Friday, January 30, 2009

Sleep?? What is sleep again?

So today Dominick is one week old! Yay!

We had our first appointment with the pediatrician. It went really well. Dominick was 8 lbs. 1 oz. when we left the hospital on Tuesday and was up to 8 lbs. 5 ozs. today. So that is great. The doctor said since he's gaining weight so well, we don't need to wake him at night to eat. So we are trying something new tonight. We are going to try to feed him as much as he can eat at midnight and see how much sleep we can get.

He didn't do so well at night the previous few nights. Tuesday and Wednesday night specifically. Wednesday night I fed him at 8. Fed him again at 10. Fed him again at 12. Then he cried and Nick had to hold him from 12:30 to 2:30. Then he gave him back to me and I fed him at 2:30 and I had to hold him from 3:15 until about 5. Then I fed him again at 5. (Mind you he hasn't slept since like 10 something.) I finally got him to sleep around 5:45...he was up again by 6:45 screaming...Finally he laid down for at least two hours after that and I got a little sleep.

This has been an interesting few days at home. It's so strange being a "mom". It still doesn't feel real. I feel like Nick and I are babysitting or something...Well I feel that way until I'm breastfeeding. I obviously have never done that while babysitting!! :-) But it's so strange. Nick and I have wanted to be parents for so long that now that it's finally here, it doesn't seem real. Dominick is so beautiful and so perfect that I can't believe he's ours.

Again I want to emphasize how great Nick has been and is. If there is ever a stinky diaper, he's up to the task. He never asks me to do it. I have done my fair share too, but he does whatever it takes. He holds him and burps him for me after I feed him. He helps me rock him to sleep. He helps change his clothes and get him ready for bed. He's been great. Absolutely amazing.

Happy one week birthday, Dom!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

♥ Dominick's Birth Story ♥


Since I'm starting to feel better and I have a few minutes, I thought I'd write about our birth story. It's a long and slightly scary one but with a beautiful outcome.


It started off as I went to the doctor on Thursday. It was just a regular OB visit. My last one since I was due to be induced the following Thursday. I got up a little late that morning so I had breakfast around 9:30 a.m. and then I got to nesting. I had Dominick's room almost complete. I only had a few things left to do. I also put a load of laundry in the wash and got our room picked up. I ate a snack around 11:15 or so. I left for the doctor at 12:30 and decided I shouldn't eat before my doc appointment. I was going to stop and get lunch on the way home. That was a silly decision.


When I got to the doctor I got in right away. My doctor was gone on a c-section but they got me in and checked my vitals quickly. They took his heart rate and noted it was a little low, but not bad. Then the nurse protictioner (that has to be spelled wrong and I'm so sorry!) came in to see me. She told me that Dr. Webb was busy and she would check my cervix. After she checked me she said I still wasn't dilated and asked me about movement. I told her that he wasn't moving as much and that concerned me. She told me to go home and do my fetal kick counts and if he still wasn't moving a lot then to come in or call in that night. I said ok but that I still wanted to see Dr. Webb. When he came in we talked a lot. I told him about the NST and BPP that happened at the last appointment. He hadn't even been told about that and he was upset about that.


Then he told me the most shocking thing of all. He said, I think we should admit you and induce you today. I thought he was kidding! After I asked a few times if he was serious and he assured me he was, we got talking serious. He told me that with the diabetes and the lack of fetal movement he thought it would be safer for Dominick to come out rather than be in. I said ok, and they wheeled me to Labor and Delivery and hooked me up to the monitors. This was around 2:45. I called Nick and told him to go home and take a shower and get ready for a long long night. My mom also came up to keep me company until Nick could come up.


They inserted a pill in my cervix to make me start contracting and hopefully start dilating around 4:20. I don't remember when I started contracting but it didn't take long. Momma left around 6, with us assuring her that we'd call as soon as something happened. I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes for awhile but they weren't too painful. Mike, our good friend, brought Nick dinner around 8:00 and shortly after that the contractions got bad. I made Mike go home because I didn't want other people to see me like that. The contractions were horrible! Dominick didn't like them so well either. His heart rate was dropping with each contraction so they put the internal monitor on Dominick and put me on a catheter.


I had contractions every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes for the next hour and a half or so. I was crying to Nick for pain medicine. The contractions are measured on a scale of 0-100+. They consider a productive contraction to be over 60. My contractions were all in the 80's or 90's and I was in pain. At 10:30 p.m. (after being in labor for 6 hours) Dr. Webb came in and saw how much pain I was in. He broke my water then and ordered an epidural. After 6 hours I was still only 2 cm dilated...after all those contractions. I was devastated.


The contractions were just getting worse and I still wasn't dilating so they gave me a shot to slow the contractions down. Hopefully just enough to give me pitocin to get them started again and hopefully more productive. I got the epidural around 11:15-11:30. I'm not going to lie...It hurt. It was painful to get the numbing medicine put in my back before they could even do the epidural. Plus I had to sit up and I was getting contractions every minute or so. I was in tears. Nick was such a great "support person". He kept telling me how great I was doing and that it would all be worth it. I just held on to him until they were done.


And oh, what a difference! I am all about the epidural now. It was pure heaven to me. I couldn't feel my legs too well and it was great. I couldn't tell when I was having contractions anymore and I could finally get some rest. Unfortunately, it made me feel better but didn't help Dominick. His heart rate kept dropping (it's supposed to be between 120-160 or something like that and his heart rate was in the 80's almost every contraction). They made me stay on my side and keep an oxygen mask on.


