The last few days

So much has happened in the last week or so that it seems crazy looking back at it all. I posted last week about our false alarm that took us to the hospital and then back home again. So Monday of this week I went in to have my growth ultrasound and to see my ob. She ended up doing both the ultrasound and the doctor visit. She checked me and determined that I was still at a 3 and had not really made any change. We talked about everything and about giving birth and after doing the ultrasound she determined that the baby was about 6 lbs and maybe 8 oz and her lungs should be fully developed and she should be good to go if she was born this week. And she said that I seemed to be ready to have her, which at that point I was. The false alarm had gotten me to the frame of mind where I was finally ready for her to show up. So my ob said, "Well I am scheduled to be on duty at the hospital tomorrow night so if you can get contractions started and come in I can strip your membranes and that will get things moving and we can deliver you that night. But if you can't get contractions started then come in on Thursday morning and I will strip your membranes and you can deliver that night." I left her office trying to decide what I wanted to do.

On the one hand Kevin and I were planning to go on a date on Wednesday and I was really looking forward to that. We have only had two dates the entire year and I was so excited about having one more before the baby came. However, if I went into labor on Tuesday then I would be guaranteed to have my doctor deliver me, which is what I really wanted. I sent an e-mail to Kevin's mom that night (Monday) updating her on what  was going on and the decision I was trying to make. She sent back a recipe for using castor oil to induce labor. So Tuesday Kevin had a doctor appointment and Davy and I went with him. While waiting for his appointment to be over I checked our bank account on my phone and discovered that we did not have enough money to go on our date. We had been buying things to get ready for the baby (since the false alarm made us realize just how unprepared we really were) and the extra money we were going to use for the date was gone. When I realized that there was no chance of a date I decided that I wanted to try and get contractions going that night rather than wait. So before we left the town Kevin's doctor is in we stopped at a  health goods store and got some castor oil.

When we got home we put Davy down for his nap, I made up the castor oil concoction and after drinking it I started working out on our elliptical. After a few hours I started to feel contractions really get going. Kevin and I had been getting things together in preparation for going to the hospital, and so by the time things really got going we were ready. We finished things up, got things out to the car, got Davy out to the car, took him over to my parents house dropped off him, and his over night bag, filled up on gas, dropped off a redbox video and headed up to the hospital.

When we got there they took us directly into a labor and delivery room and started asking questions, they brought in the doctor who checked me (I had progressed a little) and also stripped my membranes. Then they let me continue naturally. Things moved slowly, as they seem to do with my labors, and Kevin and I relaxed and slept a little, the contractions began to get stronger and eventually I had them attempt an epidural on me. My epidural with Davy failed so I was worried that this one would too. However the anesthesiologist did a really good job and taped me up really well and it worked like a charm. I began to not be able to really feel my contractions and so when they gave me pitocin to speed things up I barely even noticed. I actually fell asleep and was waiting for things to actually start moving. Then around 3 am something changed, the nurse came in because she was seeing something strange with the baby's heart rate. I had an internal monitor on the baby at this point (they attach a monitor to the baby's scalp), but the monitor was not giving them very good readings, so they switched to the external monitor, but that was not great either because the baby moved so much it was difficult to keep a good track of her heart rate. Anyway after some time of watching and trying this monitor or that we came to a conclusion of what was happening. Every time I contracted the baby's heart rate was dropping and when the contraction stopped the heart rate would go back up. They called in the doctor and kept trying different monitors, but it still wasn't giving them consistent readings. Either way the doctor was worried about what was going on. So she had the pitocin stopped. The heart rate still continued to drop during contractions and rise after they were done. She checked me and I was dilated to 6 cm.

At this point she talked to me about it all. She said, "The baby's heart rate keeps dropping during contractions which makes me worried that something is wrong. If you were at an 8 or a 9 we would probably just proceed forward and have you deliver naturally but because you are at a 6 I think we should do an emergency c-section." It was not what I wanted to hear. But the entire time they were talking about the heart rate dropping I knew that a c-section was a strong possibility. I was really scared, scared for myself but more scared for the baby. Kevin could tell because he kept saying "You are going to be ok, it will all be ok." I told the doctor that I really didn't want a c-section but that I was fine with it if the baby was in trouble. So she brought out the consent forms and I signed them and they moved me to the operating room.

I am so thankful that the epidural worked because now that was exactly what I needed for the c-section. I am scared to imagine what that Wednesday morning would have been like if the epidural had failed. They got me prepped and made sure I was completely numb and then they brought Kevin into the room. He stood by my head as they operated on me and took the baby out of me. All I felt was tugging and pulling and pressure, thankfully I did not feel or see anything they were doing. What they discovered was that Evangeline had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck and her body so every time I contracted it tightened the cord around her neck and her body and was cutting down on the oxygen she was receiving  Once Evangeline was born they had Kevin come over and cut her umbilical cord and he was able to stay with her. They brought her over to me for me to see, she was crying and so I reached out and stroked her face and talked to her, the moment I touched her she calmed down and stopped crying, it was beautiful to see my little girl. As the surgery continued and they put me back together and stitched me up I was finally able to calm myself down and get myself to a point where I was calm enough that I almost fell asleep. Evangeline was born at 4:25 am, she was 6 lbs 1 oz, and was 18 3/4 inches long.

