2016: Best is Yet to Come

This year was crazy upon crazy. Career changes and a new family member, but my Best is Yet to Come

January

The school year was in full swing. Evie attended four-day threes, and weekly tap/ballet classes. Maggie enjoyed Mom-and-me gymnastics. Elizabeth substitute taught 9th grade Scripture and 10th grade Roman Lit for Kolbe. Eric started seriously training for a Half Ironman. We had a few snow days. We found out Baby Buergler #3 was a boy!

February

Eric took the girls to their annual Chick-fil-a Daddy-Daughter Date Night. Eric rode with Roswell Bikes on Saturdays.  Maggie and Elizabeth had the flu. Nannie had emergency surgery. Evie went to the circus with Grandma and G. Daddy. Spike stayed with us for a few weeks. We bought a new-to-us van! Elizabeth made 100 Club at Pure Barre.

March

The month opened with the Presidential Election Primaries. Eric attended Donuts with Dad at Evie's school.  We celebrated Easter. Evie did physical therapy for her gross motor delay.

April

Nephew Joey was Baptized. Eric did a sprint triathlon in Athens. Maggie turned 2 and we celebrated with Disney on Ice and a trip to Babyland General. Eric went to New Orleans for his 32nd birthday and Ironman 70.3.   Evie started swimming lessons and had her very first dance recital. Katie and Leeann hosted a Baby Shower for Baby Buergler.

May

Elizabeth attended Muffins with Mom with Evie's class. We worked on Disney Trip plans. Elizabeth photographed several baptisms. We took maternity photos. We drove to Watercolor, Florida for a Corsetti Family Beach Vacation.

June

Elizabeth took early maternity leave from Pure Barre and the family joined LifeTime Fitness for the summer. Both girls took swim lessons. We enjoyed many nights swimming as a family. Eric finished building the girls beautiful bunkbeds. Evie went to preschool summer camp and Vacation Bible School.  Elizabeth went on modified bedrest until a scheduled induction in July.

July

Eric ran the Peachtree Road Race.  Elizabeth was 100% focused on keeping Baby Buergler healthy which included daily visits to the OB or hospital for pre-eclampsia.  Nathan arrived, healthy as can be, on July 8th.  We adore him.  July was full of dance and gymnastics camps for Evie and Maggie. Eric had two full weeks of paternity leave.

August

Nathan was Baptized. Evie enjoyed a few more fun outings before school started. Maggie was home with herpangina. THEN both girls got strep. We missed our August summer camps because of this.  Evie and Maggie met their teachers and started school.  We decided four days before school started to have Evie tested into start Pre-K5 instead of Pre-K4. Best decision ever. Maggie started two-day twos and loves it. Elizabeth completed teacher training and started her school year.  Eric held us all together. Some how we managed a cabin trip and a trip to the Roswell ice cream festival.

September

September brought the beginning of tap/ballet and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for Evie and gymnastics for Maggie. Nathan is awesome at going with the flow. We finalized our Disney Trip plans. We went to the cabin for Sibs Weekend.

October

Eric took the girls to Stone Mountain for our now annual day-cation with the Buerglers. Our crew went to the Pumpkin Patch with SBMG. Maggie had her first ER visit for sticking a bead up her nose. The next day had her second ER visit when she dropped a bench crushing her toe. She spent the next 4 weeks in a cast. Halloween was celebrated at Pap and Nannie's and then quietly at home. The girls passed out their own candy instead of trick-or-treating.

November

Eric and Elizabeth voted in a historic presidential election. Evie turned five with The Best Day Ever! We surprised her with a trip to Disney World.  All three kids were incredible on the flights and on the whole trip. They're begging to return. Maggie got her cast off, but struggled with her foot. We had two Thanksgivings with lots of pie. Elizabeth wrapped up photography season.