At 9:30 a.m. on Friday, I was up to 9 cm. Thank goodness! I had been in labor for awhile at that point and I was just ready to get somewhere. They told me they'd check again in an hour and we'd see about pushing. By 10:30 I was getting very strong urges to push. Everything in my body was telling me I had to push so we called the nurse and they came in and checked me and I was right. I was dilated to 10 cm and fully effaced and I was ready to meet my baby boy.


They had two "students" in the room with me, Nick and the nurse. They were calling the on-call doc since my doctor, Dr. Webb, was off call at 7 a.m. The on call doc was Dr. Moore and she was great. I was so self conscious pushing with all the people in the room but Nick basically told me to get over that and push our baby out. He was right. I didn't need to worry about anyone else, I just needed to get our baby out.


I started pushing at 10:30 and it was rough. It was hard for me and hard on Dominick as well. His heart rate was dropping dangerously every time I pushed. They put me on my side and loaded me with oxygen again. I had to push while on my left side, which is really hard! They continued to motivate me to push and support me but he just wasn't making any progress.


Finally at 12:00, Dr. Moore told me that she didn't like what Dominick's heart rate was doing and she wanted to do a c-section. After being in labor for 19 1/2 hours, that sounded good to me. They brought me down to the OR and got me ready. They increased my epidural meds and they didn't do well with my body! I had the shakes soo bad with the meds. I couldn't keep my hands straight. They were shaking so horribly. They put the curtain up and Nick assumed his position next to me (he didn't want to see any of the surgery) and they got started.


At first it was just strange. I could feel them doing things, like pressure, but it didn't hurt. It was strange. We asked how long the surgery would take and they said 5-8 minutes to get the baby out and another 20-30 to clean me up. Well that didn't sound too bad to me. But that wasn't going to work for us. Of course not! ;-) We weren't so lucky yet.


It took them close to 20 minutes to get Dom out. He was completely stuck in the birth canal and they actually had to call in help to get him out. Nick was really freaked out because he could see that the doctors were basically kneeling on my chest trying to pull him out and he wouldn't come. That's when the "pressure" and pulling started to hurt. I was crying because they were pulling so hard and he wasn't out yet. It took three people to get him out.


Finally, at 12:36 p.m. Dominick finally got out. I kept hearing the doctors say how big he was. I was kind of nervous. I was thinking (in my heavily drugged up state) of a toddler sized child! Then they weighed him. He is big, but not as big as I was picturing! He was 8 lbs. and 9 ounces and 21.25" long.


The worst part of the surgery is that I was so drugged up and feeling so shaky and sick and just plain awful that I didn't even want to see Dominick. I was so scared that I was getting post partum depression because I didn't care. Nick went to be with him while they cleaned me up and Nick cut the cord. I just wanted to get to recovery and try to sleep or something. 45 minutes after getting Dominick out they wheeled me to recovery.


Nick went upstairs to the nursery along with my mom and dad and his mom and I stayed in recovery for about 2 hours. When they finally wheeled me up to a room, I finally felt better. They brought me past the nursery and I saw my baby boy. He was (and of course still is) so beautiful. They got me situated in my room and brought him in for me to try and feed.


That's where I'll leave this story off. I know it's already too long, but I wanted to share what I went through before I forgot.


Dominick is perfect. He's beautiful and I can't even believe how much I love him already. Nick has always said, "I'm not going to be like that with my kids" or "my kids won't be that spoiled" or whatever about whatever situation it is. Nick's sister, Kate, always told him, "wait until it's your own". She's right. Nick is already spoiling that little boy so much and he admits it. He can't believe how much he loves him either. It's so amazing.


Nick's been absolutely amazing. I just want to say that before I log off tonight. He's been changing all the diapers since my recovery has been somewhat slow, and he brings me whatever I need. He keeps telling me how much he loves me and how great I'm doing. He told me how happy he is and he can't imagine being any happier than he is with me and Dominick. He's been great and I know he's going to be (and already is) an amazing dad.


Thanks for all the well wishes and visitors we've had. It makes the day go by quicker! We love you all!!

Dominick Robert
January 23, 2009 at 12:36 pm
8 lb. 9 oz.
21 1/4" long



Friday, January 23, 2009

update

HI,

Meghan labored during the morning until the doctor decided Dominick wasn't coming out. So at 12:36 they performed a c-section, and we now have a beautiful baby boy 8lbs 90z, 21.25 in long, and strawberry blond hair. Everybody is doing great and can't wait to start posting pictures.

Nick

Update

HI,

Just wanted to let everybody know meghan is approaching 10 cm and is ready to have her baby boy.

Nick

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Update

Hey everybody,

I wanted to let everybody know that meghan's water was broke tonite and she has a epideral, which is making her feel ten times better. She just told me "amen to epidurals." So we are going to get some sleep and with some luck have son in the morning. Lastly, I wanted to tell everybody that we appreciate all of the love and support that everyone has shown us. I will keep you guys updated.

Thanks again
Nick

Update From Nick

Hey guys,

After going to the doctor today, he decided it would be safer for the baby to be out than in. So she is being induced as we speak and playing the waiting game, and I will keep updating as we go.

Nick

Day #24

I go to the doctor today. I'm kind of nervous/excited but I'm going to talk to him a lot today.

I want to tell him exactly how I feel about how things were handled on Tuesday. I was worried the whole time since Dominick failed the NST and the Biophysical Profile. Then they admit me to the hospital and don't hardly check on me. Also, I haven't been feeling him move as much and I've been telling them about that for the past week but they don't give me any information...other than saying, "If you don't feel him move as much you need to tell the doctor or come in". Well when I tell the people on staff, no one seems to care. Also, I'm not going to go in if they are going to admit me, monitor me, and not tell me what's going on and just send me home!

Sorry for that vent, but I'd rather hear from my doctor what I should do and I'd like him to tell me how everything is going. I don't like being kept in the dark about my son!