After they were done they took me to a recovery room where I had to wait until a certain amount of time before they would take me to the postpartum room. During that time I slept a little because I was so tired and also drowsily just waited. After a little while Kevin came in with Evangeline and I was able to nurse her for the first time. She took to it like a pro and latched on right away. After nursing for quite awhile she fell asleep and was taken to the nursery to sleep for awhile. Kevin and I were then taken to our own room. We slept most of Wednesday, I nursed Evangeline when she was brought in but mostly we all slept. It took awhile for my pain meds to wear off and for me to get to a point where I needed some more. The incision pain was not too bad at first but got worse over time. Thursday was also not extremely eventful, mostly I was focused on passing gas. At first I wasn't allowed to eat real food until I passed gas, but my doctor came in and vetoed that and soon passing gas was instead what I needed to do before we could leave the hospital. However, I think the castor oil cleaned me out so well that it took forever for me to get any gas out. By Friday I was getting desperate because I was told that I could leave once I passed gas. I began to call it "The fart of freedom" because that is all I needed was one little toot, one fart and I could go home.

We spent Friday walking and rubbing my belly and trying anything we could think of to get me to pass gas. And it wasn't that I didn't have gas, oh I had gas, I could feel it roiling around inside of me. In fact it got to the point where the gas pain was my worst pain. And here is the crazy thing, the gas pain traveled up to my shoulder and gave me shoulder pain to such an extreme that it hurt just to breathe. Finally on Friday night after over an hour's worth of walking I finally passed gas. However, we were not yet free. Earlier in the day Evangeline had gotten the green light to go, however, because of me we were there long enough that they did another vitals check on her in the evening and thought that they had heard an irregularity in her heartbeat. So they ordered an EKG on her and had a pediatrician come and look at it. He said he didn't see anything wrong with her and finally gave us the good to go. We finally got out of the hospital around 11:30 pm and got home around midnight. It feels good to be home finally.

I am currently on many different restrictions. I can't lift anything heavier than 10 lbs for 6 weeks, I can't drive a car for a week, I can't do housework for two weeks. I feel pretty useless, because of my incision I can't bend over to pick things up, I can't move quickly, I have to avoid stairs when possible. It is crazy, but it is so that I can recover correctly. Today has been our first day at home with our entire family and it had been busy but good. I am so thankful for Kevin and for everything he has done to support me through all of this. And I am grateful to my parents for watching both Davy and our dogs while we were in the hospital.

Looking back on it all I sometimes find myself wondering if I was being selfish by inducing myself so early. But then I think back to how wrapped up in the cord Evangeline was and I wonder if I had waited if she would have made it or if something bad could have happened to her. If I had started contracting really bad while at home I would not have had a monitor to tell me that something was wrong. Though I wonder if I should have waited the fact is Evangeline is here healthy and safe and alive and that is the important thing. We are so thrilled and happy with our new little girl.

Awesome Cookie Husband

My Relief Society held a cookie exchange yesterday and because of everything that happened yesterday there was no way that I was able to make it to the cookie exchange. So today Kevin offered to go shopping while I stayed home with the napping Davy and I mentioned to Kevin that I was really craving cookies and would love it if he brought home cookies. Well he brought home so many cookies I now have no idea what to do with them all. I asked for gingerbread and fake girl scout cookies and maybe some take and bake cookies. Well he brought home all of those as well as quite a few others. More cookies than I wanted, more cookies than we need. But all that being said, he is such an awesome guy for it all! I know Mom Sampson reads this blog and let me just say, when it comes to Kevin you did really good in raising a good man. Not just for the fact that he fulfills my food cravings when I am pregnant but also because he is just an awesome husband. Yes, there are times when he can be frustrating, but in the end I know that he loves me dearly, cares about me greatly, and is completely committed in taking care of his family in every way he can. He is an awesome guy!

False Alarm

So on Tuesday night, while I was actually typing up my thoughts on my last post, I started to have contractions. I thought that they were coming rather often so I decided to start timing them. So I downloaded a contraction counter app onto my phone and started timing. The app timed how long the contractions were and how many minutes between contractions there were. All very good to know because I was asked those questions when I got to the hospital.

