Brothers 💙

I would say overall Charlie Banks is doing pretty good with all of the changes!  He has been pretty spoiled by both grandmas ever since I went into labor though...so we will see how he does now that we slowly have less grandma spoiling and more real life ha!  Jimmy and I have noticed him not listening as well as normal, but I'm attributing that to the grandma hangover as well ha. I am definitely NOT complaining about all of our help and love given to our sweet boy.  We are forever grateful and would not have made it without all of our families help!  Our main concern is that he just does not understand the concept of being gentle. He likes to get on the bed and roll around like a wild child!  As you can see, it started a little rough in the hospital. I think he was just overwhelmed seeing me for the first time in a few days and this new baby, etc. He has been trying to brush Haines teeth at night which cracks me up.  We can't wait to see these precious boys grow up together. I know they are going to be the best of friends and it is going to melt my heart!

Postpartum Craziness

Everything seemed great after delivery at 4:50 pm. I was starving since I had not eaten since the night before. We ordered pizza and enjoyed sweet, newborn snuggles. Later into the evening I started having some cramping...almost contraction like. The nurses kept saying that this was normal and that it is usually worse since it was my second baby. They tried to get me up to use the restroom and I almost passed out. No way I was going to make it. The pain progressively got worse to the point of being completely unbearable. Pain meds did nothing to put a dent in what I was feeling. My blood pressure kept dropping to 70/40 (I think) and on several occasions throughout the night I had large almost explosion like gushes of blood coming from, well, you can guess where. Tmi. After the second gush and blood pressure drop several nurses came in quickly and were saying "code zero" (whatever that means) and were on the phone with the Doctor. At this point the doctor said to give me some stronger pain meds which still didn't do much. It was the most excruciating pain I've ever felt...all night long. The doctor came in around 5:30 and joked about how she had been bragging about how easy my delivery had gone...what had happened?!  She did an ultrasound and then ordered a ct scan. By this point, I was pretty doped up and could barely keep my eyes open. I could still feel the pain. At this point they determined that they saw some blood clots in my uterus and they needed to do a dnc. However, to add to the problems, when they did my blood tests early in pregnancy I didn't have any antibodies in my blood, but sometime during my pregnancy had developed an antibody. They didn't have a blood match and didn't want to proceed in case I lost a lot of blood during the procedure. So, they felt it best to transfer me to musc where they have better resources to handle the situation. Into the ambulance I went leaving our sweet baby behind. Honestly, I was in so much pain and out of it/practically unconscious that I wasn't too phased at the time.  It was a whirlwind upon our arrival at musc. So many doctors and residents in and out of the pre-operating (I think) room that I was in with my parents and Jimmy. I don't really remember feeling very scared, but I do remember everyone crying a lot. They were reading the scans with different teams of people and kept coming in with different game plans. It was evident that it was much more severe than a dnc. The surgeon came in one of the last times and said that he was 75% sure they were going to have to do a full hysterectomy.  This is certainly not something anyone wants to hear. I remember feeling so thankful we had two healthy babies and that there were other avenues for us to have another baby/child if it's something our hearts desired. They were still trying to find a blood match throughout this time. I was definitely going to need blood as my hemoglobin was at 5.2. Finally, they said we need to go to surgery now!  I have no concept of time throughout this day, but I think this all happened really quickly. I remember the anesthesiologist explaining to me what was going to happen and the next thing I remember was waking up, trying to pull some type of tubing/mask out of my mouth/off my face and seeing my friend Jordan who was working at musc that day.  The surgery lasted about 2ish hours. I was happy to find out that they were able to save my uterus. Basically, from what I understand, there had been a rupture/hemorrhage of the utero ovarian vein which caused a lot of internal bleeding.  They said I lost close to 2/3 of my blood. They had to take the vein, my right ovary and my right Fallopian tube.  They said my fertility should be about 80% of what it was previously. I have a large vertical incision in the middle of my stomach...the largest the surgeon said he could have done. I spent that night in the surgical trauma icu which I don't remember much of. Jimmy brought me some soup that I was able to eat even though I had no appetite. I tried to pump that night knowing I needed to since breastfeeding was going to be even more of a challenge for us. The next day we were moved to the regular postpartum floor where we spent the next two nights. Haines was released from East Cooper and was able to join us downtown. Little angel took right back to breastfeeding like a champ...hallelujah!  I received one last blood transfusion the night before coming home. Every day since has been a little bit better. My mom was here until yesterday and was such a blessing. She pretty much took care of Charlie Banks, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. We wouldn't have made it without her. My mom left yesterday and Jimmys mom has been a blessing as well. She came over this morning to get Charlie Banks up, fed and ready for school. I'm slowly getting more energy everyday and am on the mend. Other than the healing from labor, healing from surgery, severe weakness from loss of blood, my only complaints are some menopausal symptoms from losing some lady parts. Talk about heat flashes...holy moly!  We are so happy to be home with our happy, (almost) healthy family of 4!  Sorry for the long post, but I know I will want to remember as much as possible about this traumatic experience down the road.