So hopefully I can get some good answers today.

Even after eating really really sugary stuff, Dominick isn't moving as much. I know they start to slow down their movements towards the end but it has me nervous. If my doc says it's ok, then I'll believe him, but I'd rather hear it from him than some tech who only talks to me for a few mintues before ushering me out the door.

I'll let you know how everything goes. Wish us luck.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Day #23

Nothing new today.

Today was kind of a nesting day. I started off the day with straightening the house. Got our bed made and clothes put away. Did the dishes in the sink and straightened the living room. Then I came downstairs and did some laundry and cleaned up the basement. I'm working on getting all the baby clothes washed and put away. Tonight I want to get some more baby stuff put in the nursery and get the diaper bag put together. I know I've been saying that for weeks, but I really do want to get that done today. Hopefully I really will get in done tonight!

Also, I had a surprise guest today! My Daddy was in the neighborhood for a work meeting and called to see if he could stop by! It was a great surprise. He didn't get to stay long, because he had to get back to work but it was nice to see him. We talked for awhile and then he had to go.

For the rest of the day I've been in the basement watching tv and continuing to do laundry.

I've totally come to terms with the fact that I'm not going into labor on my own. I'll have to be induced. And that's ok. At least then I'll know for sure when to go in and what to expect. 8 more days!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Day #22: A long, long day

Today was a long day and kind of scary as well. The whole day is focused around my NST this morning. My appointment was for 9 a.m. I went in and they started with a fluid check. This went great. His fluid was 13 and that is perfect. Then they started the NST. This wasn't as good. Dominick wasn't waking up for us this morning. They had me on the monitor for awhile and his heart rate was in the 140s but not accelerating at all. So they buzzed him...nothing. Then they had me lay on my side to try and get him to move...nothing. Then they buzzed him again...nothing. Next they gave me some graham crackers and some milk...nothing. They buzzed him a third time...nothing. So they quit the NST and put me back in the ultrasound room to do a biophysical profile. We started the ultrasound and immediately he was breathing. It was very cool to watch. That gave him 2 points. He also had two points for good fluid so he had 4 points total. The score is out of 10. We knew he already lost 2 because he failed the NST. So we were checking movement and muscle tone. We watched for the full thirty minutes and got...nothing. He failed the biophysical profile. So at this point, I'm kind of freaking out. Not a lot and not obviously...just on the inside. So they went to talk to the on call doctor. They decided that I had to be admitted to the hospital and hooked up to the external monitors for 2-3 hours. So they wheeled me up to the Women's Evaluation Unit and hooked me up. Of course his heart rate started moving then. I was hooked up for almost 3 hours and only once did anyone even come in to look at me. The midwife came in and said he looked good and she was going to call the on-call doc. Then an hour and a half later a nurse came in and discharged me...at 2:45 p.m.

That was my day. It started off fine. Then got scary because I was so worried about Dominick. Then got annoying because I was hooked up to monitors for 3 hours with no one checking on me or telling me what was going on. And ended with me getting to go home.

I see the doc on Thursday and have another NST on Friday. This time I'm going to bring some donuts in my purse and if he's not moving too much, I'm going to eat a donut and get him moving on my own! No more of this biophysical or admitting me to the hospital nonsense. I know he'll move if I just give him a little sugar!

Ahhhh. Only 9 more days...

Monday, January 19, 2009

Day #21

I actually have a lot to do today, so I don't want Dominick to come today...or at least I don't want him to come for awhile today.

I have to call the windshield repair people and have them redo my windshield. I guess with the cold weather, it didn't seal properly because when I drive it sounds like I have the windows down there is so much air coming in the windshield. Then the fridge repair man is coming this afternoon too. Mike is coming down so we can get some work stuff done this afternoon also...So I have a lot to do this afternoon. Maybe Dom can come tonight? Nah, he might as well wait for tomorrow.

The rest of yesterday was great. We went to my mom and dad's for my birthday dinner and we had a good time. It started off great because the Arizona Cardinals won!! I'm glad. I was really rooting for Kurt Warner. So that's exciting! Then dinner was amazing. We had baked potato soup, grilled asparagus, rice, and steak. All delicious. For dessert we had my favorite cake. White cake with white icing...I'm so boring but I love it! We stayed there for a bit and then came home around 8:30 or so. It was a good afternoon. When we got home we had a present on our front steps. Our friends Tim and Erin had dropped off a few presents for Dominick! They gave us 5 onesies which are all so adorable. Some teething rings and a "sleep sack". It was so sweet and so unexpected! Great end to a great day.

Nothing exciting has happened so far today. I'm still feeling really crampy and still having some contractions but nothing new. My sister-in-law, Lisa, told me on Saturday that she thinks that I'm definitely going full term...I'm afraid that I think she's right! Oh well...if I do go until my induction, it's only 10 more days. I can handle 10 more days.

Oh and we finally installed the car seat on Saturday! I meant to post about that earlier and completely forgot. So that's exciting too!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Day #20

I feel great again today. Yesterday was a day of high's and low's. I'd feel great, and then I'd have pains and contractions. Just like Friday. I guess I'm just going to have a few weeks of this. Or 11 more days anyway.

Today was much of the same. We started off the day by going to church. It's been a long time since I've been to church and even longer since Nick and I have gone together. But I do want to have Dominick baptized and I'd like to go to church so we might as well go now. Plus I registered us to belong to the parish about 5 months ago and we haven't gone since! So today was a good day to start.

After mass we came home and did the dishes and cleaned up the yard. Then we laid down. This has been the story of my life lately. Do a little work and then take a nap. It's been great.

