Don't miss our multi-consultant sale coming up November 5, 2016!!!
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
multi-consultant sale!
Are you local to Houston? Within two hours?
Don't miss our multi-consultant sale coming up November 5, 2016!!!
Don't miss our multi-consultant sale coming up November 5, 2016!!!
Thursday, July 7, 2016
LuLaRoe on a Budget- Capsule Closet Style- Maximizing your bang for your buck
Michala M's VIPs Guide to LuLaRoe on a Budget
"I LOVE LuLaRoe but it's so EXPENSIVE for just an outfit." I hear this phrase so often as a consultant. But as a total cheapskate myself, I get it. Spending $60 for a pair of leggings and a top that I only wear together was not my cup of tea either. As my blog name suggests, I'm a thrift-aholic. I LOVE getting a deal so I really struggled with the LuLaRoe price tags at first. I'm here to tell you now, you CAN have an adorable LLR wardrobe on a thrifty budget and I'm going to show you how. In this post, we will take 15 LuLaRoe items and create an entire wardrobe look out of them. We came up with 50+ outfits using just these 15 items and a few staple accesories....but first, a little background on how we got to this point....I have this friend, whom I love dearly and whom I shall not name but she knows who she is....We shall call her Sally. Sally was like many other people when it came to clothing. She would buy outfits, a top, a bottom, jewelry, etc to all go together and then would only wear those pieces together. Sally and I started working on mixing up her wardrobe and would build new outfits out of what she already had. Sally really didn't need my help in this area as she is extremely fashionable on her own. Sally just needed someone to tell her it was ok to mix it up even thought she bought all those pieces to go together. Now, I'm no fashion expert, nor do I claim to have all the answers, I just pride myself on mixing and matching and trying not to wear the same things together twice (unless I'm pregnant and then I have like 5 outfits that fit- currently my situation.) This is something I really love to do and have always done in my own life....I'm thrilled to help others!
So, when I was in college and even when I first started teaching, I had this INSANELY huge closet stuffed full of all my super great discount finds. I prided myself on never paying retail for anything. I tried to keep shirts under $10 and pants under $20. I NEVER got rid of anything because I liked to mix it up and wear them other ways; I viewed everything in my closet as a "staple." Now, enter adult life, church, kids, work, etc. I found that I didn't have the kind of time to do the bargain hunting/shopping I used to do. And with kids, it is impractical to expect them to be patient while you forage through endless clearance racks to find pieces that can be used in the wardrobe. I realize that there are some people that do this...not me. I like to shop ALONE. And so I began paying retail for clothes because I needed them and only had an hour or so to shop without anyone else around. I would say I was spending a few hundred dollars every few months on clothes. Nothing too extravagant but ALL my clothes from my shopaholic days still fit...kind of. I had TONS of clothes but I was unhappy with them all. And then I found the gloriousness of capsule closets. I first read about it here from Unfancy and her Capsule Closet 101 post. Her number one tip that stuck out to me the most was "LOVE IT? Put it back in your closet." If you don't LOVE it, don't put it back- either put in a box and reevaluate another day or just donate it. I went through this process with my wardrobe after my first pregnancy and got rid of FOUR HUGE trash bags of clothes. I decided that life was too short to have all these clothes I may wear SOME day. We keep this same mentality in our house. If we aren't going to use it in the next three months, we don't need it. If the time comes when we do need it, we can go out and get it. No sense in storing things for the eventual MAYBE. Get it?
Ok, so what am I getting at with all this blabbering? Well, In January of this year, I found LuLaRoe. I got my first pair of leggings and an Irma and the rest is history. I'm now a consultant....haha isn't that how it goes? After I started really building my LuLaRoe wardrobe (you have to wear it to sell it) I got to thinking about how versatile the stuff is and how it can be worn so many ways. Then I got to thinking about capsuling with LuLaRoe. I also noticed that a lot of people commented on how expensive an outfit is....Well, when you buy one thing to go with another and never wear it another way, yes! It gets pricey if you only wear one shirt with one pair of leggings. So, my darling baby sister and I got to work. She's a fashion maven and pro photographer (she's in the process of re branding so her website is not currently up and running but you can check her out on Facebook for now)....Let's talk about making some meaningful purchases that will go a LONG way and help you expand your wardrobe further than you could have ever imagined.
My fashion blogger friend, Heather, over at Rock, Style, Teach talks a lot about formulas. She likes to use these formulas to create outfits that work well together. I'm going to ATTEMPT to give you a LuLaRoe Must Haves Formula to follow so you can get the most bang for your buck here. This formula could be used for someone just getting started with LuLaRoe or someone who is looking to make their pieces go further.
Capsule Closet with LuLaRoe
We used 15 pieces to build this wardrobe.
Qty
|
Style
|
Price
|
Total
|
1
|
Classic T
|
$35
|
$35
|
2
|
Perfect T
|
$36
|
$72
|
1
|
Randy
|
$35
|
$35
|
3
|
Irma
|
$35
|
$70
|
1
|
Lindsay Kimono
|
$48
|
$48
|
2
|
Cassie
|
$35
|
$70
|
1
|
Maxi
|
$42
|
$42
|
2
|
Nicole
|
$48
|
$96
|
2
|
Leggings
|
$25
|
$50
|
15
|
<Total Pieces
|
$518.00
|
|
Wardrobe Total>
|
|||
For this capsule, we went with 7 shirts, a kimono, 3 skirts, 2 dresses, and 2 pairs of leggings. With that combo we came up with 55 outfits. We didn't take pictures of any of the outfits with the black leggings nor did we include them in the count of outfits as we felt they were pretty self explanatory, they could be worn with any of the pieces we included here so that could essentially increase the outfit count to over 100! We could have done so many more outfits and combos but tried to limit ourselves for the sake of time. We included our FAVORITES in the image below just a little ways....
