All About Titan

Titan is the sweetest baby boy. Truly.

But this comes as no surprise to me. I knew that he was going to be special. From the earliest stages of my pregnancy, I could tell that he was easygoing--the perfect second child! He takes after Andrew in that respect.

Over the last several months, I would tell people that he was "along for the ride." He mostly slept through the pregnancy and would only wake up about 10-15 minutes after I had eaten something to change positions and go back to snoozing. He didn't have a schedule or defined alert periods like Cambria did.

I did think he would be a little taller considering that his favorite position was the "Superman" where his feet were up in my ribs and his hands down in my lower abdomen on the opposite side. He sure could stretch out!

Andrew and I gave our final predictions as to Titan's size and weight before he was born. Andrew guessed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 21 inches and I said 8 lbs. 2 oz. and 21.5 inches long. Imagine our surprise when we had a baby that was essentially Cambria's twin born 18 months too late. He was just 1 oz. heavier than her but her same length at 8 lbs. and 20.5 inches. And he looked nearly identical to her as well!

Titan is a furry little hobbit baby like Cambria. His hairline doesn't extend to his eyebrows like hers did but he still is covered in dark hair on his back, shoulders, ears, etc. It's adorable!

Titan does have a stork bite birthmark at the base of his neck but it's not very visible due to all of his hair and I can't see if he has any other birthmarks on his head.

I was thrilled when the nurse announced that he had lots of hair. Titan has dark, curly hair that sticks out every which way after a nap just like Daddy's does. When Titan was first born, his head made kind of a mohawk shape (better than Cambria's "birthday party hat tilted to the side" conehead look!) that stuck around for a few weeks afterwards. It was pretty cool. Oh, and he has "ridges." Only my siblings will know what I am talking about there and it will be a few years before we can ask him if they "hurt" when he laughs, but the boy has the "Isenbarger ridges."

And just like Daddy, Titan is a lip-smacker. We noticed our first night together as he tried to suck on his fists that he was a noisy boy. I broke down and gave him a pacifier on his second day in the hospital and he would just smack away on it. That night, he went to the nursery for some testing and the nurses used sucrose to distract him and they all commented on how afterwards he was just smacking his lips like it was the tastiest treat he had ever tried.

He has my nose (sorry, buddy!) and also my "butt chin" with a dimple in the center. It looks a lot better on him than me!

Bella Baby took these photos of Titan (and the rest of us) the morning after he was born. On a vain side note, I was bummed that I didn't have time to get dressed and put on some makeup for Cambria's hospital photos and so I was determined that this time I would look more presentable. However, other than a shower at 5:30 in the morning, I didn't have a moment to myself and so when the photographer showed up, it just had to happen. Oh well! There is always Baby #3!

"The Last Name is Wehadababy-Itsaboy" | Titan's Birth Story

It’s hard to believe that it’s only August 25 and not only is Titan here but he is already two weeks old!

I guess you could say that I “willed” this baby to come.  And he certainly got my mental eviction notice and acted upon it quickly!

Dr. Cherian first checked me at my 36 week appointment at the end of July. He seemed surprised when he told me I was dilated to 3 centimeters and effaced 70 percent. I knew things had been moving and shaking—just like Cambria, I had gradually begun to shed my mucus plug (TMI) the week before on July 24.  And Braxton-Hicks contractions were a constant for me. I was also sad to see that at 36 weeks I had a new set of stretch marks surface along my lower abdomen. Waaaaaaaah! Sure, they were faint but they were there and I was bugged.

Andrew was awesome about taking care of Cambria. Every day he took her out of the house once or twice for me so that I could catch a nap or just have some quiet time to nest. They had so much fun together!

I was so grateful that he could do that for her because I was pretty much worthless at this point in the pregnancy. I basically moved from couch to chair to bed to couch throughout the day. My back was killing me. My hips were killing me. The false labor was killing me. I was over it. I could only sleep in two to three hour increments at the most (45 minutes during the day) because the pressure and pain of ALL THAT WEIGHT on my joints made it impossible to get comfortable.

Friday, August 7, I worked at Peaksview Dental in Bedford. It was my second to last week and generally I was hanging in there. I was glad that I didn’t have carpal tunnel syndrome with this pregnancy and that may be because I was only working one day a week. That afternoon, I started having strong, regular contractions. I was too busy with patients to time them but they were a frequent presence throughout each 45-minute prophy. One older man took a look at me when I called him back and said, “Are you gonna make it?”