December

The girls went to the Atlanta Children's Parade.  Evie "starred" in her school Christmas Pageant.  Eric took a week off from work and was mystery reader for Evie's class.  Maggie had an MRI to figure out why her foot and toe are still swollen (no news yet).  Eric had a coworker pass away and Elizabeth's beloved high school band director was killed.  On an up note: We celebrated Christmas with all the family and the girls were enthralled with the magic of Christmas (but were diligent about remembering Jesus!).  Nathan still isn't rolling over or sitting, but he tried a few bites of solid food. We rang in the new year by cleaning out the cabinets (This is life at 34, y'all!).

What was new in 2016?

Nathan! Eric finishing his Ironman 70.3. Maggie mostly potty trained. Evie is learning to read, write, and do crazy math!  Elizabeth is teaching two sections of 10th grade Sacraments + Church History.

What stayed the same in 2016?

Eric continued to work full-time in software development. He would like to add that he did not learn as much "technically geeky shit" as last year but "I do have a really awesome Minecraft World" (and there we have it).  He goes to CHRP once a month. Elizabeth streamlined life: Mom, photography, on-line teaching.  She continues with her girl's bible study.  Together we continue with our couple's bible study and involvement at our parish.

What ended in 2016?

Elizabeth "retired" from The Natural Baby.

Where did you travel?

30-A, Highlands, NC, and Orlando, Fl ....and a LOT of hospitals.

Biggest accomplishments?

Elizabeth - Growing photography business almost doubling last year's income; first year teaching
Eric - teaching himself word working and building incredible bunkbeds; PR an Ironman 70.3
Evie - learning to swim; graduating from PT; going poop in the potty
Maggie - starting school; learning to be a big sister; rocking a hot pink cast
Nathan - being born ;)

What would you tell your grandchildren about 2016?

Our first family Disney Trip!

Previous Years: 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015

Nathan: Five Months

 

Measurements:

Weight:  ~16lbs

Length: 27-28 inches

Feeds: nurses 5 times a day; about 15-20 minutes each session.

Diapers:   Blueberry Simplex and Smartbottoms
size 3 in disposables

Clothes:  6 mos and 6-9 mos, 9 mos and 6-12 mos

Shoes: none

Teeth: none; those bottom ones will be here soon!

Firsts:

Nov 8 - Celebrated Evie's 5th birthday at Disney
Nov 24 - Thanksgiving
Nov 27 - Full Family Professional Photos
School tours for Evie!

Milestones:

Looks for toys or people

Smiles and laughs

Coos and "talks"

Drools

Loves his thumbs!

Graduated to sleep sack for naps and bed

Sticking to his Moms-on-Call feeding, napping, and sleeping schedule
getting ready for solids!
Lifting his legs up
Getting ready to roll

Likes:

Bath time

Diaper changes

Attention from his family

Floor gym
When the girls play with him on the floor

Dislikes:

Too much Maggie in his face

The cold

When mommy walks away
Being hungry

What they say:

 "He looks JUST like Evie"
"he looks JUST like Maggie"
"He's such a long baby!"
"Hasn't he just stollen your heart?"
"He is the sweetest boy"
"Seriously, is he the best baby ever?"

We love our sweet Nathan.  I can't imagine not having him in our family.  He balances us out so well. He has a sweet disposition and is already so easy going. 

Nathan: Four Months

Measurements:

Weight: 15lbs 4oz (52%) 

Length: 26.8 inches (94%) 

Feeds: nurses 5 times a day; about 20-30 minutes each session.

Diapers:   Blueberry Simplex and Smartbottoms
busting out of size 2 in disposables

Clothes:  6 mos and 6-9 mos

Shoes: none

Teeth: none

Firsts:

Oct 31 - Halloween

Nov 6 - Airplane and Bus ride

Nov 7 - trip to Disney World!

Milestones:

Focuses eyes

Smiles

Coos

Drools

Found thumb. Self soothes to sleep.