So the formula for this that I talked about earlier would be: (please remember that this is a GENERAL idea- it is not the end all be all! :) )
15 Piece MUST HAVES FORMULA
- 1 pair of patterned leggings with lots of colors or with a neutral that goes with a lot. We chose the purply magenta color and it went with all the shirts we chose!
- 1 pair of solid black leggings- because everyone NEEDS these.
- 2 solid shirts (black and white)
- 2 striped shirts- one that we chose (Irma) was more of a brown tone and the other was black and white
- 2 "pops of color" shirts that go with your leggings
- 2 Cassies- 1 solid that coordinates with your colors and 1 neutral colored pattern (black and white)
- 2 Nicoles- 1 solid black and 1 pattern that coordinates with the colors you have chosen
- 1 Lindsay- in a neutral color and pattern (stripes are a safe bet)
- 1 Randy- We opted for black and white
- 1 Maxi- Cheetah print is a really awesome pattern that is easy to pattern mix. ;) Pretty sure everyone needs this skirt in their closet!
Also used that I didn't include in the 15 piece count-
1 Sutton Necklace from Stella and Dot. This piece is a MUST have. I wear it at least once a week. :)
It for real goes with everything....
1 Stella and Dot Necklace that has been discontinued :( This Belle Necklace would be a cute alternative!
1 Thin black belt
1 Thick Black belt
1 Brown belt
And now...the OUTFITS!
For close ups of each outfit, please join my Facebook Group and look under the Albums for OUTFIT IDEAS
Now, let's look at the Maxi. This, in my opinion is one of the most versatile pieces that LuLaRoe offers. There are TONS of Youtube videos that show you all the different ways you can style it. Some of them are a bit out there for me but I have included some of my favorites below:
 |
| Maxi with Classic using the "hairtie trick" |
 |
| Maxi as a Dress |
 |
| Maxi with Lindsay |
 |
| Maxi with Perfect |
 |
| Maxi with Randy |
 |
| Maxi with Irma as Halter |
 |
| Maxi with Cassie as Shirt |
 |
| Maxi with Classic Shirt and Cassie as Scarf |
 |
| Maxi as a Dress |
 |
| Maxi as a Kimono with Leggings and Classic T |
 |
| My new favorite- LEGGINGS AS A SCARF! With Cassie and Classic T! |
As I said, this is just a general idea of how to style some basic LuLaRoe pieces. Getting started with LuLaRoe can be incredibly overwhelming with knowing how to start. Happy Roeing!
My friend, fashion style blogger, and also soon to be LuLaRoe Consultant, Heather Lindenmeyer is a great stylist to help you out with styling needs! :)
You can shop her Stella and Dot HERE
You can also join her VIP shopping group on Facebook HERE
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thursday, May 12, 2016
LuLaLINGO- What is this LuLaRoe stuff everyone is talking about? And WHAT is with the secret language of its followers?
Below you will find a complete list of LULAROE Lingo for those of you new to the club! (Or for those of us who could just use a giggle!)
Please comment if I have missed any! :) I will update.
Random thought: I am a cloth diapering, crunchy mama who struggled with the Cloth diapering lingo when I first started. I feel like LuLaRoe is SUPER similar to that community! :)
LuLaRoe: also known in short as LLR -
The most amazingly comfortable yet flattering women's wear you can find on the market and in super limited prints. Every consultant sells different Items. The current line through LLR consists of Dresses, Tops, Skirts, Leggings, Kid's Skirts, Kid's Leggings, Kid's Shirts, Work out pants, and Kimonos. And they all have super CUTE Names!!! If you want to see what is available, head to the LLR website- LuLaRoe.com
Dresses:
Ana
Amelia
DotDotSmile Lucy (Sleeves and Sleevless)
Julia
Nicole
Skirts:
Azure
Cassie
Jill
Kids Cassie and Azure
Lola
Lucy
Madison
Maxi
Shirts:
Classic
Gracie
Irma
Perfect
Sloan
Kimonos:
Monroe
Lindsay
Leggings:
Come in One Size, Tall and Curvy, Kids S/M and L/XL and Tween
Work Out Pants:
Jade
Jordan
Someone who has joined the LuLaCult and is equally as obsessed as the rest of us. There must be a term to refer to our fellow cult members! We are all addicts just looking for our next fix. The thrill of the hunt/fast paced selling of items and the comfort is what got me addicted! I tried on my first pair of leggings and it was all over from there. Cassie is also my girl!!!
a Hashtag used by LuLaLovers to show other LuLaLovers their OOTD (More on this later), seek pattern mixing advice (more later), or to just let everyone know they are Roeing (more later). This is also a group on Facebook where LuLaLovers share in all great things LLR.
An obsessed LuLaLover who has taken the leap of faith and signed up to sell LuLaRoe. Because of the explosion in popularity, there is a Queue with over 5,000 people waiting to onboard with the company. Yea, it's that great and people are that IN LOVE!!! :)
Email me at LuLaRoeMichalaMcWhirter@gmail.com
So, have you hopped on the LuLaRoe bandwagon yet? If the answer is no....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? I literally woke up this morning and thought "I don't want to wear anything but pajamas today...." So I threw on some leggings and a Nicole. I am SO comfortable!
BUY ALL THE LULAROE!!! and JUST IN CASE you need a link to shop:
....the link to my VIP is here: NEXT PARTY 5/15/2016
Please comment if I have missed any! :) I will update.