“I honestly don’t know!” I told him. By then, the labor was in my back as well. Since I was 35 minutes from Lynchburg and Andrew was stuck at home without a car (we are a one-car family since his Taurus bit the dust at a rest stop in Colorado), I decided to just hang in there and make it through the rest of the day.

As I was driving home that evening, I made up my mind that I was going to get our hospital bags packed and become a little more serious about getting ready for this baby.

The contractions settled down at home after I took a shower but I was still determined to finish up any last minute preparations for this baby. Cambria had caught us a little off guard with her arrival and I wanted to have everything in order for Titan, particularly since we were going to have to figure out what to do with Cambria while we were in the hospital.

On Monday, August 10, after another sleepless night, I took my frustration to Facebook:

 

That night as I got ready for bed, I came out of the bathroom, looked at Andrew and said, “I am officially done with this pregnancy.”

Famous last words.

Tuesday morning, August 11, Cambria woke up at 2:10 and cried just a little bit before putting herself back to sleep. But I couldn’t get myself back to sleep.  Ugh. I was tossing and turning in bed. So I decided to give the couch a try for a little bit. I even got so desperate that I started responding to Facebook messages (I usually stay off of my phone in the middle of the night—social media does not help my insomnia!)

Around 4:30, I went to the bathroom AGAIN but this time I flicked on the lights (I’ve been tinkling like a stealthy ninja) and noticed that I had some bloody show (TMI). That definitely woke me up! I did some quick internet research and grabbed my copy of What To Expect When You’re Expecting. It was time to start timing my contractions. I realized that I was having one minute long contractions every four to five minutes.

Around 5:45, I hopped in the shower to get ready for a trip to the hospital. I woke Andrew up afterwards so that he would have time to shower and pack his hospital bag. He was obviously a little out of it and it took him a second to process what was happening. We both got ready for the hospital and then waited for Cambria to wake up. I also wanted to wait until 7 AM to call Lauren Malone and ask if we could drop Cambria off.

Cambria didn’t wake up on her own by 7:00 and the contractions were getting stronger so we just woke her up. She was so adorable standing in her crib all “bedheaded” and blinking at the light coming in from the open curtains. “Hi!” she characteristically greeted us as she does every morning. That sweet moment is frozen like a photograph in my mind.

Last photo as a bleary-eyed family of three. Baby Boy is on his way!

Of course she didn’t want to eat her breakfast that morning. I was eager to get a move on! So we dropped her off bleary-eyed and hungry at the Malones. But she was so happy to see her “girls” Sydney and Brooklyn.

We got to the hospital a little after 8:00. They put us in triage and I got changed into my voluminous hospital gown. My nurse, Ashley, came in to ask me a million questions and finally checked me and I was dilated to 5 centimeters. I still wasn’t sure at this point if they were going to have me stay or not and we had to wait on the on-call OB, Dr. Kristi Kidd to give the final word.

Around 10:30 we were moved to Labor & Delivery Room #1 and officially admitted. Ashley unsuccessfully tried twice to give me my IV and so another nurse was called in to do it. I really hate that part of it all so much! The thought of an IV makes me sick to my stomach!

Holy smokes! We are having a baby today!

Our first nurse, Ashley

 I requested an epidural and Dr. Lee, the anesthesiologist, came in around 12:30. Initially, he had an exacting and intimidating personality that began to panic me. I started to get extremely nervous about my epidural but I knew that despite my nerves, I wanted one. I hope I appeared braver than I felt! We got chatting a bit during the procedure and that really thawed the ice and helped me to relax. Thank heavens!

Dr. Kidd checked me right after my epidural was in place and I had progressed to 7 centimeters but was still only 70 percent effaced. Come on, baby! She broke my water for me in the hopes that things would get moving.

My right leg was super numb but my left leg wasn’t and so we spent the next hour or so rearranging pillows and propping me up on my side to even out the anesthesia. At least I wasn’t feeling any contractions.

I started to feel like I was going to throw up and so I ordered some food off of the liquid diet. Ashley checked my blood pressure and I was 80/40. That’ll make you sick. She gave me some ephedrine and I felt better immediately. I also requested some zofran just in case.

Andrew and I discovered that the hospital had HGTV and so we turned on the TV and watched a bunch of mindless reality shows. We both tried to take a nap as well as my labor approached the 14-hour mark.

Ashley’s shift ended and so we had a new nurse—Susanne. She helped us for another 2 hours before her shift ended. By then it was 6:15 and I had been in labor for 16 hours which was longer than I had anticipated. Our new nurse, Freddie, came on and decided to get the show on the road especially since Dr. Kidd’s shift was ending at 7:00 PM. Dr. Kidd seemed determined to deliver our baby for us!