So I called up my parents and Kevin and let them know what was going on with me. Kevin came home from work early and I called my doctor's office and talked to the nurse on call for the night. After talking to me and asking me a bunch of questions she told me that I needed to go in to the hospital. So Kevin and I hurriedly packed stuff and then waited for my parents to come over. Once they got here I waited a little longer to see if the contractions continued, when they did we took off for the hospital. When we got there the  person at the ER desk put me right in a wheelchair and took me straight up to Labor and Delivery. There I was put in a triage room where they checked me and told me I was at 1 1/2 centimeters, they told me they would wait 2 hours and then check me again and if I had changed they would keep me. Well two hours later I was at 3 centimeters. So they took me into a delivery room. They started me on antibiotics since I have Group B Strep and told me that once I had been given all my antibiotics they would check me again. At about 11 am I had gotten all my antibiotics and so they checked me, but this time the person who checked said I felt like a 1 1/2 to a 2. Which was smaller than what I had been, which didn't seem right. So they called in my doctor who checked me and said that I felt like I was at a 3, but that since I hadn't changed much that she was going to have me take a 1 hour walk and if nothing had changed after that then they were going to send me home.

So we went on a one hour walk around the Maternity unit, which I must say was exhausting. My hips hurt so bad after I was done. But I hadn't changed and so I was sent home finally. But my doctor told me that in her estimation I was in early labor and that she would not be surprised if I had the baby within the next few weeks. She said that if I was still pregnant come next Thursday that she would strip my membranes and see if I went. I am hoping I deliver before she goes on vacation. Crossing my fingers.

Merry Christmas!

Rochelle has a Holiday Walk every December in downtown Rochelle. This year is the first time we learned about it ahead of time and were able to attend it. I would have liked to go to it sooner but I had to pass along the materials from my calling to the person who is now taking it over. That aside my mom and I hit the downtown area and visited a few shops and has some fun. The museum had a little fire in a brazier outside and inside they had Santa. We could take pictures with our own cameras of our children with Santa asking for toys or whatever. So this was Davy's first time meeting Santa, last year I didn't even try. And going by Davy's reaction this year I am kind of glad that I didn't. Davy was interested in the bells that Santa gave him to play with, but was not at all interested in having anything else to do with Santa, which I didn't really push. I figure Davy doesn't need to have bad experiences with Santa. It all resulted in us not getting any pictures, which is fine.

We also visited a few shops which were giving out free cookies and we also hit up the local thrift store which actually takes donations and uses the money that they make to fund a battered women's shelter. They were having a 25% off sale of everything in the store and Davy was able to get a few neat toys (most of them are going into the Church bag) two of which are toys that let him play with letters and numbers. He is in love with those. I also found a bag full of flashcards, but they are different than most flash cards. 1. They are thick cardboard cards that have a picture on one side and the word of what the picture is on the other. 2. They are also in the shape of whatever the picture is. 3. There are some letter cards as well that are in the shape of the letters. Kevin and I made flashcards for Davy but they were misplaced somewhere in our house and we haven't been able to find them yet. Kevin has been wanting to make some more flashcards for him but we haven't (or rather I haven't) gotten around to it yet. Kind of have been busy with getting ready for Christmas and having a baby.

Speaking about the baby, I am beginning to get ready for having the baby. I have written up a detailed babysitting guide for my parents that lists Davy's daily routines and have also put together a concise outline of his routines as well, I included important phone numbers and the feeding instructions for the dogs. I also put together a birth plan for when I deliver. Now I just need to print them all out, and pack bags for myself and for Davy and the dogs. I should probably pack a bag for Kevin as well just because. That way when the time comes we can just grab and go. I still can't believe that we are so close to her coming. By next Friday her lungs will be fully developed and she will be technically full term (37 weeks).

I am pretty much all done with Christmas presents, I just need to finish two of them, ship one of those two and then I will be done. I may drag Kevin up to Rockford tomorrow to get things for the last two presents.

Speaking of Christmas I have been thinking about it a good bit lately. So far this year I have discussed the birth story of Christ twice with my Seminary students. And this year I would like to go through it with Davy as well, I don't think he will really understand but I would like to go over it with him. I find that the older I get the less and less I like the gimmicky Christmas songs, you know, the ones about Frosty and Santa and Rudolph. Instead I love the beautiful songs about the Savior. This year I just seem so much more focused on the Savior at this Christmas time. With Christmas approaching Kevin and I have had more conversations about how we want to do the whole Santa thing.

When I was a child my parents told me at a pretty young age, I can't remember what age that was, that Santa was not real. So I knew, but as a family we still basically played along with the Santa premise. I don't really know how it was done in Kevin's family but I do know that one of his favorite personal traditions was helping his mom fill the Christmas stockings on Christmas Eve. They both suffer from insomnia so it was a great bonding time for him and his mom. Kevin and I have basically decided that we will tell our children that Santa is not really real but he is a fun tradition that we as a family will be doing. (Kind of similar to how my parents did it) I am guessing that we will probably also do it similar to how my parents did it where we will encourage them to "believe" in the Santa tradition even as we reaffirm that Santa is not actually real. I think we will probably go over the Santa story as a nice reminder of how we can serve others while focusing most of the celebration on the nativity story of Christ.