Random thought: I am a cloth diapering, crunchy mama who struggled with the Cloth diapering lingo when I first started. I feel like LuLaRoe is SUPER similar to that community! :)
LuLaRoe: also known in short as LLR -
The most amazingly comfortable yet flattering women's wear you can find on the market and in super limited prints. Every consultant sells different Items. The current line through LLR consists of Dresses, Tops, Skirts, Leggings, Kid's Skirts, Kid's Leggings, Kid's Shirts, Work out pants, and Kimonos. And they all have super CUTE Names!!! If you want to see what is available, head to the LLR website- LuLaRoe.com
Dresses:
Ana
Amelia
DotDotSmile Lucy (Sleeves and Sleevless)
Julia
Nicole
Skirts:
Azure
Cassie
Jill
Kids Cassie and Azure
Lola
Lucy
Madison
Maxi
Shirts:
Classic
Gracie
Irma
Perfect
Sloan
Kimonos:
Monroe
Lindsay
Leggings:
Come in One Size, Tall and Curvy, Kids S/M and L/XL and Tween
Work Out Pants:
Jade
Jordan
LuLaLover or LuLaLovies -
Someone who has joined the LuLaCult and is equally as obsessed as the rest of us. There must be a term to refer to our fellow cult members! We are all addicts just looking for our next fix. The thrill of the hunt/fast paced selling of items and the comfort is what got me addicted! I tried on my first pair of leggings and it was all over from there. Cassie is also my girl!!!
VIP Facebook Groups-
This is how most people shop for their LuLaRoe. They belong to about 12309481203984 groups for LLR and know what night of the week each group is having a party.
In case anyone is wondering....the link to my VIP is here: NEXT PARTY 5/15/2016
https://www.facebook.com/groups/lularoeMichalaMsVIPs/
Usually, the group admin posts images in photo albums by size and then LuLaLovers can comment SOLD on the items they want to buy. When they are done shopping, they can request their invoice be sent to them by filling out a Google Form.
LuLaLoot-
The haul or pretties you get to take home (or get in the mail) after you have cleared out a LLR party.
#HowIRoe-
a Hashtag used by LuLaLovers to show other LuLaLovers their OOTD (More on this later), seek pattern mixing advice (more later), or to just let everyone know they are Roeing (more later). This is also a group on Facebook where LuLaLovers share in all great things LLR.
Roeing-
The act of wearing an article (or several) of LuLaRoe clothing greatness...Just don't look this up on Urban Dictionary...or do if you could use a laugh. HA.
OOTD-
Shortened version of "Outfit of the Day" a lot of LuLaLover post their outfits for the day with the hashtag #OOTD.
TC- Tall and Curvy-
This is a size of BUTTERY SOFT LEGGINGS. Fits sizes 12-22
OS- One Size-
Another size of BUTTERY SOFT LEGGINGS (Seriously. If you haven't felt them, you NEED TO!)
ISO- "I Seek Out" or "In Search of"-
Used in social media when people are looking for something VERY specific.
Unicorn-
Your MUST have piece. A print that you have fallen madly in love with and must have. You would trade your first born for it. (well, maybe not quite that dramatic but many women would pay big bucks) Please note, it is not advised that you pay OVER retail for any piece. No consultant should ever be selling LLR for over MAP values.
Everyone has a different "Unicorn" that they are searching for but here are some of the more popular unicorns!
BST- Buy Sell Trade-
Usually a Facebook group where you can buy, sell, or trade your LLR goods!
Destash- When someone has acquired entirely too much LLR (Can you EVER have TOO much?) and decides to "Destash" or sell off some of their "Stash" this is usually done in a BST Group (see above) or in something similar.
LuLa in the Wild-
When a fellow LuLaLover spots someone (they DON'T KNOW) out in public, wearing LuLaRoe. Sometimes this culminates in a stalker photo that they post to a Facebook group to share their excitement with other LuLaLovies!
EUC-
Excellent used condition. Some die hard fanatics take it even further and say EEEUC...Still haven't figured out what this means!!!
"Shipped"-
Used in BST Groups when people are selling. Usually they list a price that says "Shipped" This means that the price includes shipping.Roe'd-
Past tense of Roeing. Used when you post a picture of your outfit later on. #HowIRoed
Queuebie-
An obsessed LuLaLover who has taken the leap of faith and signed up to sell LuLaRoe. Because of the explosion in popularity, there is a Queue with over 5,000 people waiting to onboard with the company. Yea, it's that great and people are that IN LOVE!!! :)Pop-Up-
A personal shopping boutique that comes to you! LLR is sold exclusively through Pop-Ups. These are done either online (On Facebook) or in Someone's home! By hosting a pop-up, the hostess earns FREE LULAGOODIES! Interested in Hosting a pop-up?Email me at LuLaRoeMichalaMcWhirter@gmail.com
Every TEN pieces that sell, you get ONE FREE (no exclusions!)
ROTD-
This is the newest one I have seen. "Roe of the Day" Similar to OOTD.Mommy and Me-
Matching Roe for you and the littles. Um, can we just say ADORABLE? And yes, boys can wear it too!So, have you hopped on the LuLaRoe bandwagon yet? If the answer is no....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? I literally woke up this morning and thought "I don't want to wear anything but pajamas today...." So I threw on some leggings and a Nicole. I am SO comfortable!
BUY ALL THE LULAROE!!! and JUST IN CASE you need a link to shop:
....the link to my VIP is here: NEXT PARTY 5/15/2016
https://www.facebook.com/groups/lularoeMichalaMsVIPs/
What is your unicorn? What is your favorite LLR piece? What was your FIRST LLR piece that started the addiction?
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Goodwill, I love you.
