Tuesday, March 15, 2011
He has arrived!
My sweet little Andrew arrived on March 10, 2011 at 8:17 pm. He weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz and was 20 inches long. He is the most beautiful handsome amazing perfect adorable sweet squeezable wonderful little boy in the whole world! The feelings and emotions that I feel for him changed indescribably the instant I saw him. I can't even tell you how full my heart is with love for this child. I will post more later about the delivery and our first days at home, but for now I wanted to just post a quick update and photo. Everyone is doing wonderful and we are so incredibly happy!!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Doctor's appointment update
My doctor's appointment today went really well. I am about 2cm dilated and still about 50% effaced. I was told last week that we would talk about induction this week, which we did. However, we decided against it for this week. The doctor said that since I'm only 2cm, that I'm not quite the best candidate for induction because I still run too high of a risk of c-section. He said that if I was closer to 4cm then he would feel better about inducing me because my risk of c-section would be decreased. I was disappointed and happy at the same time. I was a little disappointed because I was really hoping that I'd have my sweet Andrew by the end of the week. However, I was happy because I have been really worried about the chance of c-section. It is something that really freaks me out, even though I know lots of people that have had one successfully and had no problems. But personally, it's something that I really would like to avoid unless absoultely, medically necessary. It makes me feel better knowing that the doctor doesn't just send folks over to L & D without taking the risk of surgery into consideration.
Since we decided against induction, the doctor did go ahead and do another thing to try and help labor come on naturally. He "stripped the membranes", which means he separated the amniotic sac from my cervix. Let me just tell you, that was not a fun experience. I'm sure that it's nothing compared with labor, but I'd hate to do that one again. Ha! BUT I'm told that it should start labor in 24-72 hours, so I have my fingers crossed that it'll work!! I can tell that it's doing something, because the crampy contractions that I've been having have changed to being really sharp and pretty painful. They don't quite take my breath away yet, but they're definitely more intense than before. I had some spontaneously throughout the morning and early afternoon after my appointment, and then starting at about 3:00 they have been coming every hour. So, I am really really hoping that they will start getting closer together and stronger so that I can go to the hospital soon! :-) However, if not, I have another appointment next Tuesday and we'll see what happens then! But I hope I have a baby before then!!!
Since we decided against induction, the doctor did go ahead and do another thing to try and help labor come on naturally. He "stripped the membranes", which means he separated the amniotic sac from my cervix. Let me just tell you, that was not a fun experience. I'm sure that it's nothing compared with labor, but I'd hate to do that one again. Ha! BUT I'm told that it should start labor in 24-72 hours, so I have my fingers crossed that it'll work!! I can tell that it's doing something, because the crampy contractions that I've been having have changed to being really sharp and pretty painful. They don't quite take my breath away yet, but they're definitely more intense than before. I had some spontaneously throughout the morning and early afternoon after my appointment, and then starting at about 3:00 they have been coming every hour. So, I am really really hoping that they will start getting closer together and stronger so that I can go to the hospital soon! :-) However, if not, I have another appointment next Tuesday and we'll see what happens then! But I hope I have a baby before then!!!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Week Thirty-WHAT? 38?!?!
Holy crap it's week 38! 14 days down to 8 days! I really hope that this is my week though....I'm crossing my fingers (and toes tehehe!)!!
He has seriously dropped. In fact, there was a moment on Monday when I actually felt his head all of a sudden drop and hit my pelvis and stayed there. And most people have told me they can tell he's dropped. Since he weighed 6 lbs 5 oz at his ultrasound, and he should be gaining about a half of a pound a week, I'm going to guess he's just under or right at 7 lbs now. They didn't give me a height but "normal" is 20-21 inches by now. His lanugo and his vernix caseosa should both be gone by now, and his fat cells are continuing to grow (aw). Neural connections in his brain are still rapidly being made. He is also still making surfectant, to keep the air sacs in his lungs from sticking together when he is born and starts breathing air instead of amniotic fluid. Fun fact: his head should be the same circumference as his abdomen!
That's pretty much all that's going on with the baby this week, but I think I have more than enough going on to make up for it. First off: I feel strange. I have periods where I just feel really restless and can't get comfortable no matter what position I sit/stand/lay in. Both my stomach and back feel weird. I can't really describe it...I just know it's different than normal. That's all I can really say about that. I don't know what it means, if anything, but there ya go.
Also, I have been having contractions. I have had a few every day, but Wednesday was the day I had the most. They were actually coming about every hour to hour and a half. They feel a lot like menstrual cramps, and I confirmed with the doctor that they were really contractions and not just Braxton Hicks. So that's progress! But now it's Sunday, and I still haven't gone into serious labor. Maybe soon....my hospital bag is packed, just in case! :-)
I *think* that I lost my mucous plug! That's progress!! It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I am not sure though. The doctor said she couldn't really tell.
