♥ Annabelle's Birth Story ♥

Wow. What a whirl wind.

It all started on Tuesday, March 8th. I'd been having contractions all day long. I had a big test on Tuesday night so I was trying to fight the contractions, as if you can do that. I went as far as emailing my teacher telling him I might not make it to class. I couldn't focus on studying at all. But I really didn't want to miss the test. Not that I was ready, but I didn't want to do the make up test, which is an essay test and sounds way harder than the multiple choice test. So I went to class. I actually felt better too. I failed the test...but now I think I understand why. Ok I didn't FAIL, but close. It was hard. (I just looked it up...I got a 74%).

After class, I headed home. Class went a little later than normal and I hit the highway to go home around 9:05. I called Nick to talk to him for part of the drive. I just didn't feel good. I almost stopped to get food, but decided I'd rather just go to bed. I got home about 9:30 or so and basically just got ready for bed. Nick came up around 11 or so and we both fell asleep pretty easily. For awhile.

I woke up about 1:30 with a sharp stomach pain. Much different than anything I had ever felt before. It felt like severe gas pains or something. It passed and I decided to drink a little water and go back to bed. But I couldn't go back to bed. The stomach pains kept coming. I started timing them. They were coming ever 4 minutes. I tried going to the bathroom. I tried all the "false labor" tricks. You know, the things they tell you to do if you are in false labor. Drink water. Empty your bladder. Walk around. Change positions. Etc. Etc.

Things were not improving. If anything, the pains were getting worse. Now 3 minutes apart. At 2:40 I decided to call the exchange. At this point I was sitting in the nursery. I didn't want to wake Nick up if it was false labor. I called and the on call doc called me back immediately. I told him what as going on. I got a contraction during the call and couldn't talk. I was almost in tears. He told me to come in.

I got up and went back into our room. I asked Nick to call his mom and see if she could watch Dom. Then I went to get all my stuff together and make sure my hospital bag was ready. I put my contacts in and straightened my hair. (For the record, I had showered that night and went to bed with my hair wet and it was everywhere and my hair isn't long enough to put in a ponytail...that's why I straightened it. It only took like 5 minutes...).

Then we went to get Dom's stuff together. At this point, the contractions are hurting more than ever. I now know exactly what active labor feels like. We got Dom up and headed to Sue's house. In the car, I had quite a few contractions. Every time I would try my breathing and squeeze Nick's hand and I probably sounded awful. Dominick was up at this point and he kept asking, "You OK, Momma??". I would tell him that I was ok and then he would ask, "I kiss it??". I told him yes, he could kiss it and I would hand him my hand. He would kiss my hand and say, "All better?". He's such a sweet heart.

Of course, right after we dropped him off I realized we didn't have a camera, so we went back to Sue's and borrowed her camera. Then we were finally off to the hospital. My contractions were now about 2 minutes apart and very painful.

We got to the hospital at 3:30 am and went straight to Labor and Delivery. They checked me in and brought me back to a room. They hooked up the monitors and saw that my contractions were 2 minutes apart and measuring around 90. They checked to see if I was dilated at all, and I was at 2 cm. I was in pain. I was already asking for the epidural. They called the on call doc and we decided to do a c-section. I had the option of trying on my own, but I didn't want to at this point. I was exhausted already and we had no idea how big the baby was. Unfortunately, I was the fourth person to come in that night in labor...and the fourth repeat c-section. So we had to wait for the OR.

The anesthesiologist came in around 5 am for the epidural. Not gonna lie, it was still a little painful, and didn't take effect right away. But after about 30 minutes, I was ok. She left and came back at 6 am to get me ready for surgery. They thought the surgery would be about 6:15, but we didn't get into the OR until 6:50.

I remember being wheeled in and "Here I go again" by Whitesnake was playing on the radio. They said Annabelle was going to be a Rocker! They got me on the table and started prepping me. I could hear the nurses doing their counts of tools and what not.