I think it is safe to say that Goodwill has become one of my favorite stores. When I decide I have too much junk, I can just take it to them and they will take care of it for me. When I decide I need more junk, they usually have some great finds. There is a Goodwill on like every block here in Houston. I love it! When I used to work at RECON, my good friend Sheri and I would take our lunch breaks and go to Goodwill down the street from work. That store, is one of the best Goodwills we have ever found. For a while, on a weekly basis, we were buying enough stuff to fill BOTH of our SUVs. We would have to come after work to load up the second car! The ladies there knew us and would "y'all back to fill up them cars again?" It was awesome. I have since changed jobs and Sheri and I haven't been able to go for quite some time...which is fine. Because I have SEVERAL gems still stashed away waiting for me to finish them up!
And finally....all that y'all really care about...The finished beauty. I'm so in love!!! :)
The fabric on the drawer fronts matches these lamps that I blogged about redoing a few years ago...I still love them! :)
Up close of the drawer. I still have to super glue the pillow down...but I was just TOO excited to brag about my new piece!!!! Hopefully I can get my breakfast table out in the garage this weekend and get to painting that next!!! I think I have a painting addiction... Or, an addiction to the satisfaction I get when finishing a project and it turns out better than the vision I had of it to begin with!
Before:
Thanks to all my awesome family that helped me get it done! I couldn't have finished it without ya!
xoxoxox
When we moved to Houston, we sold pretty much all of our furniture. Since it cost so much to move, we've been trying to save and catch up on some finances so furniture kind of hit the back burner...especially when we started pricing TV stands(none of which were what I wanted) and they were something crazy, like $400+...not. going. to. happen. So, we made do...As my MIL put it, this is college style here:
To say I was unhappy with it is an understatement. My blankets were never put away, we had nowhere to put our DVDs and games, and we have remotes and cords all over the place. It was time for a change....I had a dresser in mind for quite some time for this project...it was just a matter of finding the perfect one and completing it. And I happened to find one at Goodwill back in May/June sometime.
Since I am off work and have had lots of help lately, I thought it would be a perfect time to spruce up this AMAZING dresser I bought at Goodwill a while back. Getting this sucker in my car was interesting. It is HEAVY!!! I saw some serious potential with this guy and just knew I had to have it. I paid $60 for the dresser and mirror. Great deal!
I had a vision for this beast but it was so intimidating that I was reluctant to get started. I scoured the internet for information on how to do what I wanted. I wanted to remove the middle drawers and turn them in to shelves to put our TV components on! Well, there are lots of before and after pics but not many people did a tutorial on how to do it...and I now know why. Each dresser is different. The drawer stops are in different places, braces are not the same, etc...so a tutorial is kind of difficult when no two people will redo the same dresser in the same way. I had to just look at what I had and figure it out. Luckily, my dad is REALLY good at this and he helped me out! :) We took the drawer glides out, cut a piece of thin MDF board to fit, and glued it in! Easy enough!!!
First off, the piece had to be sanded. My mother-in-law did that for me. She must have been bored to tears or something...who actually CHOOSES to sand something?! Ugh, I HATE sanding. But every furniture blog I've read says that it's a must. This dresser had also been horribly painted and it needed to be stripped.
These drawers have an indention in the center (inside the trim) and I thought it would be SUPER cute if this was upholstered or something so I had MIL leave those unsanded....I can't imagine how awful it would have been to try to get in that small space. AH!
Next up, paint and primer. i primed it with the Valspar High Hiding Primer since I decided to paint it white and the whole thing is pretty dark. Notice my shelves now in!!!:
After priming, I went ahead and did two coats of Valspar Semi-Glossy paint...I can't remember the name of the color and am too lazy to go look so....we'll just call it off-white! :) You can see in the picture where my mom was testing out the upholtery "pillow" she made to put in the inside portion of the drawer front. Also, as I was taking this picture, I realized that I didn't paint enough of the back board and had to go redo that...plus I decided the sides of the drawers needed painting. UGH!!!
I ended up putting drawer pulls on the drawers to give the pillow a tufted look; I'm super happy with the results!
Before:
After:
And a cute baby picture to finish it off:
Thanks to all my awesome family that helped me get it done! I couldn't have finished it without ya!
xoxoxox
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Baby, OH Baby!
SUPER LONG POST....sorry....
Matius Lee McWhirter
Who would have thought that such a tiny little boy could affect our life so drastically. I have only written one sentence and I'm already crying! I'm sure the crash of hormones isn't helping! I can't sleep as I sit here and listen to Evan snore away on the most uncomfortable couch known to man. He is SO tired from taking care of me and baby. So, I just want to take a moment here and give dad his glory. Yes, I did a lot of hard work to get this baby here, but he is doing equally as much in other ways. I couldn't do it without him and I think, too often, dads are overlooked. So, Evan and all you other dads out there, keep up the great work! You've only been at it for a few days but you are such a good daddy and Matius and I are so lucky to have you in our lives. (Side note....I keep wanting to say Shamus. My mom thought it would be a great idea to call the baby Shamus inutero since we didn't know if it was a boy or a girl...now everyone still calls him that ugh!!!)
Ok so on to the story everyone has been waiting for. I have so many people asking what happened and why we had to have him so suddenly....well, here it goes......
Baby Shamus was due October 15, 2014. I have shared our previous story on loss, I guess it's only natural that I would share this one...as it didn't go as planned either!
I have been struggling with my blood pressure since I entered into my 20s. Both parents have it, my grandparents have it, it seems to be inevitable that I would have issues too. Well, it was always a concern of ours when we did get pregnant because my mom also had a lot of pregnancy complications with us three girls. Everything seemed to be going fine until about the time I went to El Paso to visit my favorite Texas family in May. :) I started swelling really badly and couldn't wear my rings (I actually kind of panicked and had to use vitamin e oil to get them off!!!). This was just the beginning of a very long journey for me. For those of you that know me, you know it's hard for me to slow down. I am constantly on the go working on the next thing. So, being slowed down by swelling just wasn't going to fly for me. I ended up taking a teaching job at Katy High School and started managing our HOA community in July. I left my job in HR to take July and August off to get ready for all these new adventures, but sadly, my swelling just kept getting worse. My doctor was monitoring it and never seemed too concerned because my blood pressure was doing ok. Around August time however, my blood pressure started to rise more and more every time I went to the doctor. It was usually high on the initial take so they would make me go lay in the room on my left side for five minutes and then take it again. It always went down so they didn't worry about it. Well, my swelling go so bad, I had one pair of shoes that fit me my brown Tieks (Thanks to a good friend for giving them to me after her pregnancy!). I'm a shoe girl so this was a struggle for me!!! Wearing black clothes with brown shoes...um not usually ok.
