September to Remember

I didn't know that today will be my last trip to the hospital with a huge 38weeks and 6days pregnant belly. I came in today for my required blood draw before my C-Section procedure on the 9th and for my final Fetal Non-Stress Test. It is my husband's dayoff so since San Leandro is quite a ride from Newman, we decided to get there very early and do errands after that. And so I got my blood draw done after an hour of getting there. YES! that's how busy their lab is. Then I headed to the 3rd floor for my NST (good thing I wasnt late for it). I got all the apparatuses set up in my belly, my vital signs are taken and my baby's activities are being monitored for 30 minutes. It was the sweetest 30 minutes of my life because I can sleep while this procedure is going on. Few minutes before the end of the session, the nurse is busy making phonecalls until she approached me and told me that I am on active labor and contracting very hard every 6minutes. And I was like, "really?" and then the nurse told me, "and you are not in pain?" then I smile at her. I told her that I can feel a strong contraction but I can still tolerate it. Based on what I've learned, told and experienced, if a pregnant woman can barely talk or walk with a pattered contraction, then that's active labor. She wanted me to be seen in the Labor and Delivery and I said OK. She they transported me to L&D and without hesitations, its up to me if we wanted to have the surgery today instead of waiting til Saturday. Im almost 39weeks pregnant anyway and considered full term. So without my "prepared" diaper bag, and with my sister-in-law's family came in to watch Shiloh while Vincent is with me in the OR, we finally said yes.

At 2PM, they started prepping me and began the procedure until it lasted for almost an hour. And then finally! I heard my daughter's cry for the first time. Baby out is at 2:51PM. She's so precious and..... SO HEAVY! hahaha having a birth weight of whooping 11.15lbs.. (beating Ate Shiloh's record of 10.14lbs hahaha!!) and 21inches long. And we will call her Saoirse (which means "freedom" in Ireland) Zarra (in Hebrew derived from Sarah, which means "princess") 

We feel so elated to have her. She's her sister's look a like. Those chubby cheeks wouldn't stop me from staring at her. She's truly a blessing to us.

And since it is an unexpected delivery, my husband and my daughter has to leave me for a night. I am just so thankful that the nurses in the L&D are so kind and caring. Plus, a lot of Pinay nurses too so I feel comfortable with them.

My Kid's Closet Organization Ideas

Another Pinterest Ideas for me. I've been working on this for the past week and I finally finished it. I converted Shiloh's closet to fit another set of clothing for Babytwo since I decided not to set up another room as another nursery. I kept one room as a guest room here upstairs and the other room downstairs as a playroom/guestroom since it has a fullsize bed too. Anyway, these ideas were all from Pinterest and as you know me, nothing expensive was use with this transformation lol! So let me go ahead and start sharing my closet organization ideas and let me know what are your thoughts or suggestions about it.

This is how it looked like before.

This is a 2door, not a walk-in closet. On the top shelf, I have clothes that are still too big for Shiloh and clothes that I will have Babytwo to use. I don't mind if these were all Shiloh's preloved but I guess that's being practical since kids grow up so fast and 2yrs wasn't really long ago. Btw, going back, I had these clothes on a vacuumed bag which looks nice but would look pretty neat and organized if the contents wasn't showing at all. Labelling is the key not to get confuse. So what I did was I grabed Shiloh's diaper boxes, covered it with matching con-tact papers and that's where I put all the clothes that are not yet ready to wear. Then I sorted out the clothes for Babytwo and hang those 0-3 and 3-6mos clothings for now.

I also made a 2nd layer to hang those tiny clothes and I used this closet doubler and hang it in the grillings of the shelves.

Next is, I used to have this brown drawer for Shiloh's everyday shirt, shorts, intimates and bath towels which I got rid off and put it in my closet instead😆.  In replace to that drawer, I bought this 6cube storage shelf and 6matching gray chevron patterned storage bins (my eyes got kinda tired of seeing pink stuff so I went gray this time. Lol!).

