Birth Story Part 1 - Weeks 40 and 41, The Waiting Game

As my due date approached, Nick and I were getting more and more anxious for things to pick up and get started.  When we went in for my 40 week appointment, my midwife Louise was reassuring saying that most babies come between 38-42 weeks and that there should be nothing to worry about.  At that point, we began having non-stress tests done at the maternity ward every couple of days.  Baby girl did great and my blood pressure and other vitals were good.  She just wasn’t ready.  At my 41 week appointment, Louise offered to check my cervix and see how far along I was.  She hadn’t done this before and I was glad.  At 41 weeks, I was still completely closed; no dilation at all.  This was a little discouraging for me, since we had been waiting for what felt like forever.  Additionally, the baby was right on my cervix, which caused the cervix to be really high up.  Needless to say, this was a VERY painful internal exam.  I had also been walking a lot and doing other things that are supposed to get your cervix ready.  No such luck.  At this point, my Mom and Dad were both up here waiting for the birth.  We spent a lot of time together, walking and eating spicy food and hanging out trying to keep me calm.  Nick wound up taking a couple of days off to be with us, too.

Shopping with Mom and Dad during my 41st week!

The non-stress tests after the 41 week mark were a little different.  Baby girl would get sleepy every time that we went.  We would have to wait there and try having me lay down differently to see if her heart rate would get up.  On Saturday May 5^th, my midwife was at the hospital when I was having my NST done, and offered to check me again.  Cervix was still totally closed at 41 weeks 5 days.  Also, this exam was even more painful than the time before.  At this point, we were planning for an induction to happen on Monday morning.  When we met with the midwife, she said that we could actually come in on Sunday night to begin induction.  This way, I would likely be in labor during the day instead of the middle of the night.  Nick and I agreed right away and planned to head to the hospital on Sunday night.

One of many non-stress tests

Trying another position to get baby girl to move!

Now, since I had been planning for natural childbirth, the thought of induction scared the crap out of me.  From everything that we had read, and the childbirth classes we took, we knew what some of the effects of the induction drugs were.  I was very nervous that something wouldn’t work, or that it would make labor too difficult for my body to handle.  Contractions that are induced with pitocin are known to be stronger, quicker, and more irregular.  I just put my faith in my body and my midwife and hoped for the best.  There was no way for me to know what was going to happen, so I had to just go with it and see where it took me.

Hopefully a Final Pregnancy Update!

How far along?: 41 weeks and 4 long days

Baby is the size of a:  human baby

Total weight gain/loss:  +30

The Bump: My bump is huge and round at this point, since I am carrying a VERY full term baby.  My belly button never popped, but a couple of times this week when she was pushing right up against it, I thought it was going to.  I only have just a couple of stretch marks, but none of them are really on my bump.

Symptoms:  Pelvic pain still.  It's still very painful to turn over in bed.  Also, sharp shooting pains into my cervix, which I thought would be causing me to dilate (but since as of about a week ago I wasn't dilated, I assume that this is not the case).  Also, I am getting frustrated and anxious for this darling girl to just hurry up and join us already!

Food Cravings:  Today, I wanted Sesame Noodles from a local market.  Other than that, I have been trying to eat really spicy food to kick start labor.

Anything Making Me Queasy or Sick: Other than watching the chefs on Chopped All-Stars cooking tripe, chicken feet, and whole octopus; no.

Sleep: I have generally been sleeping pretty well, without having to wake up during the night other than to roll over.  I do generally wake up in some pretty serious pelvic and leg pain now though.

What I miss:  Not feeling this pelvic pain when I lay down.  Wearing my wedding rings.

Weddings Rings On or Off: Off.  

Any Names Picked Out Yet:  She is named.

Movement: Still lots of movement, unless I am at the doctors office.  The other day, she was still during my ultrasound and during the non-stress test.  I had to move to either side twice to get her to move around.  This makes my pelvis hurt more.

Maternity Clothes: At this point, even the maternity things that I have are starting to get uncomfortable.  I find myself in pajama pants and Nick's t-shirt when I am at home.

Labor Signs: BH contractions. I thought I was having real contractions last night, enough to even call my midwife.  Alas, went to bed and they totally stopped.  

Best Moment of the Week: Spending time with my Mom and Dad who are up visiting waiting for their granddaughter to be born.  It's been great to get to spend so much alone time with them just running around.  Usually when they are here, there is a million people to see and things to do.  It's been nice just to relax with them and have them around.

What I’m excited about/looking forward to:  I cannot wait to finally be holding this baby in my arms.  If I don't have her on my own over the weekend, then I will be induced on Monday.  I really, really, really do not want to have to go through and induction, so I am so hopeful that this super moon that's supposed to happen tomorrow will have some kind of effect on my uterus!!