Then they started. It was so much better than with Dom. With Dom I was throwing up and in pain and he was stuck after pushing for so long and it was plain awful. This time I was alert and it didn't hurt. I honestly just felt the pressure. After what seemed like hardly any time at all, I heard the vacuum. She was stuck (although I'm not sure where!?). But then I heard them say, "Here she comes!" and then it was over. She was born at 7:06 am. They pulled her back and she was COVERED in the white goo since she was so early. She was crying and it was beautiful. They brought her over to the scale to clean her and do her APGAR scores and I just watched her. At first I was scared because she wasn't breathing as well as they'd like. Since I didn't push, the fluid wasn't pushed out of her lungs. But then they got a good amount out with the bulb syringe and she let out a yell! Her apgar scores were 7 and then 9. So very good.

Nick went over to cut the cord and they weighed her...8 lbs and 11 ounces. Thank God I didn't try a VBAC. I couldn't get Dom out who was 8 lbs 9 ounces so I'm sure I would've had the same result with AJ.

It didn't take long to get me put me back together. I think I was in recovery by 7:20. They brought her back to me almost immediately and I was able to try and nurse her. She latched immediately. It was such a different experience from Dominick's birth.

I recovered a little slower this time around and I'm not sure if it's because it was my second c-section or what it was. But I'm feeling much better now. And how much better it was has been worth every second of pain.

I still can't believe we have TWO kids. Dominick has been fantastic. He loves his "baby sissy". He likes to hold her and when she cries, he brings me her binky. He's already a great big brother.

I also want to mention how great our families have been. Nick's mom, Sue, basically kept Dom for Tuesday through Friday. Nick watched him Friday night and then my parents took him Saturday morning and kept him until we were ready to go home on Sunday. They even brought him up to the hospital since I wanted a picture of the whole family at the hospital and forgot to take one before then.

We are so lucky to have such great family and friends and I'm so in love with my husband, my son, and now my daughter.

I'll update more later with more pictures but this is a good start...for me. With two kiddos, I haven't been on the computer at all. Hopefully I'll get to update more again soon.

But there's her story.

Annabelle Jean

March 9, 2011 at 7:06 am

8 lb. 11 oz.

21" long

Playing Catch Up

Hey blog world. I'm here. Barely. Just writing a quick post to say that I'm planning on doing lots of updates soon. Hopefully today even.

For those of you who don't know, Annabelle Jean was born one week ago today, which was three weeks early. We are all healthy and happy but very very tired.

I'm getting ready to start writing her birth story because I don't want to forget it! I'll add a few other posts soon too. So please keep being patient with me!

Be back soon. :)

Monitoring Update

Yesterday was a monitoring appointment...it didn't go well.

I left work at 3ish to go to my 3:30 appointment. I got there in time and waited until they called my name. When it was my turn, we headed back to the ultrasound room first to check my fluid. It was still high but at least back in the normal range. Again, it is supposed to be between 10-20 cm and yesterday mine was at 18 cm. So high, but normal high. Nothing to be too concerned with there.

Then we hooked me up to the monitors and started the non-stress test. I needed to get 2 accelerations again. An acceleration is when the baby's heart rate increases by at least 15 beats per minute and stays that way for at least 15 seconds. Right away I got a good one. Her heart rate increased by 20 beats per minute and stayed that way for 30 seconds. So I just had to get another one...

That didn't happen. I stayed hooked up to those monitors for 40 minutes. Nothing. Except a few contractions...but no more accelerations.

So, we had to do another biophysical profile. Again, just a reminder, but the BPP is measuring 5 things, each worth 2 points. 1) Fluid (which I passed - so 2 points for me), 2) NST (or heart accelerations - which I failed, so I'm still at 2 points), 3) muscle tone (fists opening and closing or flexing legs and arms), 4) movement (any squirms or wiggles), and 5) practice breathing (where the baby's diaphragm moves along with breathing motions). You have 30 minutes to get all of these things measured. After 30 minutes, that's your score. You can't look for more things.

So we got started. She started with the hardest one for baby's, breathing. Well Baby A was going to town! She was practicing her breathing great! So I got another 2 points. Up to 4 now.

At this point I asked the nurse what happens if you don't get the right amount of points. She said if you get 8 out of 10, that's practically a 10 and you get to go home. If you get 6 out of 10, they usually send you home but want you to come back the next day in case something is wrong. If you get 4 out of 10, they admit you to the hospital and go from there.

So we were at 4. I needed movement and muscle tone. Wouldn't you know it, but Baby A stopped moving. Wouldn't even turn her head. She was snoozing or something because she was done. I was getting freaked out. I knew she was ok. But I didn't want to be admitted to the hospital. I was a little worried about her, but I feel her a lot so I really knew in my heart she was fine, she just needed to show it!