We are getting ready to head to my mom and dad's house. It's my family birthday dinner tonight. I'm excited. I have no idea what we are having but my mom's a good cook so I'm sure it will be delicious.

That's it for now. I made sure to say extra prayers today at church for Dom to come when he's ready and for him to be a healthy baby boy. I also told God that he didn't need to come today or tomorrow. He could wait until he was ready, but I asked God to give me a CLEAR sign when I'm in labor for my sanity. Make the contractions really hurt or have my water break in a public place. That's fine. I'll deal with those things. I'd rather have the peace of mind knowing that this was really labor than second guessing myself all the time. So hopefully God heard that prayer and I have a clear cut sign....and I do kind of hope it's within the next week!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Nick's work

I forgot to mention this earlier.

Nick is working with the best group of people ever! Every day people are asking about me and how I am doing, which is so sweet. He thinks they are as excited about the baby coming as we are!

Friday at the end of the day, Nick's boss handed him a card and said that they were going to Hot Shots and did he want to come. He told them no, that he was coming home to see me since I wasn't doing so hot but thanks for the card. When he got to the car he opened it and was astonished. There were 33 signatures on the card. From everyone on the job. Not just electricians but carpenters and pipe fitters and the people who actually work at the building that he is doing work on. Everyone! It was so sweet. Then he noticed there was a gift card in the envelope too. They gave us $170.00 to Babies R Us!! We were floored. So nice of them all. So Nick definitely had to go to Hot Shots then and thank everyone. (And have a few beers too, of course). ;-)

I can't wait to go to Babies R Us and get something great for Dominick. Something that is probably not necessary but something fun that he'd like and we wouldn't normally be able to justify buying. We already have the essentials, now we need something really fun to spoil him!

Day #19: Nothing...

Saturday morning and nada...

Last night when Nick got home (he'd had a few beers) he made a wish. He said that he wished that I would have no pains or contractions for the rest of the night and that my water would break in the morning around 11 a.m. Well he got the first part of his wish. Last night after we got up to bed, I had nothing. Nothing. No more pains. No more contractions. Nothing.

So far this morning, just more cramps. I'm not having the intense pains anymore. I'm not having as many contractions. Just when I thought things were getting going...Nick stops it! ;-)

Maybe his second part will come true and my water will break today...One can only hope!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Quick Update

It's 8:30 p.m. and I'm still here. Still having pains and now I'm having more contractions. Nothing really intense yet and nothing near regular or often enough to even think about going in, but it gives me more hope that something is happening. I'm hoping for something big to happen in the morning and head to the hospital tomorrow mid morning...that's my hope!

Nick went to dinner and the union meeting with his brother John, so I've been hanging out alone tonight. I ate some spicy food for dinner (which did actually make me have more contractions!) and watched the Italian Job. I'm going to throw another movie in and keep moving. Walking and doing my squats/kegels. I'm really hoping to move things along now!

Wish me luck and say some prayers that this really is it. I'd hate to keep having these pains for another two weeks!

Day #18

Today I had an NST at 9:30. Starting last night I got some contractions with some sharp pains, really low and centered. I wasn't sure if this was anything to do with labor or what. I had the pains all through the night and didn't sleep well at all. This morning I called my Momma to see if she would go with me to the hospital for the NST, just because I was afraid of driving myself with the pains. She said yes, thank goodness and came to my house about 8:30. We left shortly after that and when we got to the hospital we went right in to do the NST. Dominick was awake this morning. No buzzing him today. He passed the test within the first 5 minutes but they made me stay on there for the full 20 minutes or so anyway. I told the nurse about the contractions and the pains and she decided to monitor my contractions. I had some during the NST, honestly I have no idea how many but some. Then she measured my fluid. It was around 12 (supposed to be between 8-24) so that was good. She also checked to see where the baby was and he is LOW! Usually when they do the fluid ultrasound you can see the top of Dom's head, but not anymore. He is so low she could only see shoulders and his neck. Then she called the on call doc about my pains. Since I've had a few surgeries on my cervix she wanted to get the green light to send me home before letting me go. The on call doc called back and told her that I could go, but to tell me that this was probably labor getting started. Since he is so low and I'm contracting with pains, the on call doc is hoping I'll be back in tonight or tomorrow in full labor...I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it's hard. I really hope they are right and this is it!

I'll let you know!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Day #17

Today is a MUCH better day! And yesterday ended up being a lot better too.

I'll start with the ending of yesterday. Nick got home around 3:15 and he came in with flowers (so beautiful!) and a gift bag. I was still pretty down at that point so it was a nice gesture for sure. I opened the gift bag and there were two cards in there. I was kind of confused by that and then looked at the names on the cards and one said, "to my baby" and the other one said, "Mommy". I almost started crying right there! Already things were looking up for me!

I won't tell you what the cards said, but I'll tell you what Nick wrote in them each. It made my day so so much better. The one from him to me he wrote, "Happy Birthday, baby. I love you so much and I can't wait to have our baby boy and start our family. Love, Nick". That was such a great card. I loved it. Then I opened the other card that said to Mommy. He wrote in this one, "I love you Mommy and I can't wait to see you and give you lots of hugs and kisses. Love, Dominick".

Those made my day. After the cards I looked in the bag and Nick gave me some candy bars. My favorite kinds! I know I have to eat them only a little at a time because of the diabetes but still, it made me happy! After that my dad called and asked what we were doing for dinner. Nick had told me we'd go anywhere I wanted for dinner but I hadn't thought of anything good yet. My dad said he and Mom were going to Cugino's for dinner and did Nick and I want to tag along. It sounded good because I couldn't think of anything else I wanted so we headed out there for dinner. It was a nice and easy dinner and we really enjoyed ourselves. When we got home we went to bed...at 9:00! That was actually nice too though. I still have a cold.