11 Days "Overdue"

For months, I have convinced myself that I would not worry about being past my due date.  I know that they are sort of arbitrary, and based on a couple of factors.  Since I wasn't sure exactly when my last period was, it was difficult for me to say for sure when I thought we conceived.  There was about a 2 week window that I thought it might have been.  Also, since Nick and I are both so tall, the ultrasound that we had to date the baby could have been wrong since she's likely to be pretty big.  I know these things.  And I know that MOST babies do not come on their due date.  There is a 4 week window where most babies are born.

But now that I am 11 days past that date, I am getting pretty frustrated.  I was really hoping that she would get here just a couple of days after her due date.  My parents both flew in 2 days after that day, so I was hoping that nothing would happen until they got here.  Now, my Dad has already had to extend his trip another week, since we weren't going to let him leave without meeting our baby girl!  My Mom is here until we buy her a return ticket.  They've been really good at trying to keep me occupied with other things, but it's starting to get tough.

At this point, I am going to the hospital every 3 days for Non Stress Tests.  Our baby is doing quite well at each of these.  Her heart rate is steady, my blood pressure is perfect.  She just doesn't seem ready to come on out.  So now, I find myself being one of those people that I didn't want to me.  Wishing and hoping that this baby will get here soon and feeling semi-miserable waiting.  Physically, I feel pretty damn good.  Emotionally, I am about to lose my mind.  I've seen 2 of my friends have their babies while I am still waiting.  They were both due after my date.  I am heading toward an induction date on Monday, and I am dreading that.  I know that each intervention that I have is going to make the natural birth that I want to have more difficult.  I know that induction can take time, it's not immediate.  I just am REALLY hoping that this baby is going to come on her own this weekend.  Tomorrow's a full moon, so here's hoping!


How did you feel once you got past your due date?  Were you discouraged about being induced?

Due Date was Yesterday...

...and yes, I am still pregnant.

I haven't really had many contractions in the last few days, but I did wind up in the hospital on Friday night for a quick Non-Stress Test since I hadn't felt the baby move in several hours and that was really odd.  Of course, as soon as they hooked us up the machines, she started moving around like crazy.  Her heartbeat was great, my blood pressure was great, and we were in and out of there pretty quickly.

My Mom gets in tomorrow morning from North Carolina, and my Dad is flying in later tomorrow from Louisiana.  I think that she's waiting for her Grandparents to get here before she makes her big arrival.  Nick is getting very impatient as he wants to meet his little girl already!  It also doesn't help that we are fast approaching the start of his fishing season, and I know that he wants to take as much time off as he can to be with her.  Hopefully she'll get here soon so that the two of them will get some bonding time in before he goes back to work!



As for me, I am just sitting at home, watching old episodes of One Tree Hill on Netflix and waiting for something to happen.  I am ready to get this over with so that we can be home with our baby girl!!

Any Day Now

Well, I am officially due one week from today.  I now understand what this waiting game is all about.  Although I have never seen a due date as an expiration date, I do feel myself getting more anxious as that date gets closer. Will she be early? late? right "on time"?

Nick and I have gotten everything ready for her.  Her pack and play is set up in our room right next to the bed. That's where she'll be sleeping for the first few months since I plan on exclusively breast feeding and I have also been told that baby sleeping in your room helps everyone get more sleep.  Her clothes are washed and ready for her to wear them.  The stroller has been built and is already in the trunk of my car waiting for our first walk on the canal.  Her car seat is installed and ready for her to be riding around in it!  And, we rearranged our living room and replaced the love seat with the glider and ottoman.  Nick is already ready to be rocking his baby in that thing everyday!


Beyond the material things, we are just ready for her to get here.  Nick and I have been talking about a family since we were teenagers.  It's so exciting to know that we are starting our little family at any time now.  We are excited to go through labor and delivery together.  Both of us can't wait to just hold her. I have a feeling that we will be the couple that just stares at their baby all day long.  As soon as Nick gets home from work at night, I know he will just want to hold her as much as he can.  I just want to know what she's going to look like.  I am excited and anxious to see if I will see myself in her or if she will be the spitting image of Nick.

One way or another, we don't have much longer to wait.  I think that we can make it and I'm really hoping that she chooses to get here on the sooner side rather than the later.

9 Months Pregnant and Working Full Time.

I am tired.


And losing focus at work.


And thinking about all the things that I would be doing around our apartment if I were not at work.


And I think my coworkers are starting to resent the fact that I am still working.


3 more weeks.  Unless she decides to come early, which I am truly hoping she doesn't because I am still working full time and am tired.

Almost 36 Weeks!!

Well, here I am with about a month to go until my due date.  How did that happen?  Nick and I have been talking about how everyone says that these 9 months are going to go by soooooooo fast.  They have not.  I feel like I have been pregnant forever, and now it has come down to the home stretch.