I had pregnancy induced carpal tunnel in both hands and couldn't grasp anything! I could hardly write a sentence! In August, I started my first week of teaching at Katy High School and my feet swelled even more! They were so bad, they burned and felt like they were going to explode. I filled up two roaster pans with ice water and put them under my desk then dunked my feet in. Around this time my doctor suggest those really sexy diabetic compression hose...
I bought two pairs and wore them religiously. It was quite entertaining watching me get them on I'm sure. Evan kept saying he was going to take a video and put it on youtube...haha. Thankfully he never did. Even with these cute socks, I couldn't keep the swelling under control. The socks came up to my knees and by the end of the day, the water pooled around my knees. I had some serious muffin tops! :) All through this however, my BP remained pretty consistent. I went to the doctor on September 3, 2014 and had some high blood pressure and apparently some trace amounts of protein in my pee (a sign of preeclampsia which my mom had with all three of us girls. I have been on preeclampsia watch since my first doctor's appointment.) As I was making my next Dr. appt, the nurse came up to me and handed me a thick envelope with all my maternity history for this pregnancy in it and said "this is just in case the baby decides to come early and you end up at a hospital other than this one..." That kind of freaked me out a lot because I had never heard of that happening! So I went home and read ALL the notes in the packet. Come to find out, they had put "Pre-Term Labor Watch" in there...I guess they didn't tell me because they were afraid I would freak out...I wouldn't have, it would have been nice to know but whatever. I put it in the back of my mind because I was feeling fine... up until September 8, 2014....when all the drama started! :)
I posted on Facebook on the morning of the 8th (Monday) about a fire drill during my third period study hall with 85+ kiddos. Talk about stressful. I think this is where it all started really. The weekend before I had felt pretty crummy but when you are 34/35 weeks preggo I think that kind of goes with the territory so I didn't worry too much about it. We just had a lazy weekend and I finished up the baby's room (Thank goodness!!!) So Monday, during my 4th period class we had just come in from outside during the fire drill. I was having some vision problems but thought that it was due to being outside and my eyes were still trying to readjust. You know when you stare at a bright light for too long and you have a lingering light in your eyes for a bit? That's what I felt like I was seeing. After about 15 minutes, however, it hadn't gotten any better. I was trying to blink it away all while trying to go through a worksheet with my kids. It got to the point that I couldn't read the page anymore because I couldn't see or focus on the words. I had another teacher call the nurse to come take my blood pressure as I knew this was a bad sign. The nurse came and took my BP right in the middle of class (I'm sure my kids were freaked out) and it was 158/98 (way too high. 120/80 is normal and anything over 140/90 during pregnancy is bad) She sent me home and strongly encouraged me to see my doctor. I tried and tried to call but couldn't get through. I called Evan and told him I was going to go to the hospital and not to panic but he needed to come pick me up. He informed me that he was on the other campus and would have to wait for the bus to get there to get him then get back to his car...it would take him a while. At this point, I knew I needed to get there fast so I called my friend Patina and she came to get me. Then came the issue of insurance and where to go..., my insurance would cover me at one hospital (Memorial Hermann) where my Dr had admitting privileges but her office was at another hospital (Methodist West). I didn't want to get to the hospital and not be able to see my doctor or have to pay out of network so trying to figure out where to go and what to do was kind of stressful. I called and was told to go to Methodist West (best decision EVER).
Once I got to the ER, they took my BP and it was at 168/111. They told me that they called my doctor and I would be taken up to labor and delivery to get checked out. At this point, I was still pretty calm....just waiting on Evan to show up. As they were taking me to triage, the nurse was telling me about the hospital and where things were located for when I delivered here. I very kindly told her that I would be having my baby at Memorial Hermann...haha. Anyway, my doctor showed up really quickly and took my BP several more times during which time Evan showed up. (There was a lady in active labor about to deliver her baby right across from me too...talk about traumatizing. The hospital was so full she had to deliver in triage. AH!) My doctor looked at Evan and I very seriously and then thought for a second and said "I think we're going to have to deliver this baby today." MY. HEART. DROPPED. And then my mind started racing and I started panicking. "I am only 35 weeks pregnant. This is NOT good," I thought. I was prepared to be put on bed rest but I was NOT prepared to have a baby. We didn't even have our hospital bags packed!!! I looked at the doctor and said "Are you sure? Can't we get my BP down? Can I talk you out of this?" She looked at me very sweetly and said "No, you can't talk me out of it. I'm afraid with your blood pressure throwing so high and so consistently that we are running a serious risk of stroke or seizure. We need to get you on a magnesium drip. At this point, you are preeclamptic and the only cure is to get the baby out. After 34 weeks, it is safer for the baby to come out than stay in." Of course, I was all concerned about the baby and what would happen being born so early which is when she told me the baby would inevitably have NICU time but would more than likely be just fine. Well.....I didn't have a choice. So, we would be having a baby soon! AGH.... At this point they had started me on an IV and Magnesium drip (to prevent me from stroking or having a seizure) along with blood pressure medicine. The nurse informed us that they would start the induction that night (Monday 9/8/14) and that we would probably have baby on Tuesday. Evan went home and grabbed some things since we were now here for the long haul. (Friends, if you or your wife are pregnant, PACK YOUR BAGS EARLY!!! Having to explain to your husband what you need is not an easy task...especially when your mind is not in the right place). They quickly found me a room to move me out of Triage (I got a room before the lady in labor did!) and get me comfortable so they could try to get my BP down.