Today has been good too. The windshield repair people came around 11:00 to get the car and they had it back with a new windshield by 12:15! So that is done. I'm going to get the car seat installed this afternoon so that will be done too. Everything will get done...just a day later than I planned. No big deal.

Tonight Angela, Andrew, Cecilia, me and maybe Nick are going to an IWA basketball game. I'm pretty excited about that too. I miss coaching there and I miss all the girls I had last year. It will be good to see them and watch the game.

Today has been so good that I'm just going to pretend today is my birthday instead of yesterday!!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Day #16: My birthday

Worst birthday ever right now...

Ok, maybe not the worst ever, but it's not looking so great and it's only noon!

First off, I have a cold, which is no fun. I took some medicine last night to help me fall asleep and that kind of worked. I slept on and off but kept waking up to go to the bathroom and then it took forever to fall back asleep once I was up each time. Now that I'm up, my nose is running and I have a sore throat with a cough. I want to shake this cold really fast because I'd hate to have my baby and then not really be able to hold him/kiss him too much for fear of getting him sick right away!

Second, our ice maker quit working. Well that quit working like a few weeks ago but today is when the repair man was coming. I was hoping it would be a really easy fix and I'd have ice by this time tomorrow...no such luck. The water valve is bad so he had to order the part. It cost $50 for him to tell me that and then it will be another $50 plus parts and labor when the part comes in. I don't even really care about the money. I'm just annoyed that I still don't have ice.

Finally, as I was waiting for the repair man to come I heard my car alarm going off in the front of my house. Which was weird because it never goes off...well it goes off if it hears a loud noise but that's it. So I ran downstairs, or went as quickly as I could without tripping since I can't see my feet, and looked out the window. There was a huge branch (the length of my car) on the sidewalk and pieces of branch everywhere. The wind broke the tree branch. It didn't look like it did too much damage so I was going to take a few pictures and then go to Florissant to have lunch with my Momma and Daddy. Well, I was wrong. The branch hit my windshield and shattered it. It went through the windshield on the driver's side and there is glass all over the inside of my car especially right in the driver's seat so I can't drive anywhere. Plus there is a hole on the driver's side and I wouldn't want to drive like that anyway.

I haven't called the insurance company yet. I'm going to do that as soon as I'm done posting this. I just needed a minute to get my bearings straight. I didn't realize how emotional I was. As soon as I saw the hole and all the glass I just started crying and I couldn't stop. I called my mom and cried to her. Then my dad got on the phone and I cried to him. Then I paged Nick with "911" so he'd call me back quickly and he probably thought I was in labor! Luckily he's being great. He told me he'll take care of everything if I don't want to do it. He even told me he'd call his mom and see if I could borrow her car to see my folks. But I said no. I'll be alright. I'm just being a big baby.

I just really didn't want to deal with anything today. I kept saying that all I wanted to do for my birthday was be lazy and do nothing. Now I'm having to deal with all the extra stuff that I don't want to. Oh well. C'est la vie...

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day #15

More doctor appointments.

I had an NST this morning at 9 a.m. Everything looked good there. Dominick wasn't awake when I got there and his heart rate wasn't going up like they need to see it do, so they had to "buzz" him this morning. That woke him up and he's been up ever since I think! They checked my fluid and it's down but not scary down. It's at 9.70 which the tech said is ok this late in the game. They used to say "normal range" was 10-20 but now it's aparently 8-24 so I'm doing ok there still.

My OB appointment was at 10:30 but I know better than to think I would really get in there that early. I got to a room around 12 p.m. and they checked Dom's heart rate which was in the 140's. Still healthy! And then the diabetic nurse came in to check my blood sugars. They are still high in the morning. Which has nothing to do with what I'm eating. So she's upping my medicine at night for the next two weeks. Which is fine. The dr. came in around 12:45 p.m. We chatted and he felt my belly. He said that my uterus is soft and moving...I don't have a clue as to what that means but he didn't say it in a bad way so I guess that's a good thing! He was getting ready to leave and asked if I had any questions. I asked if he wanted to do the membrane stripping today like he had mentioned last time and he thought that we did that last week. So we did that today...

It wasn't the worst experience ever but it was definitely not the most comfortable experience I've ever had either! First he checked to see if I was dilated...I'm still only dilated a "fingertip" so around 1 cm. Then he gave me a warning. He told me that some women find "membrane stripping" so unbearably painful and others find it merely uncomfortable. He told me to tell him if I was hurting him because that was not his goal at all. But the longer he could do it, the better my chances or going into labor on my own are. So when he started, I tried to remember my breathing exercises from class. It wasn't unbearably painful but it was way more than just uncomfortable, I thought! I was able to make it through as long as he needed to do it though. He told me that I was doing a great job and that labor would be nothing since I did the breathing exercises so well...Yea right! I know he says that to everyone but even I'm not naive enough to think that an internal exam is just as painful as labor...Hopefully it's close though! :-)

He told me that with how big the baby is and where he is situated (he is right on my cervix; he could feel his head) he's hoping that I'll go into labor on my own within the next week. Either way though, induction is two weeks from Thursday...we're getting there!!

After he was done I was in a lot of pain. Lots of cramping, which he said is normal. Hopefully it will turn into something more. I've been cramping ever since and it's 3:00. I guess I should rephrase that...hopefully it will turn into something productive OR hopefully it will just stop and wait for the real deal!

Tonight I'm going to my friend Ashley's for dinner. I'm really hoping that the cramps will be done by then and I can just enjoy a night out with some friends.