Recently I saw a video of a young child, probably toddler age maybe 3 or 4 who was upset by the fact that the "Christmas Elf" did not bring him the toy he really wanted, the child threw a long and very intense fit over it. I showed the video to Kevin and he said, "If any of our children throw a fit like that over a toy they get for Christmas then they will not be getting whatever it was they really wanted." Basically not wanting to reward the child for the fit they threw. Another way of viewing it is, we want to instill in our children that the gifts they get on Christmas do not come from some omniscient being that knows exactly what they want, the gifts come from real people who are trying their best to get something they think the child might like. The gifts may not be exactly what they wanted, but they should be grateful anyway. It reminds me of Kevin's first Christmas with my family. We were engaged but not married at the time (I think), it was Christmas and we were opening presents from my Grandma and Grandpa who were visiting for Christmas. It was my brother's turn to open his presents from them. He opened them and found Precious Moments Christmas tree ornaments. My brother was 13 years old at the time. Now, I don't know many (if any) 13 year old boys who want Precious Moments anything. But we had instilled into us by our parents the knowledge that we should be grateful for any present we got, especially from our grandparents who were both retired and on a fixed income and were giving us presents from things they could find or afford. So my brother was very thankful and gracious about his presents, so much so that Kevin (who at this point did not know my family very well as this was his second time meeting them) thought that my brother actually had wanted the Precious Moments figurines. It is this that I want to instill in my children, the attitude of gratitude no matter what they are given. I think more people need it, and I hope that my children are able to grow up with it as part of who they are.

Wishes for Sons

Lucille Clifton wrote a poem called Wishes for Sons, when I was in college I remember reading it and loving it. It basically wishes them the hardships of being a woman.

Pregnancy is a strange thing, when I was pregnant with David I remember wanting a girl. As the oldest child in my family I liked being where I was in the birth order. I liked being a girl and I liked being the oldest. I liked the person it made me. And I wanted to have a daughter who had that too. I wanted a little girl as my first baby. In fact I wanted it so bad that I almost refused to believe the anatomy ultrasound that told us it was a little boy. I had convinced myself so well that I was having a girl that I really didn't want to believe that I actually was having a boy. And then he came.

As I wrote in my last post there is something amazing that happens when you have your children, a type of love that you just can't explain. And it doesn't hurt that Davy is an exceptionally sweet little boy. He is crazy and busy and wild and full of mood swings and life, but with all that comes a certain wonderful sweetness that I never expected. There are times where he will climb onto my lap and snuggle with me for a good long time. Different little things, little actions that he takes that shows me without a doubt that this little boy loves me and is a little sweetheart. And having a child like him makes me nervous about what is to come.

This pregnancy I am pregnant with a little girl. I had a feeling that I was from the very start, but having learned my lesson with Davy I didn't believe it until I had the ultrasound. And ironically I haven't been as excited about it all as I was expecting to be. I mean I wanted a girl, I really did. But there was a part of me that was ok with another boy, a part that actually really wanted another boy, because I knew what to expect. But there is still that part of me that is thrilled that I am having a girl. Someone I can bond with, someone I can become great friends with similar to how I am great friends with my mom. But there is also this huge fear in me that we will have a mother daughter relationship that is filled with arguments and anger. One of the young women in my ward told me that my daughter will hate me when she is a teenager. What a terrible proclamation on my mother daughter relationship before it has even begun. For the most part I have put the comment to the side knowing that it probably stems from the fact that this particular young woman does not get along very well with her own mother. I personally had a fantastic relationship with my mom when I was a teen. She was always a good friend of mine and still is. However, the comment has caused a good amount of fear in me, that my daughter and I may not get along.

When it really comes down to it though I learned a lot about parenting from my own parents. And one of the best things I learned was, no matter what your child does, no matter how irresponsible or stupid or aggravating it is, the most important thing you can do for them is to love them no matter what. There is a lot we can learn from Christ and his father, our Heavenly Father, they love us no matter what. They may not be particularly proud of the choices we make, but they love us still.

Life is a test, a test to see how we will do before we come back to God. And parenthood is a test to see how much we can model ourselves after God and the way he chooses to parent. I am so happy for all the children I have, sons, daughters, however many of either I end up having. And my wish for them, no matter who they are or what they do is that they will be able to feel the love I have for them and know how much I love them, no matter what.

On Vacation

Yesterday when I went to my OB appointment I learned from my doctor that she will be going on vacation around the end of the year and will be getting back to work on my due date. My hope is that little Evangeline will stay inside until my doctor is around. There are a few reasons why I would like my own doctor. I know that another doctor would probably be fine, but I would prefer my own.

1. I know that she has my best interests and the baby's best interests in mind. I know she will not try to push me into a C section unless I really need one.
2. If I end up tearing or needing an episiotomy I know she will do a fantastic time stitching me up. She did great last time and I know if I need stitches this time she will do a great job again.
3. I just feel more comfortable with a doctor that I know, having some random doctor that I have never met deliver my baby is going to stress me out a good deal.