 I labelled all storage bins as to Shiloh's everyday shirt and shorts, travel pants and shorts, socks, undies  and bath towels. On top of this 6cube shelf are transparent shoe boxes with lids (which I never used to keep my shoes)

and labelled it to where I can put Babytwo's bibs, headbands, hats and socks and burp clothes. I also have these 2mini plastic crates for her tiny shoes!. Thank God im a keeper! Or else I will end up spending bucks on these again. On the other side, I have a 3cube shelf with the same bins for Babytwo's short and longsleeve onesies and leggings.

So, there you have it. And as a super excited 2nd time mom, I also set up the play yard, baby chair and the swing but for sure these will be all transported to the master's bedroom since the kids will be staying with us.

PS.

I also sorted out some clothes and toys to be donated and I just have to find some time to drop it off to Newman Resource Center.

Much love,

Anne

**📆5days to go til my CSection Surgery👶**

What's Inside My Hospital Bag?

Yaaaaas! it's SEPTEMBER📆!! 8 days until I have my CSection Surgery and finally be able to hug and kiss my baby number two. Yes it is going to be a scheduled CS because my OB says that I have less than 50% of chance to go on NSD (Normal Spontaneous Delivery) based on my BMI and seriously I have a gigantic belly😱! lol! Well, not new to me since I had a big belly too with my first born. I guess thats how it is when you are gestational diabetic but anyhow, this will go away immediately right after childbirth.

Anyway, since im almost a week away from my scheduled CS, I already prepared my hospital bag and I want to share it with everybody reading my blog to give ideas to my first-time mom friends. I have a pregnancy app on my phone called Sprout and this is where I got the idea because the app has the checklist of the must haves upon admission.

So first is my duffel bag. This is nothing expensive. I got it from Walmart for $11. Its big and roomy and has lots of pockets and sturdy. I don't have anything  like this so I decided to get one. Most of my bags are tote bags and backpack that aren't big enough to hold my stuff for a 2-3days hopefully except if I will use our luggage lol! which my husband told me not to because im not checking in into a hotel or there for a vacation hahaha!! make sense!..so I just bought this instead..

Next are my essentials.. My bath towel, 2 of my tube top Hawaiian dress for easy access when breastfeeding (or I may just be on my patient's gown the whole time), my toiletries (though the hospital may provide these but better to have some just in case) and lastly, my intimates which are not in the picture😝.

My baby's "going home outfit" or could be her photo session outfit. Yes! the hospital has their photographers who goes to every postpartum mom and would ask if they would like to have their baby's first photo session with a fee and of course, I will not say no to that! :) I will also bring this large tote bag to hold some documents or even other giveaways from the hospitals and gifts from visitors just in case.

Then I also have these newborn, 0-3mos, 6-9mos onesies. I dont know how big she will be because when Shiloh's time, I didnt know she's going to be a 10lbs and 14oz baby and she doesnt fit to the newborn clothes anymore haha!! so just to be on the safe side, I will just bring a lot for babytwo. I also have some leggings, burp clothes, swaddles, receiving blankets and my nursing cover to bring along.

Along with my hospital bag, I will also bring my Ameda Double Electric Breast Pump which I got free from my insurance (and they said I am eligible for another one. Every pregnancy actually. How cool is that? let me know if anyone needs one I can give you my extra breastpump ;) ) I also have some baby bottles which is not really necessary because they encourage breastfeeding but unfortunately that was my struggle/frustration the last time. I don't have much milk and Shiloh doesnt like to latch on me and it was the nurses who introduced that baby bottle nipples to her :( probably because Shiloh is already in need of milk that time and will take some time before she get used to my nipples. And my breastpump came late then (7 days late). But anyhow, I hope this will no longer be an issue for me. I even bought this milk supply drink and hopefully this will help me since being on a CSection may delay my natural production of milk due to the medications.

In addition, I will also bring my phone and charger, my wallet with my hospital card and debit card. So if you guys think that I may be forgetting something, let me know in the comment below. If not, im thankful for your prayers and well wishes:)

Much Love,

Anne