Graduated to half swaddle for bed (needs his thumb!) and sleep sack for naps

On an awesome feeding schedule (Mom's on Call 12wk old schedule since we won't start solids until 6 months)

Graduated out of Ergo infant insert

Still has a little head lag but is mostly holding his head up

Nathan sleeps through the night and has since about 8ish weeks

Likes:

Bath time

Diaper changes

Attention from his family

Floor gym (reaching for animals!)

Dislikes:

Too much Maggie in his face

The cold

Stop and go traffic

when mommy eats brussel sprouts or broccoli

What they say:

 He's becoming his own little person

He's so alert

Is he always this good?

Nathan: One Month

Measurements:

Weight: 9lbs 2oz (39%) 

Length: 22.3 inches (83%) 

Feeds: nurses 5-6 times a day; 1-2 during the night. He was nursing about 25-30 minutes but is down to about 20-25 each feeding.

Diapers:  v2 Tini Tots,  v2 Bottom Bumpers Size 1, and newborns in GroVia, Thirisies Blueberry Simplex and Smartbottoms
graduated to size 1 in disposables

Clothes:  graduated from newborn to 0-3

Shoes: none

Teeth: none

Firsts:

7/9/16 Came home from the hospital

7/12/16 Pediatrician Visit

7/23/16 Bath at home

7/24/16 Mass (at Transfiguration, celebrated by Fr. Dennis)

7/26/16 Chiropractor visit

Milestones:

Starting to focus eyes

Starting to figure out his hands

So close to a social smile

Nurses like a champ and took to it within a few tries!

Likes:

Being held in the afternoons, usually about 2-5pm (car rides will do!)

Laying on the floor gym with Evie and Maggie

Hanging out in the swing next to Mommy while she works

MAM pacifiers (we tried 3 brands, this is his jam)

Dislikes:

Maggie smothering his face

Being cold / too much air conditioning

Afternoons

Other:

Nathan is our easiest baby yet. I'm not sure if 3rd time is a charm and we're pros now, if I am too busy to tend to his every peep, or if he's really just that good.  Or D) All of the above.

He took to nursing quickly and easily.  The lactation consultant at the hospital said the third baby is the easiest to nurse, even if you didn't nurse the others. She said you're just so much more confident in your parenting and the babies can sense it. Interesting.  Don't get me wrong, those first two weeks are awful and painful, but we've hit our groove now.

Nathan hasn't been much of a pooper. I'm getting worried he's going to have tummy issues like Evie, however the pediatrician keep reassuring us this is normal.

He has been AMAZING at night. Nurse. Burp. Diaper. Swaddle. Sleep. These last few weeks I do believe the girls have been more work at night.  Eric and I have kept with our routine that we had for Maggie. I feed and sometimes burp or diaper. Eric swaddles and deals with any rocking or fussing. Eric does an incredible swaddle. It's not even worth it for me to try.

Everyone has been asking what we're going to call him "Nathanael" "Nathan" or "Nate"  Our plan has been to call him whatever sticks. So try it out.  The girls tend to call him Nate since Nathan is more like Nay-fan.  My family that went to Duke calls him Nate James after the assistant basketball coach.

We may also call him Nate-Dawg or Nate Dogg. Apparently there is a rapper? Haha.

What they say:

I forget he's only 4 weeks because you're back at it.

What are you calling him?

You forget how little they are!

How are the girls with him?

Do you like having a boy?

Who does he look like?

So who do YOU think he looks like? 

Evie (top) or Maggie(bottom)?

And just for fun: Evie at One Month |  Maggie at One Month 

Nathan's Birth Story

On Friday June 17, at thirty four and a half weeks I woke up with a migraine, puffy, dizzy and my blood pressure had jumped up 20-25 points over night. I knew the inevitable had happened. Preeclampsia. I called the midwife and they had me come in for a check up, and then they sent me to the hospital for several hours of monitoring and labs. They sent me home that night with orders for modified bedrest and twice a week check ups.  On Monday the obstetrician called with my lab results. I had the start of preeclampsia and given my history of having it twice already, would need to be induced at 37 weeks. They sent me in to get steroid shots for the baby incase he needed to be born early.