There was a part of me that was sort of kind of hoping that Evangeline would get here before the end of the year so that we could get tax write offs. But when it comes down to it I would rather have a safe baby and my own doctor delivering her than a tax write off. Also I wouldn't mind if Evangeline's birthday was a little ways away from Christmas. We will see what happens though. Hopefully everything works out.

Nesting

Recently Kevin made the remark that he thinks that I blame too many things on my pregnancy. I blame forgetting things, misplacing things, driving badly, being too hot, being lazy, wanting to eat certain things, not wanting to eat other things, pretty much all pain in my body, headaches, being tired, the list can go on and on. He may be correct that I do blame a lot of things on pregnancy, but the truth of the matter is in someway my pregnancy affects almost everything I do. It makes me stupid at times, especially when it comes to remembering things. For some reason it has an affect on my driving skills, I am less observant and have gotten into some close encounters. Heck it even affects my typing skills, often I will find my fingers typing letters I wasn't even wanting to type, and my spelling skills have taken a woeful turn. Thank goodness I generally read things through once or twice before I post them.

Anyway recently we cleaned the house (as well as we could) in preparation for the missionaries coming over for dinner. It was the sister missionaries and when they discovered that I couldn't get a lot of stuff done because it tended to make me go into contractions they put a load of dishes into our dishwasher for us and started it up. Anyway, between Kevin and me and with some help with the dishes from the sisters we got our house into decent shape. Except of course for our spare room and our bedroom. And unfortunately Davy's room is beginning to fill with toys he has gotten out. Wanting to keep our house as clean as I could, and partially because I am really getting tired of Kevin's comments that our house is always a disaster, I have been trying to keep our kitchen (which is the source of most of the disaster comments) as tidy as I can. Which has led recently to me doing a good amount of dishes. The other day I ended up doing some dishes and as I was talking to Kevin about it I mentioned that I could probably blame my sudden urge to clean on my pregnancy as well. He asked me how I could do that, "Nesting, an inexplicable urge to clean, or sort, or craft."

Moving on to today I find at the end of it that I have had quite a day of nesting. I started off the day coming up with a list of Christmas words (only related to Christ's birth) for the alphabet. I want to make an advent calendar of sorts that uses each letter of the alphabet. I can start it on the last day of November and each day go through a new word/letter and discuss it with Davy. Not only will it tie in two things that he loves letters and numbers (which I will have on the back of each card) but it will help us discuss the birth of Christ as we come closer and closer to Christmas. Then I got Davy and fed him and got him doing his normal morning toddler stuff. Then I worked on ideas for Christmas presents for people. Davy went down for a nap and Kevin was watching a mixed martial arts fight so I went to Walmart and got some things for making some of the presents. Then I made lunch, worked on a fabric book I have been wanting to finish for Davy and finally shortly after Kevin left for work I finished it. I sat Davy down with one of his favorite shows and made supper and emptied the dishwasher, then I began to fill it again. By then dinner was done cooking and we had supper. After supper Davy went back to playing and I finished filling the dishwasher and started it up, then I gathered a load of whites and put them in the washer and started it up. Then I washed all the dishes that I can't wash in the dishwasher, all the knives, cutting boards, cookie sheets, etc. By then it was almost time for Davy to go to bed. He had been watching some of his shows and wanted to watch one more before bedtime. So I started on making a thread catcher while he was watching it (because all the little thread pieces from my different projects are beginning to drive me crazy), by the time the show was over I was almost finished with the thread catcher. I put Davy to bed and then finished the thread catcher. And now I am pretty much ready for bed. If I have more days like this soon the entire house will be clean. Or at least one can hope.

Hormones and Food

This week I have been craving tortilla chips and cheese dip, but we currently can't afford to get some until payday, which is Friday (tomorrow). So imagine my happiness when I discovered that chips and cheese dip were part of the party my parents threw for the grandkids yesterday. After everything was over my mom and dad tried to pawn off a lot of the food on both my sister and I. Kevin and I were the last ones to leave so whatever was left was basically given to us. As we were gathering up stuff, I said, "Hey, if you don't want it we will take the chips and cheese dip as well." I kind of felt guilty for asking for it, but they gave it to me so I ended up taking it home too. This morning close to 11 am I started getting hungry and remembered the cheese dip that was in the fridge. So I heated some up and started eating it with the tortilla chips. After not long of eating the chips and dip Kevin came by and started eyeing the chips and dip in a way that I knew he was going to ask for some.

But the problem was, I didn't want to share. I had been craving this all week long and had an awesome windfall before payday even came around, and there wasn't much of the cheese dip anyway. But I knew that claiming it all would be rude, so I told him he could have the rest if he wanted it. Well then as he went to get it he found some other cheese dip that we had in the fridge that I did not want to eat because I did not like the flavor of it. So he decides that he is going to mix the two and eat it.