With 5 minutes to go, she started opening and closing her fists and wiggling around. Thank goodness. So I got an 8 out of 10.

The nurse left to tell the doc and see what he said. She told me that since it took so long, he still might want me to come back the next day. I was hoping he didn't need me to since I've been missing so much work and only have a few weeks to go. When she came back she told me that the doc was with a patient and she didn't want me to wait any longer. She told me to assume that I didn't need to come in until my next appointment but she'd call me if anything changed. I took that opportunity to take off! I left and will be going back on Thursday.

I'm hoping that everything continues to go ok. Even though I keep failing these NST's, she's moving very well and I take that as a good sign. Again, I hope to learn more from my doc on Thursday.

Either way, just 2 weeks and 2 days at the most!

37 Weeks!! Full term!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though. So if you're planning to have a repeat c-section, for example, your practitioner will schedule it for no earlier than 39 weeks unless there's a medical reason to intervene earlier.)

Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

How your life's changing:

Braxton Hicks contractions may be coming more frequently now and may last longer and be more uncomfortable. You might also notice an increase in vaginal discharge. If you see some "bloody show" (mucus tinged with a tiny amount of blood) in the toilet or in your undies, labor is probably a few days away — or less. (If you have heavier spotting or bleeding, call your caregiver immediately.) Also be sure to ask your caregiver about the results of your Group B strep culture. That way, if the result isn't yet on your chart when you get to the hospital or birth center, you'll be able to give the staff there a timely heads-up if you need antibiotics.

It may be harder than ever to get comfortable enough to sleep well at night. If you can, take it easy through the day — this may be your last chance to do so for quite a while. Keep monitoring your baby's movements, too, and let your caregiver know immediately if you notice a decrease. Though her quarters are getting cozy, she should still be as active as before.

While you're sleeping, you're likely to have some intense dreams. Anxiety both about labor and about becoming a parent can fuel a lot of strange flights of unconscious fancy.

Full Term! Woohoo! It's getting exciting now!

Everything is still going well as far as I can tell. I still have too much fluid and I'm getting really uncomfortable but Baby A is healthy and doing well and that's all that really matters.

I totally think this baby girl is going to have dark hair. I don't know why. Maybe because Addie has such dark hair, it's just in my mind? I don't know, but I'm anticipating a full head of dark hair. Watch, she'll come out completely bald or with just a little blond fuzz! Either way, she'll be adorable. :)

I am having contractions ALL THE TIME. And they are PAINFUL. And REGULAR. For like 2 hours, and then they stop...so I don't know what's going on. I'm going to discuss this with my doc today at my monitoring appointment. I'm not sure they'd do anything at all, but I'm curious as to what they think about it. Every night for at least 1 - 2 hours, I get very regular, very intense contractions. To the point where we get my stuff together and are getting ready to go in and then they start to slow down and eventually they are weak enough that I can sleep through them and they disappear throughout the night. I don't know if these are Braxton Hicks or what, but it's getting old! I don't want to do this for another 2-1/2 weeks!

Nothing else is indicating any labor though, so I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Sleep comes and goes. Some nights I'm up every 2 hours, and other nights (like last night) I go to bed about 11ish. Wake up around 4ish and then I sleep until 6:30. I can handle that. Unfortunately that's not good practice for when the baby comes! But that's ok. We'll make it.

I think that's everything. We are still doing good. Baby A is kicking like crazy while typing this up, so she's still happy in there!

No matter what, in less than 3 weeks, I'll have a new baby. A DAUGHTER. Very scary and VERY EXCITING! I can't wait. :)

Weekend Progress!

We did SO MUCH this weekend! I feel calmer and better already!

The first thing that Dom and I did on Saturday was go to Big Brother school! I'll put that in another post though because it deserves it's own. :)

We started off Saturday at home by cleaning out the storage rooms. That wasn't even on our list of things to do! But we realized we can't move stuff out of Dom's new room if there isn't any place to put it. So Nick went off to Home Depot or Lowe's or somewhere and bought a TON of storage shelves. We set up the back storage room like a warehouse. It has rows and rows of shelves and we cleaned a TON of stuff out. If we hadn't used it in awhile, we threw it out.