They started my induction on Monday night with the little pills that they stick up there...ouch. Lucky for me, I was already dilated 1/2 cm so, according to my Dr, my body was already starting to get prepared to have him. Sometime in the middle of the night, I started having contractions which was a good sign. My body was taking to being induced fairly well. I felt like complete sh*t because of the Magnesium. My doctors exact words as she was ordering them to give it me were "I'm so sorry, this is going to make you feel like sh*t." Tuesday morning the nurse came to check on me and at this point I'm having more frequent contractions. I sent Evan away to go get some breakfast for himself. Right after he left the doctor came in to "check" me with what looked like a knitting needle in her hand....I'll spare you the details but after she used it I said "um what was that?" She said "I just broke your water to speed things up a bit"-I freaked out a little and text Evan. He was a little upset at that point too! haha. I was then given the pitosin and informed that the Magnesium and Pitosin counteract each other and it would make for a long labor. Apparently when people go into preterm labor they give them magnesium to slow it down. As my contractions got a little more intense, they asked me if I was ready for my epidural (I wanted to have a natural birth with no epidural but was shot down on that idea because apparently my blood pressure would go even higher with that amount of pain. I had no option as they were STILL struggling to get my BP under control. I said "sure might as well!" The anesthesiologist came in and did the epidural right away. I started to feel tingling in my feet but not much else. He was getting impatient so he upped my dosage and gave me three "enhancer" boosts. That knocked the pain RIGHT out! I have weird nerves or something. When I get a cavity filled, they give me like 6 shots of Novocain and I can STILL feel what they are doing!!! About three hours later I started feeling the contractions again. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me more booster shots. The day progressed very slowly with my blood pressure hanging around 150/90. By around 4 pm I started calling the anesthesiologist again. I was dilated to a 6 and feeling the contractions again (and my blood pressure would go up when I could feel them just like the doctor said it would) he and my doctor came in and said "Michala, there are two ways to have a baby. We've tried the first way and it is not progressing fast enough. We need to move on to the next way. We need to prepare you for a c-section. My whole pregnancy, I was terrified of having a c-section. I know how much better and easier it is to recover from a vaginal birth and I know that it's so much better for baby. But at this point, my body was exhausted, I couldn't do any more. :( They prepped Evan and I for surgery and wheeled me back around 5 pm. Because my epidural was having issues, the anesthesiologist decided to just take it out and do a spinal block instead.....yea. Those SUCK. As soon as he gave it to me I started to feel sick. I went completely paralyzed from the neck down and felt like I was suffocating. I told the nurse behind me that I was going to be sick and they grabbed one of those puke trays. Whoever was holding it did a horrible job and I ended up puking all over myself. Glamorous. I don't really remember much else from the surgery other than the nurse telling me I would feel like I had an elephant on my chest (which it did) and I started to panic because I felt like I was going to suffocate. They pulled little Matius out and said "It's a boy" at which point I said something like "cool, can I go to sleep now?" haha. I was soooooooo tired. They cleaned him off, handed him to Evan, I got to give him a quick kiss then they whisked him away to the NICU. I later woke up in my room with some pretty serious abdominal pain. I don't know what a vaginal birth recovery is like...but I will say that a C-Section is UNBELIEVABLY debilitating and painful. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and the pain brought me to tears on Tuesday night. Excruciating. I sit here now writing this and it is still very painful. You don't realize how much you use your abs until they are cut apart. Some of the simplest tasks (going to the bathroom, laughing, going from sitting to standing, etc) hurt SO badly. But, it was necessary. I now have a beautiful little baby boy and can honestly say that I would go through it all again for him. I kept asking the nurse that night if I could go see him but they wouldn't let me because I was still too unstable. They told me once I got off the magnesium that I could go. I didn't get to see him until 2:30 pm on Wednesday. Luckily, during this whole ordeal, he remained very stable and consistent.
There wasn't much going through my head during that long drawn out 24 hour period other than pain and omg I'm having this baby 5 weeks earlier than I had planned. But the one thing that remained and stayed with me was a peace, knowing that we would be ok. Yes, I was worried, but I prayed and prayed and prayed that everything would work out. That peace was always there. So, thank you to all of you who were praying for us during what was the scariest 24 hours of our lives. We couldn't have done it without you! :) I apologize for the long post. I have had a lot of people ask what happened and this kind of serves as my journal to remember in years to come... :)
And finally, some belly pictures of the whole process! :)
Matius Lee McWhirter
Who would have thought that such a tiny little boy could affect our life so drastically. I have only written one sentence and I'm already crying! I'm sure the crash of hormones isn't helping! I can't sleep as I sit here and listen to Evan snore away on the most uncomfortable couch known to man. He is SO tired from taking care of me and baby. So, I just want to take a moment here and give dad his glory. Yes, I did a lot of hard work to get this baby here, but he is doing equally as much in other ways. I couldn't do it without him and I think, too often, dads are overlooked. So, Evan and all you other dads out there, keep up the great work! You've only been at it for a few days but you are such a good daddy and Matius and I are so lucky to have you in our lives. (Side note....I keep wanting to say Shamus. My mom thought it would be a great idea to call the baby Shamus inutero since we didn't know if it was a boy or a girl...now everyone still calls him that ugh!!!)
Ok so on to the story everyone has been waiting for. I have so many people asking what happened and why we had to have him so suddenly....well, here it goes......