Thinking back on it all the rational thing for me to have done would have been to ask nicely if he would let me have the cheese dip I had gotten from my parents and he could have all of the other cheese dip (which I knew he preferred). Instead I went into attack mode. And we got into an argument over it all. In the end he demanded that I ask nicely for the cheese dip I wanted, and I stubbornly refused to. Finally I calmed down enough to apologize for attacking him and he gave me the cheese dip, which helped me to calm down the rest of the way. After everything was done and finished and I was calm and happy again I said to him, "You know, arguing with a pregnant woman over her food is like wrestling with a tiger for a steak, it is about the same level on the danger scale." He thought about this for a little bit and then said, "Yes, but a pregnant woman is not going to kill you like a tiger would." "She might in your sleep." I said back. "No, I know how weak you are right now, you wouldn't be able to kill me." "Ok, true." I said, "But she can make your life miserable, which is almost as bad." "Yes, that is true." He said, "Which is why so many men are made miserable by their wives."

Thankfully Kevin is a great guy and awesome husband, and knows when it is best to just give me the food and save himself the suffering.

Glucose and Nightmares

I finally got back the results for my 3 hour glucose test. And I passed it!! I have been a good bit nervous about it this pregnancy that I would not pass it and that I would have gestational diabetes, but the results came back normal. I was a worried after I didn't pass my 1 hour test. Thankfully this means that I can eat pie this Thanksgiving, which I have been looking forward to for quite a few weeks now. Yay for pie!!

On another note, Davy seems to be having nightmares lately. Last night he woke up screaming and started crying. Kevin went in and rocked him for a bit and then changed his diaper which brought on another crying fit. So I went in and rocked him for a little bit and then put him to bed. While we were rocking the dogs came in to say Hi, which Davy seemed to like as he kind of roused himself and petted both dogs. Thankfully after I put him back in his bed he pretty much went back to sleep after babbling to himself for a little bit.

Pink Pink

On Monday of this week we had our anatomy ultrasound and found out that we are having a girl. We did a gender reveal party afterward with a cake that was pink and had pink frosting inside. The frosting was bubble gum flavored. After having Davy I have gotten into the habit of always looking for boy things and ignoring the girl stuff. Now I have to look for both. I think it will be fun to have a little girl, but I am guessing that it will be much different than having a little boy. It will be interesting to see how it all goes.

Watch out!

At the moment Davy is shaking his sippy cup full of water over my faux leather couch, I am having trouble finding the will to care right now because he is also happily babbling to himself and not screaming or crying. Both he and I have been having quite a day. As far as I can tell he has molars coming in and is rather cranky because of it. I gave him some painkiller when we got home from church and that seems to be making things better. My excuse...well I am pregnant and I started back on the progesterone shots today. I don't much like the pain of the shot, or the emotional wreck I become, but it is better than the dizziness of the pills. Today I have been very anti-social and have had a very short fuse. Thankfully, or maybe not so much for him, I have only blown up at Kevin today. Which means that I haven't ruined any relationships with people at church. And Kevin understands that pregnancy sometimes makes me a raging hormonal nightmare. He really is very understanding of all my moods and tempers. I really do applaud him for it. Anyway, together Davy and I are just a lovely little couple of crankybutts. Thankfully we can pretty much hole up at home and ignore the world. Davy is now spitting on the couch. I will probably go over in a bit and wipe it all off, but for now I will just enjoy the peace.

Shots and Stuff

I went in today for another blood test to check out my progesterone levels. When they called me back about my levels they told me that they are taking me off of the shots and putting me on suppositories and a pill that I am to take at 2 pm everyday. As nice as it will be to get off the shots I am not looking forward to the suppositories or the pills. I suppose we will see how it effects everything.

My body makes no sense

Pregnancy, it comes with all the happy fun symptoms. Back pain, hip pain, breast pain, pain when your uterus stretches, leg pain...why do I feel like there is a common theme here? Oh there is also moodiness (so you become a pain to others), and tiredness, and forgetfulness, and...am I forgetting something here? Oh yes! The most famous (or infamous) symptom of all, Morning Sickness. Although, as any pregnant woman who has experienced morning sickness knows, it does not only come in the morning. It comes at all times of the day. So here you are, your body is telling you that you are starving. So you go to get food, but your stomach is telling you that pretty much any food you make for yourself will make you hurl it up in the face of any offending person who comes your way, or if that fails into the toilet, sink or whatever receptical you can find. And yet you are hungry, ravenously hungry. So you go to make some food, and now your new and improved super sniffer comes into play. Suddenly the food that you thought might work now smells like last week's garbage (well not really but that is what your stomach is telling you it smells like) and now the food is no longer an option. So you find some small but scentless food option and eat it before that sickness becomes too much and you do end up vomiting. And the morning sickness goes away for a short while. Because though the morning sickness can sometimes be banned by food if you don't eat enough it can sometimes come back, very quickly.