William Haines Moore

Our second sweet boy, Haines, was born on September 10 at 4:50 pm weighing a big 8 lbs 5 oz. We were scheduled for an induction the following Wednesday (14th) where he would share a birthday with his Auntie Kingslea.  Instead, he decided he wanted to share a birthday with Jimmy's late grandfather - William King Stallworth aka Gramps. We were gearing up for our last weekend as a family of 3. I had a baby shower to attend and we had our supper club as well. We had a quiet Friday night at home...cooked dinner, golf cart ride, watched some football and hit the sack. I remember waking up several times throughout the night with a constant, dull pain in my side, but since I had been having Braxton hicks for weeks I didn't think too much of it. That is until I woke up at 6. The pain progressively got worse. Jimmy got up and went on a run. I decided that I needed to get up to shower and eat something and then would decide what we should do. I could barely stand up in the shower!  Jimmy cooked our usual avocado toast with fried egg and I could barely eat any of it. I told him to go ahead and call. His mom headed over and my mom started heading this way from NC. Once we got to the hospital the pain had subsided and I was afraid it had been a false call, even though I knew something had to be going on with the extreme pain I had been feeling earlier. I was hooked up and was of course having contractions and was at 4 cm - 70% effaced. Not much change from my appointment several days before. We waited awhile and they checked again...5 cm!!  We were going to have a baby. I was really happy to have experienced going into labor on my own. While being induced definitely has it's perks, especially with arranging care for Charlie Banks, I really wanted it to happen on its own time this go around. Things moved pretty quickly from here. The contractions got stronger, epidural went in, water was broken and very quickly I was at 10 cm. Things were so easy. 4 pushes during 1 contraction and our sweet Haines was in our arms. In fact, he dropped down so quickly that Haines' face was completely blue/purple. I think Jimmy and I jinxed ourselves, because we kept talking to each other about how easy the labor/birth were compared to the 2.5 hours I was pushing with Charlie Banks.  We ordered pizza, watched football, snuggled our new babe and enjoyed some visitors. Then, things started heading south - and fast!  More to come on the craziness that ensued.

All Things Charlie Banks

Charlie Banks is so fun and silly these days. He loves being outside, golf cart rides, trucks/planes/helicopters/cars, taking baths, climbing on the bed/chairs/couches, being chased, any shows on nick Jr., jumping at Sky Zone, bubbles, reading...

His current favorite foods are avocado toast, black bean hummus, and most fruits. He is still pretty hesitant to try new foods, but does seem to be getting a tad better on this front.

He sleeps great at night. He still goes down at 7:30 and wakes up around 7:30. He does not put up a fight to go down which is nice. He naps at 1:30, but has been boycotting a lot recently. I thought I was being smart wearing him out by taking him to sky zone and library story time this morning and still no nap. Ugh. He will still relax and enjoy some down time in his crib for an hour or so if he doesn't go to sleep which is nice, but still stresses me out.

He learns new words everyday and has a vocabulary too big to count. He says a few phrases, such as "night night mommy".

He knows most of his colors and loves practicing/pointing them out.

He is very sensitive and has been dubbed a "sympathy crier" by the ladies at Seacoast. I.e., he starts crying when another kid starts. That should make our house pretty interesting with a newborn. Ha!  He is quick to pucker his lip and bat his eyes.

He is a great listener for the most part.

He loves kissing my tummy and saying "baby"...although poor buddy doesn't have a clue what's coming which makes me sad and excited. We can't wait to see him become a big brother!

First Day of School

Today was a big day for our little guy!  His first day of "school" ever!  I'm really excited for him and know it's going to be great...especially after little brother joins us. BUT, as expected he had a bit of a rough go and I'm sure a few more rough days ahead.  He was crying when I left and crying when I got there to pick him up. They did say he wasn't crying the entire time, so I guess that's good news ha!  He is going two days a week from 9-12.

His first "homework" assignment. :)

Labor Day Weekend

We have had a great, relaxing weekend!  Friday was full of storms from Hurricane Hermine, but the weather has been so nice since then. This morning really felt like fall!  We lost a couple of small trees and our yard was covered in debris from our large oak trees!  Jimmy had some work to do Saturday morning!  We spent Saturday eating our favorite banana pancakes, watching football (a Clemson win!) and grilling out with friends. We had a boston butt, ribs and chicken wings...all so delicious!  We went to church yesterday...well about 10 minutes of it ha!  Charlie Banks looked so cute in Jimmys old outfit. We spent this morning at the park enjoying the gorgeous weather!  We have a somewhat busy week with Charlie Banks' first day of "school" tomorrow, a work class for Jimmy, and me trying to check things off of my nesting to do list before our new baby decides to join us!  Our due date is TWO weeks from today...craziness!