Our second nurse, Susanne

We started Pitocin in two doses and then I was at 10 centimeters! It was 6:46 and time to push. Freddie called for Dr. Kidd and they began to get the room all set up. Andrew and I were still having trouble at this point wrapping our head around the fact that we were going to have a baby ten days earlier than we had anticipated. It felt very surreal. And even though I had been in labor 17 hours, I still wasn’t sure I was ready. I felt the same way when it was time to push with Cambria—it’s like you are at the very top of the highest point of the roller coaster and there truly is no going back.

 Freddie had me do an initial push to see where Titan was and immediately stopped me. I guess we were closer than any of us thought! She told me to hang on and Dr. Kidd hurried to finish her preparations. I pushed through two contractions and THERE HE WAS! Hooray! At 7:19 PM.

I was able to hold Titan right away and they allowed us to delay his cord clamping (Andrew got to do it!) Freddie cleaned Titan up a bit right there on my chest and then everyone kind of bowed out and allowed Andrew and I to sit in the darkened room for an entire hour and enjoy our new baby. It was heaven! The only downside was that they insisted that Titan stay with me and so Andrew had to wait his turn.

 After an hour, the excitement started up again. Titan got his first bath. He was weighed (8 lbs. 0 oz.) and measured (20.5 inches). We were transferred to our hospital room. Both he and I were poked and prodded repeatedly. At about 1 AM, the excitement died down and we were allowed to rest.

Finally it's Daddy's turn!

Our third and final nurse, Freddie

Titan’s first 12 hours were a little tricky. He wanted to nurse constantly and when he wasn’t nursing, he was trying to cram his fists in his mouth to suck on them. He wanted to be tightly swaddled and held and liked the reassurance of “Mommy’s Magical Butt Pat.” No sleep for either of us but that's okay.

The lab tech came in at 5 AM and began the parade of hospital visitors: nurses, OB, pediatrician, CNA, housekeeping, room service, charge nurse, housekeeping supervisor, lactation consultant, hospital registrar, Baby Bella photographer, etc. It was a revolving door of staff! Andrew left a little before 7 to pick up Cambria from the Malones and take her home to get bathed and changed for a visit to see us. By the time they returned at 9:30, I was exhausted! I hadn’t gotten any sleep that night and the night before I barely even got 3 hours.

But first, lemme take a selfie

Still not even 24 hours old!

Loving my view! Just Titan and I in a room while he snoozes and I chow down.

Cambria and Andrew spent the morning visiting Titan and I. We ordered lunch together and then they left so Cambria could take a nap. I finally got around to posting a baby announcement on Instagram and Facebook. Once it's on social media, it really happened, right?

Well we had quite the surprise yesterday! But an early baby is a welcome baby! Titan Rex Kailana Mitchell was born August 11 at 7:19 PM after more than 17 hours of labor. He was 8 lbs 0 oz and 20.5 inches long. Daddy and Mommy are absolutely in love with him but Big Sis is still making up her mind!

 The hospital has quiet hours from 1:30 to 3:30. Cambria and Andrew returned after that and we ordered smoothies (Cambria’s FAVORITE!) and milkshakes from the cafeteria to celebrate as a family and watched “Barbie as The Island Princess” together.

#BowsBeforeBros

Andrew took Cambria home to put her in bed and then our ward member, Michelle Samples, went over to our house to watch Cambria so that Andrew could come back to the hospital for a few hours and we could call our families.

Titan and I spent our second night in the hospital alone. It was still difficult to get any rest. They had mandatory lab testing for Titan at 2 AM and then I had my vitals check at 4 AM. Why do they schedule it like that?! I think I dozed off and on for about three hours when all was said and done with a nice hour-long stretch from 7-8 AM.

Andrew and I got Cambria her own “baby doll” to take care of. Andrew gave it to her the morning of the day that Titan was coming home. She was a little interested at first because the eyes would open and close but it quickly got thrown in the garbage, recovered by Daddy, and put away. 

Cambria and Andrew visited in the hospital that morning and then Andrew took Cambria home for a nap. His classmate, Sarah Scruggs, offered to stay with Cambria so that Andrew could come pick Titan and I up from the hospital and take us home.

Thanks, Sarah, for the photo and for watching Cambria!

So, home again, home again, jiggity-jig on Thursday, August 14. We are now a family of four!