Luckily I have NOTHING to do tomorrow. Today felt very rushed. I'll be glad to sleep in and get to be lazy. Nick will have to let me too because it's my birthday!! No chores for me tomorrow!!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Day #14

Today was a long day. I don't know if I'm "nesting" per se, or what, but I've been getting some stuff done today! After I woke up and called in my blood sugars, I went downstairs and made myself breakfast. Then I cleaned up the basement and started some laundry. Next I made a grocery list and went to the grocery store. I brought the groceries home and put everything away and did the dishes that were in the sink. I cleaned the first floor (well straightened) and put all the clutter away. I went back downstairs and changed the laundry and folded the clean clothes. I went back upstairs and labeled all the clothes my sister lent me for Dominick so I could put those away. I went up to our room and made our bed and brought down all the dirty laundry from our room. I called the fridge repair guy since our ice maker isn't working and scheduled an appointment for them to come and look at it. After all this, Mike came over with some work he needed help (Mike took over my job until I come back after maternity leave). I did the bank rec and we started talking about other stuff we need to do. He went home to let his dogs out and I started dinner. I made dinner for me, Nick and Mike. We ate dinner and afterwards I did all the dishes (and there were a lot)...I know that was a boring paragraph but I'm very proud of myself! I got a lot done today.

I have two appointments tomorrow. An NST at 9 a.m. and a doc appt at 10:30. I'm going to see if I can have our car seat installed after that. They only do it from 11-1 or something like that.

Whew...I better sleep good tonight!

Day #13: Sunday

Sunday was a great day too. Nick and I got up and read more of Breaking Dawn together. I have Nick hooked to the Twilight books like I am, but since he hates to read and he's more of an audio person, he has me suckered into reading them out loud when I read them, so we're both reading. It's actually kind of fun because I like that he's interested in something I'm interested in. Then we both talk about the book after I'm done reading. It reminds me of when we both read DaVinci code together. Nick's not a reader so when we find something he likes, I get really excited!

Then around 1:00 my friend, Ashley, came over and we headed to Bar Louie in the Central West End for lunch. Michelle called while we were on our way and she met us there. It was a great lunch. Delicious food but sooo much food. I feel like I wasted half my lunch but I couldn't eat another bite. After lunch, Ash and Michelle came back to my house to help me put some baby stuff away. We got some stuff organized and then took a break and just talked for a bit. Around 5:30 they left and Nick and I headed to our neighbors house, Steve and Laurie's. They invited us over for dinner, Chicken Parm. It was delicious! And they had leftover chocolate cake from the night before so we got some great dessert too! After dinner we just talked for awhile and headed home around 9:15. We went to bed almost immediately since Nick had to work today. Poor guy. ;-)

Nick is finally off of 5 ten hour days. He'll get to come home at 2:30 today. I'm pretty excited since I get kind of lonely here all day by myself. Well I better head off to the grocery store if I'm going to go before he gets home. More later!

Day #12: Saturday

Saturday was a LAZY day and it was great. Nick and I laid on the couches all morning and early afternoon. Nick took a nap and around 4 I went to the grocery store. We called my sister and asked if we could come over and make her dinner. She's been sick and Celia's been sick and Andrew is out of town so I thought it would be something nice to do for her. She loved the idea and around 5 we headed over there.

I decided to be adventerous. I made four new recipes for dinner. I went to Border's recently to get the last Twilight book and while I was there I bought a few cookbooks and a recipe card holder with 300 recipes from the Food Network. I was trying four new recipes from the Food Network.

I made "bacon wrapped artichoke hearts" for an appetizer. They were delicious if I may say so myself! Then for dinner we had "Pesto Pasta Salad", "Italian Baked Pork Chops", and "Sweet Potato and Apple Saute". It all turned out pretty good. I was so nervous because my sister is an amazing cook. I'm ok, but not consistent. I was so happy when dinner turned out ok and my sister actually liked it! She might have been faking but I don't care. She ate it and said she liked it and that made me feel like I did a good job! Woohoo!

I might try a new recipe again tonight...we'll see!

We stayed there until after the football game between Arizona and Carolina and then we went home and went to bed. Not a bad Saturday, if I may say so myself...

Friday, January 9, 2009

Day #11: Poor Cecilia!!

Today was an interesting and tiring day. It started off good. I got hardly any sleep again but that was ok because today was my growth ultrasound. I left the house at 7:30 and headed for the hospital. The ultrasound went well. Dominick is perfect. Just really big. He was measuring in the 65 percentile and now he's up to the 79th percentile...He's approximately 7 lbs. 13 ozs. So he's a pretty big boy. I'm hoping my body will recognize that and put me into labor sooner!! After the ultrasound I did my NST and that looked great too. His heart rate was great. I had a few contractions at the end of the test but not many so that's good too.

After the doctor's I went to Florissant to hang out with my Momma and Cecilia. My mom watches Cecilia every Tuesday, but this week she had her on Friday because Andrew is in New York City with his musical group, "Bach to the Future" (they are really good and on iTunes!!). Cecilia was sleeping when I got there and my mom mentioned us going to my Grammie's house to see her for lunch. That was good to me so we went to her house for lunch. Celia woke up and was NOT happy. She cried the whole way there. She cried a lot of the time while we were there and she cried the whole way home. Despite the crying, I was exhausted. I told my mom I needed to take a nap and I went into her and my dad's room. They have the MOST comfortable bed in the world. I fell right asleep and slept for almost 3 hours! At one point my mom came in and asked me to feel Celia's head and see if she felt warm. She didn't to me but I had been sleeping under two blankets for 2 hours. When I finally woke up at 3:45 my sister was holding Celia and my mom went to Walgreen's to get some stuff. She got a thermometer and some infant Tylenol. When she got back we took Celia's temperature. The thermometer said 102.2. I didn't think there was any way that was right so we took it again. 102.8. Again, I didn't believe it so I took my temperature with it. 97.8...hmmm maybe it was right. My sister called the pediatrician and they told her what to do. Poor Cecilia! We thought she was just being a stinker and there she was really sick the whole time.