Some other "symptoms" I'm having: tired, hot flashes, moodiness, nesting, heartburn, aching hips, hard to move around, stress, and aching in general. I try to sleep but I have to get up so often, and I can't find a comfortable position to sleep in so I am super tired. I have days when I am hot all day, and days when I'm cold with periods of hotness. I am seriously moody, and most anything can set me off, lol. The nesting instinct is in full force. I have been doing so much baby laundry in the past few days, I'm sure our water bill is going to be sky high. I love it though! I look at the cute little clothes and blankets and towels, and I can't wait to use them for the baby!! Some of his little outfits are so cute they make me want to cry (see, anything sets me off, haha). I have been cleaning non-baby stuff a lot too. My house is by no means sparkly clean but I just want to clean when I can get the energy to get off the couch. One thing that keeps me on the couch a lot is my achy hips! Oh they just hurt some days so bad I can hardly walk. Sitting doesn't help a whole lot, but it's better than standing. I know it's because Andrew is sitting so low, but I sure hope he comes soon so that pressure will be relieved. It's really hard to move around too, I can't fit through a lot of places, and I'm just slow-moving now. I have found myself stressing recently about everything being done in time. This is part of nesting I guess, but I just make myself crazy sometimes thinking about what is left to be done. I've gotten a lot done this weekend that makes me feel better though. Lastly, I'm just achy in general sometimes. This goes with the general strange feeling I talked about earlier, and the contractions I mentioned as well. My feet ache too sometimes, I can't wait until they are back to being unswollen.
I have gotten so much done this weekend getting everything ready for Andrew's arrival! I spent the majority of Saturday out with my mom and sister shopping for the last of the things I need for him. I got things like bottles, pumping accessories, nursing bras, extra carseat base, newborn size diapers, a lamp for his room, and lots of other small stuff. I've had all the big stuff, but I just needed some last minute small stuff that made me feel better and prepared. All the time walking around and being on my feet didn't help with the hip aches, in fact it made it worse, but I still had lots of fun. I'm really glad I got it done, I feel so much less stressed and definitely more prepared than I did before. Plus I got to hang out with my mom and sister :-)
So, another big thing that happened this week is that I got laid off from one of my jobs. I work 2 part-time jobs (1 on M/W/F and 1 on T/Th), and the company I work for on T/Th is going to close in a few weeks, so they went ahead and laid me off on Thursday. It was sad, but not unexpected. Since I was going out on maternity soon anyway, my time there ended only about a week early. And quite honestly, I knew how bad the situation was there so I was probably not going to go back after maternity anyway. I am hoping that my M/W/F job will let me go full-time after I come back from having the baby, but we will see.
I think the last thing I have for this week is my doctor's appointment that was on Thursday. It went really well, but we had a LOT to talk about. She checked my cervix, and I am still only 1-2 cm dilated, BUT I am about 50% effaced! That's progress from last week. Also, I could tell that there was progress from last week because the check didn't hurt quite so bad, which I knew meant I was more effaced than last week. I came prepared (as usual) with some things to ask about how it worked when I actually made it to the hospital. I was worried about preregistration, because when I went online to do that (because I thought you had to), it said to only preregister 2 days prior to your check-in. And we all know there's no telling when 2 days prior to a baby coming is! But the doctor said that you don't have to do that at CMC, they will just get you checked in while you're getting set up when you get there. So I feel better about that now. I was also worried about how long I could stay in my own clothes versus a hospital gown once I arrived. I was thinking I'd rather be in my own clothes and that I'd feel better that way, but once the doctor explained it, I realized it would be better to just get into the (awful) gown. She said that it's easier because they hook you up to an IV pretty immediately and that things could get messy with water breaking, possible bleeding, and etc so it would just be better to go ahead and get out of your own clothes before any of those things start happening. And I can imagine it would suck to try and change clothes once that IV is in. Ew. In fact I don't even want to think about it. Okay so the last thing we talked about was pretty big and actually unexpected for me. At my next appointment (on Tuesday) the doctor is going to want to talk about inducing me in week 39 because of the gestational diabetes. I really don't know more about it than that, but I will update after my appointment! I was excited before I found that out, but now I'm even more excited! And also a little scared. Knowing that it could be so soon just made it all real in an instant, but I know that it's going to be amazing, and at the end of it I will have my sweet baby boy!
I will update soon, after my appointment!
He has seriously dropped. In fact, there was a moment on Monday when I actually felt his head all of a sudden drop and hit my pelvis and stayed there. And most people have told me they can tell he's dropped. Since he weighed 6 lbs 5 oz at his ultrasound, and he should be gaining about a half of a pound a week, I'm going to guess he's just under or right at 7 lbs now. They didn't give me a height but "normal" is 20-21 inches by now. His lanugo and his vernix caseosa should both be gone by now, and his fat cells are continuing to grow (aw). Neural connections in his brain are still rapidly being made. He is also still making surfectant, to keep the air sacs in his lungs from sticking together when he is born and starts breathing air instead of amniotic fluid. Fun fact: his head should be the same circumference as his abdomen!
That's pretty much all that's going on with the baby this week, but I think I have more than enough going on to make up for it. First off: I feel strange. I have periods where I just feel really restless and can't get comfortable no matter what position I sit/stand/lay in. Both my stomach and back feel weird. I can't really describe it...I just know it's different than normal. That's all I can really say about that. I don't know what it means, if anything, but there ya go.