Baby Shamus was due October 15, 2014. I have shared our previous story on loss, I guess it's only natural that I would share this one...as it didn't go as planned either!
I have been struggling with my blood pressure since I entered into my 20s. Both parents have it, my grandparents have it, it seems to be inevitable that I would have issues too. Well, it was always a concern of ours when we did get pregnant because my mom also had a lot of pregnancy complications with us three girls. Everything seemed to be going fine until about the time I went to El Paso to visit my favorite Texas family in May. :) I started swelling really badly and couldn't wear my rings (I actually kind of panicked and had to use vitamin e oil to get them off!!!). This was just the beginning of a very long journey for me. For those of you that know me, you know it's hard for me to slow down. I am constantly on the go working on the next thing. So, being slowed down by swelling just wasn't going to fly for me. I ended up taking a teaching job at Katy High School and started managing our HOA community in July. I left my job in HR to take July and August off to get ready for all these new adventures, but sadly, my swelling just kept getting worse. My doctor was monitoring it and never seemed too concerned because my blood pressure was doing ok. Around August time however, my blood pressure started to rise more and more every time I went to the doctor. It was usually high on the initial take so they would make me go lay in the room on my left side for five minutes and then take it again. It always went down so they didn't worry about it. Well, my swelling go so bad, I had one pair of shoes that fit me my brown Tieks (Thanks to a good friend for giving them to me after her pregnancy!). I'm a shoe girl so this was a struggle for me!!! Wearing black clothes with brown shoes...um not usually ok.
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| Sausage feet with Shrek toes. lol |
I had pregnancy induced carpal tunnel in both hands and couldn't grasp anything! I could hardly write a sentence! In August, I started my first week of teaching at Katy High School and my feet swelled even more! They were so bad, they burned and felt like they were going to explode. I filled up two roaster pans with ice water and put them under my desk then dunked my feet in. Around this time my doctor suggest those really sexy diabetic compression hose...
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| You know you want a pair...or two. ;) |
I bought two pairs and wore them religiously. It was quite entertaining watching me get them on I'm sure. Evan kept saying he was going to take a video and put it on youtube...haha. Thankfully he never did. Even with these cute socks, I couldn't keep the swelling under control. The socks came up to my knees and by the end of the day, the water pooled around my knees. I had some serious muffin tops! :) All through this however, my BP remained pretty consistent. I went to the doctor on September 3, 2014 and had some high blood pressure and apparently some trace amounts of protein in my pee (a sign of preeclampsia which my mom had with all three of us girls. I have been on preeclampsia watch since my first doctor's appointment.) As I was making my next Dr. appt, the nurse came up to me and handed me a thick envelope with all my maternity history for this pregnancy in it and said "this is just in case the baby decides to come early and you end up at a hospital other than this one..." That kind of freaked me out a lot because I had never heard of that happening! So I went home and read ALL the notes in the packet. Come to find out, they had put "Pre-Term Labor Watch" in there...I guess they didn't tell me because they were afraid I would freak out...I wouldn't have, it would have been nice to know but whatever. I put it in the back of my mind because I was feeling fine... up until September 8, 2014....when all the drama started! :)
I posted on Facebook on the morning of the 8th (Monday) about a fire drill during my third period study hall with 85+ kiddos. Talk about stressful. I think this is where it all started really. The weekend before I had felt pretty crummy but when you are 34/35 weeks preggo I think that kind of goes with the territory so I didn't worry too much about it. We just had a lazy weekend and I finished up the baby's room (Thank goodness!!!) So Monday, during my 4th period class we had just come in from outside during the fire drill. I was having some vision problems but thought that it was due to being outside and my eyes were still trying to readjust. You know when you stare at a bright light for too long and you have a lingering light in your eyes for a bit? That's what I felt like I was seeing. After about 15 minutes, however, it hadn't gotten any better. I was trying to blink it away all while trying to go through a worksheet with my kids. It got to the point that I couldn't read the page anymore because I couldn't see or focus on the words. I had another teacher call the nurse to come take my blood pressure as I knew this was a bad sign. The nurse came and took my BP right in the middle of class (I'm sure my kids were freaked out) and it was 158/98 (way too high. 120/80 is normal and anything over 140/90 during pregnancy is bad) She sent me home and strongly encouraged me to see my doctor. I tried and tried to call but couldn't get through. I called Evan and told him I was going to go to the hospital and not to panic but he needed to come pick me up. He informed me that he was on the other campus and would have to wait for the bus to get there to get him then get back to his car...it would take him a while. At this point, I knew I needed to get there fast so I called my friend Patina and she came to get me. Then came the issue of insurance and where to go..., my insurance would cover me at one hospital (Memorial Hermann) where my Dr had admitting privileges but her office was at another hospital (Methodist West). I didn't want to get to the hospital and not be able to see my doctor or have to pay out of network so trying to figure out where to go and what to do was kind of stressful. I called and was told to go to Methodist West (best decision EVER).