I couldn't stay too much later than that. It was already 4:30 and Nick called to tell me he was going out with some buddies after work and I needed to go home and let Brady out. I came home, let Brady out and decided to be productive and take down all the Christmas decorations. I put all the ornaments away, the lights were taken off the tree, I swept all the pine needles off the floor and I cleared the mantle. I was exhausted. Then I decided to try and be a good wife and I made sugar cookies for Nick. He texted me at 5:50 saying he was leaving in ten minutes...but we all know Nick...I just got a phone call from him at 7:20 and he's on his way home now.

I guess that's it. I'm going to relax since (besides my nap) I've been running around or on my feet all day. Happy Friday everyone!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Date is Set!

My doctor's office just called and my induction date is set. If I don't go into labor on my own I'll be induced on Thursday, January 29. Three weeks from today. I'm scheduled as a "first a.m." the nurse told me so I'm supposed to be ready bright and early and they will call me as soon as a room is available and then I'll drive in.

I'm still really hoping that I go into labor on my own, but if not - only three weeks from today and I'll have my little Dominick Robert in my arms!

Day #10

I feel like I've been such a lazy bum today...and well truthfully, I have been. Nick got up and left around 5:30, like normal. I tried to go back to sleep but then I started thinking about the end of the last Twilight book, "Breaking Dawn". I only had about a hundred-two hundred pages to go. So of course I had to just get up and read it. So I laid in bed from about 6:15 until about 8 reading. Then I decided I would try to sleep. I went back to bed until around 10 and then started reading again. I finished the book around 11:15. Now I'm done. I'm done with the Twilight Saga.

It was great. I haven't been that into a book series in awhile. I was hooked. I loved every book.

Now that I'm done, I don't know what to do today...I've focused on just reading those books for the last few days that I have free time and I'm not sure how to handle it. I have a few chores I know I want to get done and then I'm at a loss. I'm sure I'll figure something out. Hopefully something productive...

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Day #9

Ok, I'm crazy crazy now!! I finished Eclipse yesterday...So I read two books (the first one 560 pages roughly and the second one 620 pages roughly) in two days...I'm addicted.

I have to go and buy the last one now. I just have to. I have to see what happens. I need to know the ending...

Other than that, nothing is new. I've hit the point where I really no longer sleep at night anymore. Lately it's been rough. I wake up every few hours to go to the bathroom but nothing too terrible. I've been getting enough sleep in between the bathroom breaks that I'm ok. Last night, not so much. I had restless leg syndrome so bad that I was keeping Nick up so I finally went to sleep in the basement on the couch. I probably got about an hour of sleep total last night. Maybe. At 5:15 when I knew he would be up I went back up to bed and didn't fall asleep until probably 8 or 8:30 and got up for good by 10:30. I am so tired but I can't sleep anymore.

I have big plans today! ;-)

I'm going to go and get the last book in the Twilight saga - Breaking Dawn, and then I'm going to try and put all the rest of the baby stuff away. That's my goal for today. I already picked up our room and did all the dishes so the house is in fairly good shape. Putting baby stuff away and reading the last book sound like a good day!

I'll let you know tomorrow if I was crazy enough to read the last book all today...I kind of hope I'm not that crazy but the odds are against me right now!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Day #8: More appointments

First off, I didn't write yesterday because our internet was down and I wanted to admit something. I'm crazy. I HAD to get the next book in the "Twilight" saga. I went to the Target by my house: sold out. I went to Border's on Brentwood: Sold out. Finally I went to Target on Eager and they had the second one and the third one. I started the second one yesterday around 12:30. I took an hour break around 3 when I ran two errands for Nick. I finished it last night around 7...I'm crazy. I had to read it. Now I'm reading the third one and I know I won't finish today since I have plans tonight but I'll finish it tomorrow for sure. Yes, I'm completely aware that I'm crazy.

Oh and the movie was good. It followed the book pretty closely and Nick really liked it too. I don't think he'll read the books since they are more of a love story than the movie was but it's nice to discuss the books with him, even if he hasn't read them.

Ok, back to today. I had two appointments today. My monitoring was at 10 this morning. Everything went well. Fluid was great around the baby and his heart rate was perfect. I didn't have any contractions but I had constant "uterine irritation" as the tech put it. I felt ok though, so we're not going to worry about that.

Then I had my OB appointment. This one took forever. My appointment was at 10:50 and I didn't see the OB until around 1:00. Nick was annoyed for me. He called me and told me that he would have left the office. But I know that I expect the dr. to blow everyone else off when I'm in labor so I'm ok with him blowing me off while he's delivering someone else's baby. He finally came in and told me that everything looks great. The baby is not as big as I've been fearing. He's in the 65th percentile. Which is bigger than the average baby but not scary big. They don't worry until they get into at least the 80th percentile and usually when they are in the 90-95th percentile. So that's a relief. Also, the doc told me that he won't let me hit 40 weeks because of my blood clotting disorder. So I have an OB appointment next week where the doc is going to do a quick procedure called "stripping my membranes" which is something he does to my cervix to try and get me into labor. Also, we are scheduling an induction. The nurses will call me when they have the date finalized but it will probably be right before my due date. January 26, 27 or 28th. That is a last resort. He's hoping that between my body and stripping my membranes, I'll go into labor on my own. But it's kind of exciting to think that "worst case scenario" my baby will be here in three short weeks!