So here to come down to the title, my body makes no sense. One would think that to keep from feeling sick you would stay away from offending items, but those items help keep the sickness away, but only sometimes and only for just so long.

Either way, I have been plenty nauseous this go round, but not vomiting yet. I take that as a good sign and will try not to tempt fate. And in the mean time I will try to find ways to inflict less pain (yeah right) and eat what I can.

Back Pain

So on April 30th, I pulled a neck muscle while I was trying to sleep. From that point on I have been having awful neck and shoulder pain that has been sending pain down my arms. I probably mentioned this before. So tonight I was down on the floor with Davy playing with him and some of his toys, dancing to the music from some of his toys. And I got this crazy idea to lay down on the ground, on my back. Getting down there was easy enough, but then I had to get up. At first it was just my neck and shoulder pain that was giving me problems, but then my lower back came into play and said, "Nope, you aren't getting up." Eventually I just toughed my way through the pain and forced myself up, but it was not an enjoyable experience. Thankfully I am going to see a chiropractor on Saturday and though I will not be getting an adjustment hopefully I will be on the route of getting things fixed for a bit. At the moment though I just hurt. Hopefully I will be able to get out of bed in the morning.

1st Ultrasound

My first ultrasound will be on May 18th, I will be 7 weeks along at that point. Hopefully I will also be able to find out whether I am having twins or not. I am still on the progesterone shots and will probably be on them until I am about 10 weeks along, that is quite a bit of time still. The progesterone is making my backside numb in the areas where I have gotten the shot. The nurse said this is normal. It is a good bit weird but it also tends to work out well because in some areas Kevin doesn't even need to worry about hurting me because I can not feel the needle even go in anymore.

In other news I have been dealing with back pain like crazy, my neck and shoulders are super tense and have been sending jolts of pain down my arms. I have been feeling morning sickness for weeks now but have not yet gotten to the point of throwing up. I am kind of happy for that. It is kind of weird, I have basically told everyone about our pregnancy, except the people at work. I probably will not tell them until I hit the "safe" zone where miscarriage is pretty much not going to happen. And they wont really notice since I don't come in very often.

Positive

Today we got the fantastic news that we are pregnant. Today was the pregnancy test, however I knew that I could also take a home pregnancy test and was planning on taking one before we left for my doctor appointment. So last night I went to bed around 10 pm, at 11 pm I woke up and went back to sleep, at midnight I woke up and went back to sleep, finally at 1 am I woke up and said to myself, "Well, I have to pee pretty bad, might as well take the test now." So I got up, took the test and finished up, by the time I was done washing my hands the test was showing a positive result. So I got back into bed and woke Kevin up and said, "We're pregnant!!" This woke him up out of a dead sleep and woke him up for the rest of the night. Maybe I should use this technique every morning to wake him up. Probably only works once, darn.

I went back to bed after texting family, I probably got back to sleep around 3 am. At 5:30 I woke up to get ready for my doctor's appointment and we left the house at 6:15, we got to the doctor's right on time for my 7 am appointment and after having my blood taken we were out of there by 7:05 am.

Poor Davy, we woke him up early and took him with us because he had a 9:45 doctor's appointment as well. He is a little under the weather with a cold and he got his last two shots until kindergarten. We got the call from my doctor's office at 1 pm today to let us know that we are indeed pregnant! Yay!!

The best husband for the job

I keep finding myself wanting to write about this, mostly because I have heard about husbands in the labor and delivery room who make the experience awful. Specifically I keep seeing commercials for the TV show "One born every minute" which follows women through the labor and delivery process. For the teaser clip they show a few scenes of the women in the labor and delivery room waiting for the baby to come and it shows the husbands and what they are doing and saying, and they are awful! One man plays around on his phone while his wife has contractions, one man tells his wife that he is bored and that the baby needs to come now. And it causes me to reflect on my experience.

As I mentioned before my epidural failed during my delivery, and it failed right as the transitional contractions were underway. Which means that I was dropped from a relatively pain-free experience right into the worst of it all. Kevin was the first one to realize that I was experiencing pain. And he realized it from the expression on my face. The moment he realized I was in pain he was immediately at my side holding my hand and saying comforting things to me. The next few hours were filled with pain, pushing, crying and a severe wanting on my part for the baby to be out of me so that the pain would stop. And all through it Kevin was at my side, holding my hand, saying comforting things to me. One of my favorite things he said, and kept saying was, "You are so beautiful." And he meant it, I could tell from the expression on his face when he said it. I have heard about women cursing at, screaming at, yelling at, punching, calling names, and many other things to their husbands, but when you have someone sitting there holding your hand, stroking your hair, and telling you that you are beautiful how can you get mad at that person?