I stayed on bedrest for the next two weeks and went to the hospital one other time for monitoring.  Everything was up and down.  Some days I was swollen and dizzy some days I was up doing normal activity just fine.  Some days my blood pressure was record low and some days it was in the warning zone.  It was strange and baffled my doctors.

At my 36 week check up the obstetrician said I could keep my 37 week induction date or push it back a week.  I decided to split the difference and scheduled it for July 7th because my favorite midwife was on call that day.  They said since everything was going well because I had been induced twice already with great success, I could call the shots of how I wanted the induction to go.

On July 7th at 8am we arrived at the hospital.  The midwife came in to check me. I was 2 cm and 50%. We decided to start a 12 hour dose of Cervidil and see where that took me.  At 10am the medicine arrived and the clock started. I had to be on the monitors and on my back for a straight 2 hours. After that I could get up occasionally to use the bathroom.

With both of the girls we started Cervidil at night and then slept through the uneventful hours.  This time I laid in bed watching the clock tick.  I was showing no signs of contractions so I was able to get up for lunch.  After this I took a nap.

Then my mom brought Evie to visit.  She and Eric played Mindcraft for about an hour while my mom and I talked.

By now it was about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. I was starting to have very mild, very irregular contractions. I was still able to eat so I had a small dinner.  Contractions started picking up and for the next 2-3 hours went from every 13 minutes to every 8 minutes.  We called the birth photographer and she arrived around 7pm.

Somewhere during this time the Obstetrician came in to go over the next stage(s) of the induction. She laid out 3-4 different options for me. If things progressed well we could break my water and go. If not, then I'd either need to sleep and try again in the morning, try another dose of Cervidil, try a dose of a similar drug, or start Pitocin.  If I hadn't progressed my plan was to start Pitocin. (Something I never thought I'd say, but I was losing the mental game at this pregnancy the last few weeks)

We hung out with the photographer (Lily) watching Family Feud and waiting on the midwife to come in and check on me at 10pm.  At 9pm she surprised me with a visit. With contractions at 6-8 minutes apart and picking up in intensity she decided to check me an hour early.  While she was checking me her face lit up and said, "Well, you're at 4-5cm and 60%. I'd say let's break your water" --- HECK YES!  So she did!

I laid in bed for a half hour maybe but the fluid leaking was getting gross and annoying so I got in the shower. I spent about an hour in the shower and tub doing squats and stretching. Contractions were picking up speed and in intensity.  I toweled off and got dressed in what I wanted to wear for active labor and delivery...just a nursing sports bra..and continued to labor walking, squatting, and stretching around the room.

About 11 or so I was ready to get in bed and relax. I knew I still had a good hour or two a head of me and I needed some rest and more importantly to get my mind out of the way and into a good meditative state.

By 11:30 contractions were 4 minutes apart and intensifying.  Because I was allowed to labor without the fetal monitors on (they do a fetal heart check every 30 minutes, and then 30 minute strip every 4 hours) I had no idea how far apart or long the contractions were. I had Eric start timing. They were now every three minutes.  He watched the clock and would tell me when the next one was coming so I could start deep breathing.

About 1:30-2am I was starting to get really hard strong contractions and a lot of pressure "down there".  I knew I needed to poop (actually poop) so I managed a toilet visit. But much like with Maggie's delivery that was all I needed to put me over the edge to the final stages of labor.

The midwife was in the room with me waiting when a nurse came and grabbed her for a few minutes. I was pissed that they left. Little did I know the woman next door was pushing out a boy faster than me.  Minutes later the urge to push and full body contractions started. I could barely ask Eric and Lily to get the midwife for me. I just laid in bed trying to push the Call The Nurse button as I was holding back pushing out the baby. I'm not sure if I ever hit the button, managed to talk, or if it was the primal screaming that ensued but soon nurses started arriving and the room preparations were set in motion.