The storage room in the back of the basement now has all kinds of stuff organized. From paint, to tools, to sleeping bags, to wrapping paper, to kitchen electronics, to who knows what else! It looks great.


It's hard to tell by this little picture from my phone, but it's organized and looking great. :)

After tackling this room, we organized the storage room under the stairs. We decided to make this storage room ALL BABY/KIDS stuff. So we will know where everything is. It's a much smaller room and works really well for this. We have extra diapers and wipes on the shelving, we have Dom's tool bench, we have the baby clothes and activity mats and extra toys all stored in this little room. This will make it easier to rotate toys with Dom too. We've been having all his toys out all the time and we need to stop that. He doesn't need all 500 something toys out at once. We can rotate them and keep them interesting all the time. We're starting with this now. :)




So all this looks really nice, right? Check out the picture of what the basement looked like WHILE doing this project:



Yeah...I was slightly freaking out...

But we got everything in the basement back to working order!

After all this work, we decided to go to the Home Show downtown. For those of you who don't know, the Home and Garden Show is at the Ed Jones Dome and America Center and has booths of things for your house. Such as electrical safety information from Kay Bee Electric! :) My mom was working at the Kay Bee Booth so we decided to check out some booths and visit my mom. There were a lot of cool things. One thing that I really want to do is get a closet organizer company to come to our house and give me advice/estimates on how to redo our closet. Our closet is huge but isn't very functional.

Anyway, not the point.

So we went to the home show. We saw our friend Chris there and visited with him for a bit, then we went to find the Kay Bee booth. Unfortunately for us (with a 2 year old) the booth was right next to a balloon garden (where it's a walk through garden made of balloon animals..very cool but Dom wanted ALL the balloons) and next to a Ferris Wheel. Fun for us...

Dom wanted everything. He thought the Home and Garden show was amazing. Mom and Nick decided to take Dom on the Ferris Wheel and while I was terrified for him, Dom loved it. He was a little nervous the first time around they said, but once Nick started saying, "Whee!", Dom fell in love.



Not the best picture from my phone again, but there they are!

After the Home Show we went home and crashed.

Sunday was STILL productive! We moved everything out of Dom's big boy room that we hadn't done the day before, and we moved the crib downstairs. We decided to get Dom used to the room first, before making him go into a big boy bed. So we moved the crib into his new room. Then we started working on A's room. We have the pack n play set up in her room, just for now, and we have all the 0-3 month clothes that we have in her dresser. FYI, this child will be wearing mainly blue, green and yellow...that's all the clothes we have except about 4 pink onesies! :) But that's ok. I'm sure she'll look great in blue. ;-)

I packed my hospital bag, got the diaper bag all packed up, and got Dommie's big brother present ready. We're having a present for him at the hospital so he gets something too and it's not just all about the baby. He's getting two new shirts (including on that says "BIG BRO"), a new Lego set, his Brother/Sister book, and a new puzzle. Hopefully these will all be pretty cool gifts and he'll enjoy them. I got out all the baby bottles and organized them. I'll start sterilizing them Wednesday and get them all ready for storage and use. I'm going to breastfeed but since I'll be going to school once a week still, I'll need to get pumping right away. Hopefully this doesn't confuse her too much and she still nurses for me. It will only be one bottle a week, so keep your fingers crossed this works out!

I think we are almost ready for this baby girl! If we get nothing else done, we have a place for her to sleep and clean clothes for her to wear. Oh and diapers to put her in. So I think we are getting there.

Just a few more weeks to go! :) I can't wait!

Monitoring and Dr. Appointment

I was lucky and had TWO appointments yesterday... (that was kind of sarcastic, could you tell?). I started off with my monitoring appointment at 3:00. When I got there, they called me back quickly and hooked me up to the monitors. I talked to the nurse and told her that I'd been having contractions. The night before I had even considered coming in, but then they slowed down so I didn't have to. She took some notes and then left to let the monitors do their work.

I flipped on the TV and started watching HGTV...just a little side note. I was watching Bang for Your Buck. It's a show that compares 3 remodels with the same budget and they decide who did the best job for their money, or who got the best 'bang for their buck'. The episode I was watching, they were evaluating three master suite renovations, all with a budget of $120,000....ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Over a hundred thousand dollars on your bedroom? That's the one room in the house Nick and I don't even care about. We're only in there to sleep! That's a lot of money...