That's all I have for now. I'll go back to reading the third book, "Eclipse". More later.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Day #6: NCAA Dinner

Every year my family "bets" on the NCAA tournament. In our tournament it doesn't matter if you come in first, second, third, etc. You just can't come in last place. Whoever comes in last place has to buy or make dinner for the whole family. We've been doing this for years. Since I was about 6, I think. Or at least that's when I started joining the bet. I'd never lost...until last year. It was very sad. Usually we do the dinner right away but I'd been procrastinating. So we finally decided to do it before the next tournament started! March is really right around the corner. So instead of going out to eat (which tends to get me very uncomfortable) we decided to have everyone over to our house and we ordered food. We had Macaroni Grill. It was delicious. Everyone had a good time and now I'm off the hook. At least until the next tournament.

Also Nick and I decided to go to the movies tonight. My cousin Ben gave me a bunch of things to keep me entertained while on bed rest/maternity leave and one thing was the book Twilight. I read it in two nights, it was so good. So I described it to Nick and he thought it sounded good too, so we're going to see that tonight at Ronnie's. I'll let you know tomorrow if we liked it or not.

That's it for me. This weekend went kind of quickly. Tomorrow will be a lonely day but Tuesday I have two doctor's appointments so that will keep me occupied for most of the day. I'll be back tomorrow.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Day #5: Cravings

I haven't had a lot of cravings so far this pregnancy. Seriously. I've either wanted sweet or salty or whatever but I haven't craved certain things. Well that has changed BIG time these last few weeks.

Right now it's sweets. I can't get enough! And it's very hard since I'm diabetic right now. I want ice cream and cookies and cake and candy and anything sweet I can get my hands on. The last few days I've wanted Dairy Queen (or the newly discovered McDonald's McFlurry's!) and today I really really want carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I don't know why it's so strong but it is.

Yesterday after complaining for about an hour straight, Nick went to Dairy Queen for me. I think today I might just suck it up and go for myself. Because I need it. I need the sweets....

No wonder Dominick is going to be huge!! :-)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Day #4

I don't really know why I'm labeling the days anymore. Since I'm not on complete bed rest anymore it seems silly. I guess it's just Day #4 since I was told I can't work anymore. So my fourth day at home.

Today has been a good day so far. The house is nice and clean from yesterday which I love so today is a pretty relaxing day. Last night was a good night. Crystal and Greg came over and we went to Bellacino's for dinner. It was delicious even though it took over 45 minutes to get our food. Then we came back to our house and watched "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry". After that we watched a little poker on ESPN and then I was craving ice cream. Craving it like a LOT. Crystal said she could have some ice cream too, so we started our quest. We headed to Dairy Queen (this was at 11:15 p.m.) and they were closed. So we tried Ted Drewes and they were closed. Crystal told us we could go to McDonald's and get McFlurry's. I didn't even know they had those! So we went to McDonald's and all got a McFlurry courtesy of Greg (Thanks Greg!!) and they were amazing. I don't know what was up with that craving but that ice cream really hit the spot.

Crystal and Greg left around midnight and Nick and I went up to bed. I completely forgot I had a monitoring appointment this morning at 8:30, so I didn't sleep too well. I was afraid of oversleeping. But I didn't. I got up and went to my appointment, alone since Nick wanted to sleep in. Punk. ;-)

It was a good appointment. His heart rate was great. Then we did the ultrasound. His fluid is great. Around 12 right now (again, it needs to be between 10-20). The ultrasound tech was very nice. It was a basic ultrasound machine so she couldn't get as good of pictures as I've gotten in the past but she showed me some good pictures. I got to see his little legs crossed at the ankles again. I don't know why he likes to do that! Then I saw his hand resting on this leg. The tech pointed out how big he is. She told me he's going to be a BIG boy...this makes me nervous. She got a few good pictures of his cute little feet too. We also got a good view of him practicing his breathing. You could see his chest rise and fall. That's good because we know his lungs are pretty developed already. Then she got a "money shot". A picture of something we hadn't seen before. It was a picture of Dominick's cute little head and he has hair! You can see the little wavy lines on his head and hanging off his neck. I'm so excited about this for some reason! I'm going to have a chunky monkey with hair!

After the ultrasound I made my next appointment. I have the next monitoring on Tuesday at 10:00 and a dr. appointment at 10:50, so that's nice. I don't have to go up there three days next week. Just two! Woohoo! And at my appointment the doctor and I are supposed to start talking about induction dates since Dominick is so big and since I have a blood clotting disorder. We'll probably schedule it around 38-39 weeks. That's only a few weeks away! Kind of scary that it's that close already but exciting at the same time. I also have an ultrasound next Friday, a good ultrasound to check on growth and see how big he really is. I think that will have a big impact on whether my doctor will want to induce me early or try to wait it out.

I guess I'll have to wait and see...Tuesday seems like forever away to find out when my doctor thinks I'll be having this baby. But I can wait. Only a few more days...

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Day #3: Happy New Year

Today has been a great day. Mainly because I haven't done anything. Literally.

Nick and I got up a little late since we were up so late last night. We got up at 8:30 and had breakfast. Then we went downstairs and just watched t.v. We watched the ends of a bunch of movies. We watched part of Rocky 4, The Bucket List, X-Men, Vantage Point, Speed, and I don't even know what else. I took a nap and we've been super lazy. It's been amazing.

Nick is starting to clean the house a bit and we're getting ready to have company over tonight. Crystal and Greg Mueller are coming over. Since Crystal and I are both on partial bed rest we decided to be on bed rest together. They are coming over to watch a movie. It should be a relaxing end to a relaxing day.

I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve and have a great long weekend (if you are lucky enough to have a four day weekend). Happy 2009!