As we got into the pushing I had to lean forward with each contraction, grab my legs and push for all I was worth for a count of ten. I was exhausted though, and could barely keep my eyes open let alone lean forward, and grab my legs. Thankfully both Kevin and my mom were there to help me. Kevin stood on one side and my mom on the other and together they would lift me up so that I could grab my legs, then they would help me lower back down and hold my hands after the contraction was over. They both kept telling me to squeeze their hands, but I hardly had the energy for that, I guess I did squeeze their hands hard at some point because I broke open the skin on my mom's hand with my nails at some point, and I almost did the same to Kevin. I probably could have made it through labor without my mom and Kevin, but I don't feel like it. They were a big necessity for me during the whole process. The doctor and the nurse kept telling me to get mad so that I would have more energy for the pushing, but I just couldn't get myself angry, yes I was in pain, but I had such a great support group there helping me that I just couldn't find anger in myself. Either way I got the job done and little David is here. It seems strange to think he has been here a week already. And even stranger to realize that yesterday was his official due date. It is good to have him here, I am so grateful for that little guy.

The I gave birth, before everything really got started Kevin went out to get some things. He came back with two dozen roses and a vase for them. He took of all the thorns when he got to the hospital and then set the flowers up for me. Everyone who came into the room stopped to smell them. The next day my parents came with flowers as well. It is one thing I remember clearly about my mom giving birth to my brother and sister, she got flowers. I am so thankful to both Kevin and my parents for remembering that and making sure I had flowers. They are so wonderful!

The epidural, it does nothing!!

The last few days have been rather wild. Wednesday was nice. We ran some errands, ate out for the last time without a baby, and then went over to the hospital to check me in for delivery. That night they started my antibiotics for the Strep B and put in the suppository that would thin out my cervix. I slept in the hospital be and Kevin slept in the chair they had for visitors. It was a rough night sleeping for both of us. In the morning I discovered that my suppository had come out on its own. Around seven or eight am they started me on Pitocin which starts the inducement. I started having serious hip pain and got the epidural started at 11:30 am. Around 1:30 pm or so my doctor showed up and broke my water for me. The contractions started and at first I couldn't feel them. Then it seemed that the epidural started to wear off. I began to feel a little pain at first, and then I began to feel the contractions a little and then a little more. Soon I was feeling the full contraction, as if I didn't even have a pain killer in me at all. It hurt, a lot. Kevin was there for me from the beginning, he held my hand and stroked my hair and told me I was beautiful. He was awesome. The anesthesiologist came back and gave me three more doses, which worked for a bit and then faded again. Around 5 pm or so my doctor showed up again and the real fun started. I was feeling the full contractions, except they weren't natural contractions they were pitocin induced contractions. They were so painful. Eventually they got to a point where I felt like I was needing to push. Kevin and my mom helped me by holding my hands and lifting me into position when I needed to push. The nurses seemed surprised at how much I pushed, they called me a "super pusher", I just wanted it all to be over. I got to a point where I kept saying, "I just want him out of me" or, "Can you just grab his head and pull him out?" I really just wanted it all over. I was so tired that I could hardly keep my eyes open during it all. After a lot of pushing David finally came out, it was such a relief. My doctor had to cut me during delivery so that I wouldn't tear, so after everything was done she also had to stitch me up, which I also felt even with the pain killer that the doctor gave me.

While the doctor stitched me up Kevin and my parents took pictures and held David. Eventually all the stitching was done and they allowed me some time with David before they took him for his bath. While he was gone they took me to my post natal room. I got a little bit of sleep last night, and a little bit of sleep today. Looking forward to getting a little bit more if I ever get the chance. Either way Davy is here and we are happy to have him. You can see a link to his birth announcement below.
http://community.babycenter.com/announcements/6f24e0dfe18054a878acaa9a4551930d

Natural or Induced?

Went to the doctor today and my protein levels were up in my 24 hour urine test. And I had some pre-e symptoms on Sunday. However, the rest of my tests were good and my urine test today came back negative for protein. My doctor said though that she doesn't want to let me go to my delivery date because so far we have been lucky with the pre-e that is has been not really bad, we have been able to get the baby to full term without the pre-e getting bad. So she stripped my membranes which can sometimes start labor. And she scheduled me to be induced on Thursday morning.

So unless I go into labor tonight I will be going to the hospital on Wednesday night to prepare for the induction. Bags are all packed, I am pretty much ready for the hospital, just need to get everything into the car, get the car seat installed in the car and go there tomorrow at 8 pm. I am excited for it to all happen, and yet I am also pretty scared about it all. Tomorrow night the pain begins and doesn't end for quite awhile. Pray that it all goes well. I will probably not be posting again until after the baby is here.

Appointment and Tests

Yesterday I had another doctor appointment and I had tests run. I got a pee bucket to fill again. At my doctor appointment my urine came back with a +1 protein again for the second time this week. So my doctor said that she is going to look at my 24 hour urine test and if it is getting worse aka. more protein then she is going to induce me. I will be 38 weeks tomorrow and am currently "full term". So next week we should see whether I will be induced or allowed to go into labor naturally. Either way I am fine. I am feeling more ready for Davy to come. This is the update for now.