We still have some things that we need to do.  Her room is not quite done, although I do plan on spending some time in there today before I head out to a friend's baby shower.  Our room needs to be rearranged a little bit in order to fit the pack and play that we got for her to sleep in when she's littlest.  There is still laundry to do, we don't have a glider yet, we have to get rid of one of our couches to make room for a glider and/or swing, and we haven't packed a hospital bag yet.  Luckily, I work best under pressure and feel good that we will take care of all of this soon!  I am still working full time, although I have looked at the PTO that I have left to use and it's likely that after the 9th, I will be working shortened hours for the last 2 weeks.  One way or another, by the time she gets here, we will be ready for her!


For now, until I have some more fun things to share (like a post about my wonderful baby shoer), here are some stats!

At my baby shower, somewhere around 34-35 weeks!

How far along?: 36 weeks

Baby is the size of a:  butternut squash

Total weight gain/loss:  +20-25

The Bump: I still do not have an outie belly button, but it is so close to popping out depending on the time of day, and if she is hanging out right behind it like she tends to!  This week, I have been so itchy that I have been scratching myself raw in my sleep.  I think this means that I am just getting much bigger in the bump area these days and have been doing double applications of organic Palmer's cocoa butter lotion!

Symptoms:  Pelvic pain.  Makes it incredibly painful to roll over in bed or put on pants.  Also, insane amount of BH contractions this week.  Also, crazy dreams.  In one, I actually saw the face of the baby, although time will tell if that's really what she will look like!

Food Cravings:  I really wanted fish and chips this week, but did not go for it.  Also, cannot wait until I can have a giant Italian sub filled with super salty and potentially listeria carrying lunch meat!

Anything Making Me Queasy or Sick: No

Sleep: Has actually gotten better than in the last few weeks. I am no longer waking up randomly at 3:30 a.m., although the pelvic pain does wake me up when I roll over.

What I miss:  Italian subs.  Shopping for regular clothes.

Weddings Rings On or Off: Off.  I was told to take them off at about 28 or so weeks in case I swell.  With the random 75 degree days that we had this week, I am glad that I wasn't wearing them and didn't get them stuck!

Any Names Picked Out Yet:  She is named.

Movement: starting to hurt!  She rolls around like crazy, and her kicks are getting stronger and painful!

Maternity Clothes: Everything is maternity.  And my jeans that I bought early on are getting quite tight as my hips start to spread out some.

Labor Signs: BH contractions.   Nothing more.

Best Moment of the Week: Leaving work early to rest off some BH contractions.  No one wants me to go into labor at work. It was a beautiful day, so I went home, opened the windows and proceeded to lay on the couch and catch up on Hulu.

What I’m excited about/looking forward to: At my appointment with the midwife this Tuesday, we are making our birth plan.  Then I move to once a week appointments.  It's getting closer and more real, so at this point, I just can't wait to meet her!!

Writing to my Unborn Child

As soon as I found out that we were expecting, I went out and bought a simple journal.  I knew that I would want to write to her before she was born to tell her how excited we are for her arrival and talk about what we had been doing to get ready.  My Mom has a journal that she wrote in when she was pregnant with me and when I was little.  It's something that I love to read.

I found that I am having a hard time writing to her regularly (much like writing in my blog regularly!).  I am still working full time, and other than that, there hasn't been much going on that seems exciting.  We don't have her room ready yet, I haven't had a baby shower, we only have a couple of friends and Nick's parents nearby so there isn't tooooo much doting on her yet.  I think that it will be easier for me to write to her once she is actually here, even though I never thought that would be the case.  I guess I just don't  have many feelings or events that I really want to share with her.


I can't wait for her to get here and for us to be able to hold her.  I am not nervous about how things will change or if I will be able to handle having a little life to take care of.  I know that there are things that I will need to learn, but I feel like I am a natural, and I am just so excited to begin this part of our lives.  These next 10 weeks can fly by and I will be fine with that!



Did anyone else write to their baby before he/she was born?  What did you write to them about?

28 Weeks!!

Hi Everyone!  I have some posts planned, but I just never seem to sit down to write them!  Here is a little update on me and the baby! :)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Up about 13lbs from weight pre-preg, but lost about 15lbs in the first trimester.

Maternity Clothes: All of my pants and undershirts are maternity at this point.  Still wearing some non-maternity sweaters and cardigans.  I love maternity pants with the full panel; I think I want to wear them for the rest of my life!

Stretch Marks: None yet.  Here's hoping.  Just went out and bought some organic palmer's lotion just in case.

Sleep: I haven't been sleeping great.  I've been having really, really, really vivid dreams that keep me awake a lot.  Also, my knees which were bad to begin with seem to be getting much more sore at night.  I just bought the Boppy cuddle pillow and used it for the first time last night; it seems to help!