Also, I have been having contractions. I have had a few every day, but Wednesday was the day I had the most. They were actually coming about every hour to hour and a half. They feel a lot like menstrual cramps, and I confirmed with the doctor that they were really contractions and not just Braxton Hicks. So that's progress! But now it's Sunday, and I still haven't gone into serious labor. Maybe soon....my hospital bag is packed, just in case! :-)
I *think* that I lost my mucous plug! That's progress!! It's exciting and scary all at the same time. I am not sure though. The doctor said she couldn't really tell.
Some other "symptoms" I'm having: tired, hot flashes, moodiness, nesting, heartburn, aching hips, hard to move around, stress, and aching in general. I try to sleep but I have to get up so often, and I can't find a comfortable position to sleep in so I am super tired. I have days when I am hot all day, and days when I'm cold with periods of hotness. I am seriously moody, and most anything can set me off, lol. The nesting instinct is in full force. I have been doing so much baby laundry in the past few days, I'm sure our water bill is going to be sky high. I love it though! I look at the cute little clothes and blankets and towels, and I can't wait to use them for the baby!! Some of his little outfits are so cute they make me want to cry (see, anything sets me off, haha). I have been cleaning non-baby stuff a lot too. My house is by no means sparkly clean but I just want to clean when I can get the energy to get off the couch. One thing that keeps me on the couch a lot is my achy hips! Oh they just hurt some days so bad I can hardly walk. Sitting doesn't help a whole lot, but it's better than standing. I know it's because Andrew is sitting so low, but I sure hope he comes soon so that pressure will be relieved. It's really hard to move around too, I can't fit through a lot of places, and I'm just slow-moving now. I have found myself stressing recently about everything being done in time. This is part of nesting I guess, but I just make myself crazy sometimes thinking about what is left to be done. I've gotten a lot done this weekend that makes me feel better though. Lastly, I'm just achy in general sometimes. This goes with the general strange feeling I talked about earlier, and the contractions I mentioned as well. My feet ache too sometimes, I can't wait until they are back to being unswollen.
I have gotten so much done this weekend getting everything ready for Andrew's arrival! I spent the majority of Saturday out with my mom and sister shopping for the last of the things I need for him. I got things like bottles, pumping accessories, nursing bras, extra carseat base, newborn size diapers, a lamp for his room, and lots of other small stuff. I've had all the big stuff, but I just needed some last minute small stuff that made me feel better and prepared. All the time walking around and being on my feet didn't help with the hip aches, in fact it made it worse, but I still had lots of fun. I'm really glad I got it done, I feel so much less stressed and definitely more prepared than I did before. Plus I got to hang out with my mom and sister :-)
So, another big thing that happened this week is that I got laid off from one of my jobs. I work 2 part-time jobs (1 on M/W/F and 1 on T/Th), and the company I work for on T/Th is going to close in a few weeks, so they went ahead and laid me off on Thursday. It was sad, but not unexpected. Since I was going out on maternity soon anyway, my time there ended only about a week early. And quite honestly, I knew how bad the situation was there so I was probably not going to go back after maternity anyway. I am hoping that my M/W/F job will let me go full-time after I come back from having the baby, but we will see.
I think the last thing I have for this week is my doctor's appointment that was on Thursday. It went really well, but we had a LOT to talk about. She checked my cervix, and I am still only 1-2 cm dilated, BUT I am about 50% effaced! That's progress from last week. Also, I could tell that there was progress from last week because the check didn't hurt quite so bad, which I knew meant I was more effaced than last week. I came prepared (as usual) with some things to ask about how it worked when I actually made it to the hospital. I was worried about preregistration, because when I went online to do that (because I thought you had to), it said to only preregister 2 days prior to your check-in. And we all know there's no telling when 2 days prior to a baby coming is! But the doctor said that you don't have to do that at CMC, they will just get you checked in while you're getting set up when you get there. So I feel better about that now. I was also worried about how long I could stay in my own clothes versus a hospital gown once I arrived. I was thinking I'd rather be in my own clothes and that I'd feel better that way, but once the doctor explained it, I realized it would be better to just get into the (awful) gown. She said that it's easier because they hook you up to an IV pretty immediately and that things could get messy with water breaking, possible bleeding, and etc so it would just be better to go ahead and get out of your own clothes before any of those things start happening. And I can imagine it would suck to try and change clothes once that IV is in. Ew. In fact I don't even want to think about it. Okay so the last thing we talked about was pretty big and actually unexpected for me. At my next appointment (on Tuesday) the doctor is going to want to talk about inducing me in week 39 because of the gestational diabetes. I really don't know more about it than that, but I will update after my appointment! I was excited before I found that out, but now I'm even more excited! And also a little scared. Knowing that it could be so soon just made it all real in an instant, but I know that it's going to be amazing, and at the end of it I will have my sweet baby boy!
I will update soon, after my appointment!
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