Anyway, Annabelle wasn't moving too much so I tried moving on to my side and drinking some cold water (I'm learning all the tricks so they don't have to tell me anymore and I can get in and out of there quicker!). Eventually she woke up a bit and started moving around. I got my two accelerations in by about 3:40 and then we were off to the ultrasound room.

While walking down the hall, the nurse looked at my monitoring report and showed me the contractions line. There were no BIG contractions but the line was up and down, up and down the whole 40 minutes. I didn't feel any contractions so made me feel good. It's not like the contractions I feel at home aren't even registering on a monitor. But she called this uterine irritability. She said my body doesn't know that I had a c-section before and it's gearing up to have a baby.

We settled in to the ultrasound room and she started looking at the baby. The first thing we noticed was Annabelle dropped! You couldn't even see her head on the ultrasound with the wand on my belly. She had to go to the underside of my belly to see her head. So that's probably part of the reason I've been having so many more contractions. Then she measured my fluid. Since I'm over 36 weeks now, they want the fluid to measure between 10-20 cm. Yesterday my fluid measured in at 22 cm. So I'm still high. But not scary high. And you'd rather be high than low.

So all in all, good news. They gave me my "report card" and I headed up to the doctor's office. I got in and waited in the waiting room. It wasn't too long before they called me back. First I was weighed. I gained SIX pounds!! Yikes!! I guess my body was making up for the 2 lbs I lost a week ago! So that puts me at 26 lbs gained overall with three weeks to go exactly. I'm going to assume that all this extra fluid is affecting my weight too... ;-) So I should be able to finish under 30 lbs gained. At least that's my goal!

Then I went back into the room. No doppler reading or anything since I just came from the Perinatal Center. So it was just waiting.

Well, of course, my doc got called away for a delivery so I saw the nurse practitioner. She's very nice so I was ok with this. She came in and talked for a minute about everything and she noticed that my feet were swollen. I could tell they are swollen because first off, they hurt! and second off, I have ridiculously bony feet. The only "skinny" part on me! I have very distinct ankle bones jutting out and Nick calls my toes "finger toes" because they are long and skinny and you can see each knuckle. My feet are very long and thin too. So I don't have cankles or anything yet, but I can tell they are swollen. I didn't think anyone else could but the N.P. could. She told me to start putting my feet up more.

Then we started talking about this fluid nonsense. I asked her what it really meant since no one really tells me anything. She told me that they aren't going to do anything since I'm full term this weekend. However, with the baby having dropped, the fact that the baby is already big, and all this extra fluid stretching my uterus, my body thinks it's even further along than the baby is measuring. So I am 36 weeks and 4 days, the baby is measuring about 38-39 weeks, and with the extra fluid my body probably thinks I'm closer to 40 weeks. So she told me to really pay attention to these contractions. She thinks I'll go into labor on my own. She told me not to labor too long at home. If I think they are coming regularly, call the exchange. They will tell me what to do, but she doesn't want me suffering at home too long since I'll be coming in for a c-section anyway. So I guess that's something to look forward to!

After all this talk, she gave me my c-section card. It's the instructions I have for coming in for a planned c-section.

Here's what the card says:

MIDWEST MATERNAL FETAL MEDICINE
DIRECTIONS FOR SAME DAY ADMIT C-SECTION

Your cesarean section is scheduled for ______________________.

On the day prior to your cesarean section

• Register at the Admitting office at the hospital on the 2L Level as an "A.M. Admit C-Section".
  
• Report to the Outpatient Lab on the 2L Level to have your blood drawn.
  
• Report to Labor and Delivery on the 2nd Floor of the hospital to speak with an Anesthesiologist.
  

On the day of your cesarean section

• Arrive to Labor and Delivery 2 hours prior to your cesarean section.
  

YOU MAY HAVE SOLID FOOD UP TO 6 HOURS PRIOR TO YOUR SCHEDULED PROCEDURE. YOU MAY HAVE CLEAR FLUIDS UP UNTIL 2 HOURS PRIOR TO PROCEDURE.



So there you have it! Those are my instructions. If I end up with the scheduled c-section. I guess you never know! I could go early. But if I don't. I have LESS THAN THREE WEEKS TO GO! :)

Come on Baby A!