Once I got to the ER, they took my BP and it was at 168/111. They told me that they called my doctor and I would be taken up to labor and delivery to get checked out. At this point, I was still pretty calm....just waiting on Evan to show up. As they were taking me to triage, the nurse was telling me about the hospital and where things were located for when I delivered here. I very kindly told her that I would be having my baby at Memorial Hermann...haha. Anyway, my doctor showed up really quickly and took my BP several more times during which time Evan showed up. (There was a lady in active labor about to deliver her baby right across from me too...talk about traumatizing. The hospital was so full she had to deliver in triage. AH!) My doctor looked at Evan and I very seriously and then thought for a second and said "I think we're going to have to deliver this baby today." MY. HEART. DROPPED. And then my mind started racing and I started panicking. "I am only 35 weeks pregnant. This is NOT good," I thought. I was prepared to be put on bed rest but I was NOT prepared to have a baby. We didn't even have our hospital bags packed!!! I looked at the doctor and said "Are you sure? Can't we get my BP down? Can I talk you out of this?" She looked at me very sweetly and said "No, you can't talk me out of it. I'm afraid with your blood pressure throwing so high and so consistently that we are running a serious risk of stroke or seizure. We need to get you on a magnesium drip. At this point, you are preeclamptic and the only cure is to get the baby out. After 34 weeks, it is safer for the baby to come out than stay in." Of course, I was all concerned about the baby and what would happen being born so early which is when she told me the baby would inevitably have NICU time but would more than likely be just fine. Well.....I didn't have a choice. So, we would be having a baby soon! AGH.... At this point they had started me on an IV and Magnesium drip (to prevent me from stroking or having a seizure) along with blood pressure medicine. The nurse informed us that they would start the induction that night (Monday 9/8/14) and that we would probably have baby on Tuesday. Evan went home and grabbed some things since we were now here for the long haul. (Friends, if you or your wife are pregnant, PACK YOUR BAGS EARLY!!! Having to explain to your husband what you need is not an easy task...especially when your mind is not in the right place). They quickly found me a room to move me out of Triage (I got a room before the lady in labor did!) and get me comfortable so they could try to get my BP down.
They started my induction on Monday night with the little pills that they stick up there...ouch. Lucky for me, I was already dilated 1/2 cm so, according to my Dr, my body was already starting to get prepared to have him. Sometime in the middle of the night, I started having contractions which was a good sign. My body was taking to being induced fairly well. I felt like complete sh*t because of the Magnesium. My doctors exact words as she was ordering them to give it me were "I'm so sorry, this is going to make you feel like sh*t." Tuesday morning the nurse came to check on me and at this point I'm having more frequent contractions. I sent Evan away to go get some breakfast for himself. Right after he left the doctor came in to "check" me with what looked like a knitting needle in her hand....I'll spare you the details but after she used it I said "um what was that?" She said "I just broke your water to speed things up a bit"-I freaked out a little and text Evan. He was a little upset at that point too! haha. I was then given the pitosin and informed that the Magnesium and Pitosin counteract each other and it would make for a long labor. Apparently when people go into preterm labor they give them magnesium to slow it down. As my contractions got a little more intense, they asked me if I was ready for my epidural (I wanted to have a natural birth with no epidural but was shot down on that idea because apparently my blood pressure would go even higher with that amount of pain. I had no option as they were STILL struggling to get my BP under control. I said "sure might as well!" The anesthesiologist came in and did the epidural right away. I started to feel tingling in my feet but not much else. He was getting impatient so he upped my dosage and gave me three "enhancer" boosts. That knocked the pain RIGHT out! I have weird nerves or something. When I get a cavity filled, they give me like 6 shots of Novocain and I can STILL feel what they are doing!!! About three hours later I started feeling the contractions again. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me more booster shots. The day progressed very slowly with my blood pressure hanging around 150/90. By around 4 pm I started calling the anesthesiologist again. I was dilated to a 6 and feeling the contractions again (and my blood pressure would go up when I could feel them just like the doctor said it would) he and my doctor came in and said "Michala, there are two ways to have a baby. We've tried the first way and it is not progressing fast enough. We need to move on to the next way. We need to prepare you for a c-section. My whole pregnancy, I was terrified of having a c-section. I know how much better and easier it is to recover from a vaginal birth and I know that it's so much better for baby. But at this point, my body was exhausted, I couldn't do any more. :( They prepped Evan and I for surgery and wheeled me back around 5 pm. Because my epidural was having issues, the anesthesiologist decided to just take it out and do a spinal block instead.....yea. Those SUCK. As soon as he gave it to me I started to feel sick. I went completely paralyzed from the neck down and felt like I was suffocating. I told the nurse behind me that I was going to be sick and they grabbed one of those puke trays. Whoever was holding it did a horrible job and I ended up puking all over myself. Glamorous. I don't really remember much else from the surgery other than the nurse telling me I would feel like I had an elephant on my chest (which it did) and I started to panic because I felt like I was going to suffocate. They pulled little Matius out and said "It's a boy" at which point I said something like "cool, can I go to sleep now?" haha. I was soooooooo tired. They cleaned him off, handed him to Evan, I got to give him a quick kiss then they whisked him away to the NICU. I later woke up in my room with some pretty serious abdominal pain. I don't know what a vaginal birth recovery is like...but I will say that a C-Section is UNBELIEVABLY debilitating and painful. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and the pain brought me to tears on Tuesday night. Excruciating. I sit here now writing this and it is still very painful. You don't realize how much you use your abs until they are cut apart. Some of the simplest tasks (going to the bathroom, laughing, going from sitting to standing, etc) hurt SO badly. But, it was necessary. I now have a beautiful little baby boy and can honestly say that I would go through it all again for him. I kept asking the nurse that night if I could go see him but they wouldn't let me because I was still too unstable. They told me once I got off the magnesium that I could go. I didn't get to see him until 2:30 pm on Wednesday. Luckily, during this whole ordeal, he remained very stable and consistent.
There wasn't much going through my head during that long drawn out 24 hour period other than pain and omg I'm having this baby 5 weeks earlier than I had planned. But the one thing that remained and stayed with me was a peace, knowing that we would be ok. Yes, I was worried, but I prayed and prayed and prayed that everything would work out. That peace was always there. So, thank you to all of you who were praying for us during what was the scariest 24 hours of our lives. We couldn't have done it without you! :) I apologize for the long post. I have had a lot of people ask what happened and this kind of serves as my journal to remember in years to come... :)
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| Taken 9/4/2014 |
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| two days postpartum |
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| 6 Days postpartum- WAY less swelling. |
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