Don't judge me. Yes I've been out of college for almost 8 years (wow, really) and have pretty much that many years of public accounting experience, but I have never made myself buckle down and pass the CPA exam. There were always too many other fun things going on that I wanted to do. Of course, now that's laughable because I would PAY money to sit on my couch ALONE and drink WINE while watching some reality show, but that's beside the point. Anyway, last August (at 4.5 months pregnant), I decided I needed to get serious. I didn't want to give up any time with my precious Kimber, so I decided I could literally study while she was asleep. That sounds crazy, but I mapped it all out and decided I could give it a few hours a night after she went to bed, and then a few hours each day of the weekend while she was napping, and again possibly after she went to bed. I knew this was the time I needed to pass since we had yet another little Stewart on the way and my time would continue to be limited. Plus, I think motherhood majorly helped me in terms of discipline and determination. Let's not forget August means football season. So, this meant I was embarking on a journey to pass the CPA exam (all 4 parts because I lost credit for 2 after I had Kimber and didn't take it on time) while I was pregnant, with a one year old, and a husband who was NEVER home. NEVER. Like 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week, NEVER home. Sounds fun right? Well all mothers will agree, you never quite know how strong you are until you are in fact a mother. Then, you learn that beyond the point that you might have given up before and well past the point you think you've had all you can take, there's still more. It's pretty amazing actually. So, I took FAR on October 17, AUD on November 9, and BEC on November 29. Passed all three. I knew I needed to get three done before baby arrived, so that I only had to commit one more time for the last test and also my nemesis, REG. More about that later.
Christmast was fairly uneventful. By that time, I was pretty much a ticking time bomb. Of course there were all kinds of jokes about a new years baby, etc. Funny how that almost worked out. On Saturday, December 29, I had taken Kimber over to our friends' house to visit for a minute while Clayton was at his mom's house helping take down her tree. The back of their house is all windows and faces their pool and the lake in our neighborhood. I was talking to my friend Lindsey and facing the windows, so I was having a hard time focusing on her face with the sun glaring in the windows, etc. Or so I thought. Once I turned around and wasn't facing her anymore, I realized that pretty much my entire left eye was blurry and my vision was just spinning. I, of course, immediately decided to leave and get on home, which is right around the corner. By the time I picked up Kimber's diaper bag, I realized it was too dangerous to drive with her in the car and me feeling so progressively bad by the second. Thank God, Clayton had seen my car at their house on his way home and stopped in to visit. Little did he know what he was getting into. I went home and chugged two bottles of water (thinking maybe dehydration) and took my blood pressure. It was 147/95. Too high for sure. I had been JUST fine until that point. My blood pressure went up with Kimber right around 37 weeks. At this point, I was exactly 38, so I wasn't that surprised. I think my body just thinks 38 weeks is long enough. haha. After taking some tylenol and sitting for a while, I felt better and more normal. I knew my dr. was working Monday (new year's eve) so I decided to wait until then to call. It sounds risky, but as many of you know, it's super annoying to have to call the answering service and try to decide whether or not to go to the hospital, etc. Of course, they immediately sent me to testing & observation at the hospital on Monday the 31st. The nurse hooked me up to the monitor, and my bp was perfect. They wanted to run a few tests, and monitor the baby for a few hours, and I think there was a really sick woman in the testing & observation area, so she just kind of left me. Clayton ran to the cafeteria to get some lunch and I was just going to watch TV while they monitored me and the baby for a few hours. I started to feel pretty uncomfortable, and had been having some really bad gas pains over the weekend, and I figured with me laying there having nothing to do, I was just paying more attention to my body. When the nurse finally came back about an hour later, she informed me that I was actually having contractions. I informed her that I was reasonably uncomfortable, and I realized that the gas pains were actually small contractions. I just assumed gas since it's a big problem with a woman who's that pregnant. By the time the nurse came back what felt like ANOTHER hour later, I was getting antsy. Clayton finally came back (he missed all the action) and I filled him in. At this point, the nurse informed me I probably wasn't going anywhere. The nurse checked and I was around 3 cm dilated and the could detect some "thinning" of my cervix. She called my doctor, who's pretty conservative, and to my shock, they sent me HOME. HOME!?!?! I'll admit, Clayton and I were both scared to leave the hospital. I was induced with Kimber, so I had no idea how long to wait before coming back to labor & delivery. But, home we went. On New Year's Eve. ugh.
We walked in the door about 5:30 and literally as I stepped in, I felt a rush of fluid (if you're squeamish, stop reading). So, we debated back and forth about going back to the hospital, etc. I wasn't like soaked or anything, but it was weird. We decided not to go back to the hospital with it being new year's eve and people on the roads, etc (we live like 45 min away). Clayton forbid us to attend the New Year's Eve party we had planned to. We ended up staying in. I asked around about the "rush of fluid" episode and got mixed reactions, but mostly everyone thought I should head back to the hospital. Finally, New Year's morning, I decided I would go ahead and call the answering service back. I just didn't feel right and we were both just on edge. I had woken up a few times during the night with contractions, but I'd been having them a while, so I just wasn't sure what to do. I know you're thinking I was moving pretty slow, but I can't really explain the feeling. I kind of felt stupid from being sent home the day before and thought maybe I was just overthinking it. Plus, it's a big ordeal to get someone to watch Kimber and get her all squared away, etc. And, I didn't really have an experience of actual labor to base anything on. When I called the answering service, the consensus between me and the nurse was that I at least needed to go to labor & delivery and make sure I wasn't leaking amniotic fluid. When I got to the hospital, I was given the litmus test or whatever, and they determined my water wasn't broken. I also endured a nice lecture from the on call doctor about the implications if it HAD been my water, blah blah. At this point, I was not in the mood for his dang talk. I made sure to inform him that I HAD been there less than 24 hours ago and THEY sent me home. I let him know the details and told him that the nurse had checked me and I was about 3 cm dilated, etc. He decided to leave me in L&D for a few hours just to monitor what was going on, and as an afterthought, decided to just check me again. Imagine my shock when he informed me that I was 5 cm dilated and 100% effaced - basically halfway through labor. Turns out there's a reason I didn't feel right. We arrived at the hospital around 11:30 that morning and by 3:16 that afternoon, Tealle Kay Stewart was here. :) (Tealle is pronounced like the color Teal.) I got to hold her immediately (with Kimber they cleaned and weighed her first) and she was perfect. She just snuggled in and went to sleep on my chest. Interestingly, I was worried something was wrong because she was so quiet and snuggly. Kimber screamed and screamed. Right away, I knew this little one had a much more mellow personality than her sister. She was fair skinned, and plump, with full red lips. Beautiful and perfect just like Kimber.
Snuggly and sleeping. This is literally less than 5 minutes after she was born. So sweet.
Isn't she beautiful? :)) Look at those lips!!
Here's the video of Kimber seeing Tealle for the first time. (T was in the nursery)
