Our Five Ring Circus: Life Before Baby #5

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Life Before Baby #5

Baby #5

As a mom, it seems like I measure time in life before baby arrived, and life after. I have been a mom for 14 1/2 years, and I truly can't remember what life was like BEFORE I had kids! Now here I am, trying to play catch up for the last year that flew by while I was pregnant or adjusting to life with five kids!


I was so sick during my pregnancy with Coen, just like I was with every other pregnancy. Every single day I battled morning sickness until the day I delivered him. When you are that sick, it's truly a struggle to make it through the day, let alone blog. BUT...I want to catch up on some of the life posts that slipped by while I was sick since this is partially a journal of our lives.

I did so well documenting weekly life for the first 6 weeks of 2019, and I'm determined to finish it. I'm definitely a visual storyteller (or so Facebook tells me), so I might not remember the exact details of the last two weeks before Coen was born, but with the help of all the pictures I took and my beloved Cozi calendar, I just might be able to do a somewhat decent job. All I know is that I was miserably pregnant for those last two weeks of my pregnancy. I was still sick, I was contracting all the time, and I knew my baby was huge. (Spoiler alert: I was right.) The next document life post I will be sharing is Coen's CRAZY birth story, so stay tuned!


Here's a glimpse at the last two weeks of life before baby #5 joined our family!

February 18th


The kids had the day off school, so we had a quiet day at home! Or as quiet as it can possibly be with four kids running around the house all day...

Down syndrome

February 19th


Back to school for my crew! When they got home, we took Ella for a little hike since it wasn't freezing outside.

Down syndrome blog

English Mastiff

Pittsburgh Blog

Big Family Blog

February 20th


I'm not sure what we did, but I think it involved school and basketball practice since that's what's on my calendar!

Life with Down syndrome

Sudio Headphones

Indoor Pet Rabbits


February 21st


It was Lexie's Birthday Eve, I had my weekly OB visit/NST, I went for a walk for my morning workout, Lily had dance, and Dylan had Open House. AND I was full term at 37 weeks!

Non Stress Test

Fit Pregnancy

8th Grade

37 Weeks Pregnant

February 22nd


Happy 12th Birthday to my beautiful Lexie!!! You can read all about her awesome day HERE! 

Birthday Traditions

The Lucky Few

Sibling Love

February 23rd


It was the last basketball game of the season, and Dylan (#6) was on FIRE! It was truly his best game ever. He scored point after point after point! Later that day, we went to my parent's house, and celebrated Lexie's birthday with them - complete with a cake that their cat stepped on!

basketball

Youth  Basketball

youth sports

basketball game

basketball

12th Birthday

Parenting Blog

February 24th


We obviously did nothing this day since I didn't take a picture, or write anything on my calendar. Oh, wait...I was contracting nonstop!

February 25th


Yep...still miserably pregnant. Haha!

pregnancy yoga

pregnant yoga

February 26th


STILL hugely pregnant...

Kidz Bop Ambassadors


February 27th


Weekly OB appointment + NST, a morning hike, and Read Across America Week at school.

NST in pregnancy

Inclusion

February 28th


Liam went on a field trip to the library with his Kindergarten class, and rode a real school bus for the first time. He had a great time! (Thanks to his awesome teachers for the pictures!) I reached 38 weeks of pregnancy (little did I know that I still had one more week to go - just look at that HUGE belly). And Lily had dance class!

Down syndrome

Inclusion Works!

Kindergarten Inclusion

English Mastiff

Best Dogs for Kids with special needs

Weekly Pregnancy Photos

March 1st


The kids ended  Read Across America Week with a bang, we had dinner at my parent's house, and we had a lazy Friday night at home!

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Read Across America Week

English Mastiff

Pet Blogs

March 2nd


This is the point when chaos set in! Liam had a sleepover at my parent's house the previous night, and when he came home on Saturday afternoon, he had a really high fever. The rest of the day was spent in bed while he slept, and I had contractions.

The Lucky Few

March 3rd


My contractions and Liam's high fever continued through Sunday. We did a whole lot of resting!

Down syndrome blogs

Life with Down syndrome

March 4th


There was a reason Liam had a fever. I took him to the doctor on Monday, because it kept spiking to over 105. Sure enough, he tested positive for flu! It was NOT good considering I was 38 weeks pregnant, and having contractions, and Liam has the tendency to develop secondary infections when he gets really sick. I'm so glad we got him to the doctor first thing Monday morning!

Childhood Flu

March 5th


I didn't take any pictures this day. I was dealing with a very sick child, and I felt very down all day because of the morning sickness, constant contractions, and feeling miserably uncomfortable.

March 6th


I had an OB appointment and was VERY annoyed that the doctor wasn't taking my concerns over having a huge baby seriously. The growth ultrasound indicated that he would be 8 - 8 1/2 lbs, but it was my 5th baby, and I could TELL he was huge. Grant was working from home all week because I was contracting so much, so after dropping the kids off at school after my appointment, I went for a run - an ACTUAL run. Looking back, I'm not quite sure how I did it with a 10+ lb baby inside of me! When I got back, though, I had a feeling it was time to finish packing our bags for the hospital. I did just that, then spent the rest of the day timing contractions (and feeling frustrated), and snuggling my sick boy.

Life with Down syndrome

What to pack in a birthing bag

And that brings us up to date to March 7th! It's almost BABY day! Stay tuned for Coen's upcoming birth story...it's a crazy one!

Birth Story

If you have children, can you remember what life was like before they were born?

Life Before Baby #5

1 comment:

  1. Oh wow, he was a big baby!! I like these little updates about your life. Definitely a good way to remember things as time goes on.

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

    ReplyDelete

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