team's Facebook Group which is extremely helpful. There are plenty of TS Facebook groups that are helpful for sure, it's a great place to get new ideas from other consultants.

I have one recruit so far and hope to have more in the future. I currently have a coupon code for $100 off the Business Blast Off Kit. I've been told this is the first time they've ever done this (you end up paying about $70) and I'm hoping it's been successful so that they run it every year. My code expires July 10th so the clock is ticking. If you've ever thought about doing a business like this, now is the time. It really is easy and it's actually fun.

A couple years ago, I had a Pampered Chef Party and the consultant was very nice but used all the sales cliches you can think of to try to get me to sign on. I have absolutely nothing against PC.. I have tons of products from that party that I use all the time and I love them! I just thought at that time that I could never do that. I could never be a consultant like she was. She was very very nice but I didn't enjoy the extra pushes, though I now understand she was probably just following the playbook. If you don't talk about the opportunity to join, you'll never know if they would've said yes.

In conclusion, lol .. I am very happy to be a Tastefully Simple Consultant. And though I may not talk about it much, I am working on that. To be completely honest, my target demographic is older than I am so it's more difficult to get into those circles but I'm working on it. I want to be successful and I know I can do it!

If you ever have questions related to it, please let me know! I'd be happy to answer them!

If you want to order, you can go to my website at www.tastefullysimple.com/web/mbrubaker OR send me a message. I offer great incentives for hosts as well if you're interested in that. I try to make it as easy as possible for you to have a successful and positive experience while earning free stuff!

Let's talk about Scarlett!

Here's an update of how our girl is doing. I don't have stats because they were last taken at 15 months and she's currently 17 months. All I can tell you right now is she's over 26 lbs, her height is in the 98% and her head size is off the charts, haha!

She rarely walks, it's mostly running. She climbs. She holds our hands when she's forced to. She's an explorer to the max. She says about 40 words that we've counted and learns new ones every day. She absolutely loves fruit, especially any type of berry. She's a very good eater and hasn't turned too much down. She doesn't enjoy sweet potatoes much, but loves olives and pickles!

She still takes two naps a day and I love it. It must be all the exploring that makes her tired. If she's 'on schedule' she wakes up around 6:15, takes a nap around 9:30 (these vary in length) and then lays down again around 3:30/4 when we're home, if we're out, she's fine without a nap. She goes to bed consistently at 8pm each evening. She's a light sleeper and goes through sleep cycles often so it's not unusual to hear her make noises at night.

She gives us hugs and kisses. She doesn't generally like older people, especially if they have white hair. Sometimes it takes her 10 minutes to warm up to people she doesn't know. She plays with her princesses in their castle now and makes them hug and kiss. She pretty much makes everything hug and kiss. When she hugs her stuffed animals she says "aww!" and then I die of the cuteness. She loves reading books. Her favorite was 'Goodnight Beach' but more recently it's 'Goodnight Pennsylvania'. She thoroughly enjoys the iPad and any iPhone she can get her hands on. She really likes Sofia the First and Little Einsteins. She likes to dance so she likes the shows that sing a lot. She rarely watches anything on TV unless it's a commerical.

She has almost all of her teeth, she's missing a front lateral incisor on the bottom and all of her cuspids. She has taken a while to get her teeth so we don't expect the cuspids for a while, who knows what's going on with the incisor. Teething does bother her from time to time so we use the numbing gel (put onto her paci) and occasionally some Tylenol or Motrin but rarely a full dose.

I just thought today that I should write down some "Parent Tid-Bits" that I have, one being.. when you go to the grocery store, always park close to the cart return.. this way you can get a cart on the way in and you're close to it when you need to return it at the end of the trip. I probably thought about it more today after carrying her into multiple places while walking a semi-far distance while 34 weeks pregnant. I'll try to document more as they come up.

Overall, Scarlett is full of love. She smiles a lot and she laughs a lot. Her personality seems very fun-loving and we're thrilled that she is growing into such a little darling (who never sits still).