The midwife came in and sat with me while everyone else set up. It was a good distraction.  I had to tell Eric to tell me to breathe and relax with each contraction.  With Maggie's delivery I had started to fight them at this point by arching my back and it was keeping the baby from dropping.  This time I remembered to round my back, but I needed the reminders to RELAX.

I was able to manage the pain and pushing by doing really deep abdominal breathing with each contraction.  The "ring of fire" hit more than I remember any of the others and I felt like everything "down there" was tearing in a million pieces. I wanted to push but I could tell I was going to tear if I pushed too hard too fast.  I alternated urges with pushing and breathing.  This way I could slow things down until I was really, really ready to push.  Once I could tell he was right there, I gave it all I had.  After two good pushes I hadn't heard from the midwife. I needed to know how far away I was. She said she could see his head. This was the perfect motivation. I locked into a mental focus image (Maggie laughing) and pushed two more times.  His head was out.  I took a good breather and was so ready to be done that the next contraction I pushed him out.

He was here!!!!  Welcome to the world, Nathanael James! Born at 2:42 am, weighing 7lbs 13.6 ounces, measuring 20.5 inches.  Our super sweet boy was placed on my chest for lots of snuggles.

Unfortunately, the story doesn't end here. The nurses and midwife prepared me to deliver the placenta and cut the cord.  I had Eric take Nathan to snuggle while the nurses finished with all after birth mess and getting me cleaned up. I started bleeding a lot so the nurses suggested we get Nathan on the breast to stabilize my body.  He had an incredible rooting reflex from the start.  Unfortunately, I was bleeding fast and the breastfeeding wasn't doing enough to help.  I was starting to feel faint.

I passed Nathan off to Eric again.  We decided that I needed Eric to help me so we sent Nathan over to the nurses to get his vitals checked and cleaned.

Eric went to get some apple juice and crackers and in that amount of time I just about blacked out.  I don't remember much other than the nurses yelling something about smelling salts, apple juice, breathing and keeping my eyes open and level.  I just wanted to collapse. The called for emergency pitocin and fluids.  I had no idea what was going on.  I had a shot of pitocin in my thigh and on the other side a nurse was putting in an IV and hanging up the fluid bags.

Eric fed me juice, crackers, chicken broth, and lots and lots of water over the next hour or so.  I wanted so badly to hold Nate but I just couldn't. It broke my heart but I was not well.

After the color returned to my face and I felt coherent enough the nurses let me sleep.  Eric took Nathan for a few hours and they snuggled.  The nurses kept me in labor and delivery for a few more hours. They were afraid to move me and didn't want to pass off my case to the recovery wing just yet.

Around 5 or 6am the nurses came in to run some tests.  They told me that I had lost over a 1000ml of blood, twice the normal amount and that I was close to needing a blood transfusion.  She told me I would need to eat lots of iron, protein and Vitamin C  and drinks 2-3 times the water over the next few weeks to help make a quick recovery.

Once the nurses and Eric said I was looking better, and I felt better I got to snuggle with Nathan again.  At the 7am shift change my recovery nurses came in to meet with the delivery nurses so that everyone was on the same page with my situation.  They finished cleaning me off and off we went down to recovery.  We slept for a few more hours before visitors started arriving.

After the crazy ending to the delivery, recovery went surprisingly well. I was faint for a few hours after, but by dinner time I was feeling pretty well. The next day my blood levels were safe enough for me to go home.  Nathan scored well on all of his tests and we were home just after lunch the July 9th.

 We are so in love with our little man!

Special thank you to Nile Women's Healthcare and Liliana Leahy Photography and of course, thank you to our parents for all the yummy food and for taking care of our girls while we met our little man.