Movement: Lots and lots of movement.  The moving isn't as weird as the pressure coming from inside.  I love it, but it's a little strange.

Food Cravings/Aversions: I had a pretty good craving for a grilled cheese this week, and talked Nick into taking me over to Friendly's to get the perfect one!  Chicken is still something that is not my favorite at this point.  Nick made pulled chicken in the crock pot and the smell just grossed me out!

Gender: Sweet Baby Girl!  

Belly Button - In, but getting shallow.  I have a feeling it will be an outie sooner or later.

What I miss: Wine, margaritas, cap't and coke.  Basically, booze.

What I am looking forward to: Right now, Super Bowl Sunday!  We're having a few friends over and I'm making a bunch of delish football food.  Beyond that, I can't wait for my shower to see what else we need to get for her nursery.  Nick said that I can also start buying clothes after we see what people might gift for us.  There are SO many cute things that I want to get for her, especially from Carter's!




I don't have a picture from this week, but here is one from 27 weeks!  I need to take some better ones soon :)

98 Days Until my Due Date!

Nick and I were talking the other night, and although we are getting ready to welcome our beautiful baby girl into the world in about 4 months, we don't feel like this time has flown by like many said that it would.  It feels like so much has happened since we found out that we were going to be first time parents.  And now, things are starting to get really exciting!

There is so much for us to do before the baby comes, but I feel like I have a pretty good handle on things.  We just got our new mattress, which has been amazing for the last 2 nights.  So, in anticipation of that, and still now, I have been working on re-arranging and organizing our bedroom.  We won't need to put too many baby things in the bedroom, so it's really just working on getting a bunch of my old crap out!

We also need to get our living room ready for a baby.  Right now, we have our TV on a fancy glass HDTV stand.  It takes up a LOT of space, and we may need to look for something that will leave a smaller footprint.  We'll also be getting rid of our love seat so that we can fit her swing into the living room.  Ideally, I would like to find a used sleeper sofa to replace the sofa that we have now.  Since our guest bedroom will be converted into a nursery, we will need at least one place where guests can stay if need be!  But, I guess the first thing that I should do is take down our Christmas tree! Don't worry, it's fake!

Then there is the nursery.  This is the room with the most to do, but since we don't really have any furniture yet, there is not much that we can do to prepare.  I have moved everything that I had in my dresser (which belonged to my paternal grandparents) into a hanging organizer in my closet.  This dresser will become her changing table and dresser when the time comes.  Besides the dresser, we don't have anything more for her nursery yet!  We won't be painting since we live in an apartment that we don't plan on staying in for more than another year.  Once I have the furniture, everything will come together pretty quickly since I already have in mind where everything will go!


I do have lots of fun blog posts coming up about our registry, her name, and how I am feeling...so keep your eyes peeled!  For now, I will leave you with a picture from last week when I was 25 weeks pregnant.  Still, only 9lbs more than pre-pregnancy weight and feeling VERY good about myself!

With 2012 Fast Approaching...

...I find myself in the same place that I am everyday December 31st.  Thinking over my last year, and the goals and resolutions that I set and wondering if I did everything that I wanted to this year.

2011 has had some definite highs, and some pretty serious lows, too.  We didn't do much to welcome 2011, as according to my facebook timeline, we were asleep by 10:30 last year.  I guess we didn't know what a big year it would be!

There were really three major life events that happened to me this year.  I graduated from college in May.  We found out I was pregnant in August.  We got married in November. These are the big ones.  These are the things that I will say when people ask me if I remember what happened in 2011.

Of course, there were many other things that were important that happened this year.  Our first nephew was born on New Years Day 2011.  We had friends and families get married.  Many of our friends had babies this year, and even more became pregnant!  It was the first year that I have been far away from my family, and the first year that I did not see my family on Christmas.  It was the first year that my family had to travel from all over the country to be together on Thanksgiving (and our wedding weekend).  I started my new job in 2011, and have learned about a different side of education in the process.  Nick and I made our first big purchase, since we tend to not be spendy, and bought an HDTV.

Of course, there were things that didn't go as planned in 2011.  I am still struggling with keeping a clean house (but hoping that this nesting thing will kick in soon and I will go on a crazy cleaning rampage!).  I started the year eating well, and going to the gym often but as soon as I started to see results I slowed down until I was at my heaviest when I got pregnant.  So far, being pregnant has been the best weight loss solution ever though, as I am still only about 4lbs more than my weight the day I found out!  We had some things come up that have been difficult on our relationship, but all in all we made it through.

I will look back on 2011 with fondness.  I know that the birth of our baby girl is likely to be the biggest thing to happen to us in 2012, but I can't wait to see what else might be in store!