Tyke Hyke Class

I've been a little nervous about Dominick becoming a big brother for awhile now. Sometimes he does amazing. He plays with the babies that I hold and gives them kisses, etc. Other times....well, once he tried to pull a newborn out of my arms, while screaming and crying...

So it's a toss up.

Since the baby will be here in 3 weeks at the most (CrAzY, right?!?!), I decided we should do something more to make sure he's prepared.

We talk about the baby a lot. But I don't think that helps. He knows there's a baby in my tummy, but he doesn't get that the baby will come out. We tell him that the baby will sleep in the crib, etc. etc. but again, I don't think it's really sinking in.

So I decided to look up "Sibling to Be" classes at St. John's Mercy, the hospital where I'll be delivering. They have a class for kids under 3 called the Tyke Hyke class. It costs $15 and is 45 minutes long. They will have a life sized baby doll there so the kids can "practice" holding the new baby. They do lots of talking and then there's a tour of the mother and baby area of the hospital so that the kids know what to expect the next time they are there. They had 2 spaces open in this Saturday's class. Classes are only offered on the first Saturday of the month, so the next one isn't until April 2nd.

I snagged one of those spots right up. :)

So this Saturday, Dommie and I (and hopefully Nick if he'll agree to come) will head out to St. John's and learn about becoming a sibling. Nick and I are both the babies of the family. Neither of us have ever had to deal with a a new sibling coming into our lives. So we have no advice for poor Dommie! I think this will be a good thing for him. And it's over by 9:15, so we can go out to breakfast afterward!

Wish us luck!

The MOST wonderful time of the year!!

MARCH MADNESS!!!!

I am pumped. I love this time of the year when basketball is basically on ALL THE TIME. It's like heaven.

It all begins on Sunday, March 13th with selection Sunday. Which I rarely watch, but it's the beginning and a very important part. I guess technically it begins with all the conference tournaments to decide who will get their automatic bid into the tournament but the first part of the actual tournament is selection Sunday.

This year is a little different. In the past, 64 teams made it. There were four brackets with 16 teams each. The final four was the team that made it through each bracket. Then a few years back, they added a 65th team. So two teams competed before the actual tournament started (technically it was the start of the tournament, but the winner became a 16th seeded team and had to play one of the top 4 ranked teams in the country the next game).

This year there are even more teams in the tournament. The tournament will start with 68 teams. Eight teams will play first-round games on March 15 and 16, before serious action begins March 17, and the last four at-large teams selected will be matched in two of those four games.

I'm not sure how I feel about there being more teams in the tournament. I guess we'll have to see how this plays out.

After those games (on March 15th and 16th), then we are down to 64 teams and the tournament that I remember growing up will begin. The (second) round begins on March 17th and games go ALL DAY LONG. I don't know how I'm going to focus...I'll already be antsy that I'm ONE measly week away from my c-section, but then with basketball on all day...I don't think I'll get anything done at all.

Not only do we get to watch basketball, but my family bets on basketball! We have 6 people in our immediate family, Mom, Dad, Angela, Andrew, Nick and myself. You only need to make sure you don't come in last place. Last place buys dinner (or makes it) for EVERYONE. First place gets immunity the next season. So it's nice to come in first, but just don't come in last. We all have a blast picking and heckling each other's picks. Since you only worry about not coming in last, you can pick more with your heart and not worry about picking all the favorites. Even if you KNOW your favorite team won't win a game, you can still pick them for a few rounds. :) I like picking with my heart over my head sometimes anyway.

Ahhh, I love March. Annabelle is SO lucky to get to have her birthday in such an amazing month. I anticipate basketball themed birthday parties in her future.... :)

New Friends

I have been extremely blessed since going back to school. I have met two amazing girls (Bridget and Ann) who live close to me and are taking the same classes that I am. It's been great to have someone to talk to while studying, doing homework, or trying to forget that last class. I met them both last semester in Anatomy and Physiology I. We formed a little study group and got to be really close. This semester has been a little different because one of us is in a different class (Bridget). :(

Ann and I miss Bridget a lot but we still meet up with her sometimes and we still talk about class. We're all taking the same class (Anatomy and Physiology II) but Ann and I go on Tuesday nights and Bridget goes Tuesday and Thursday days.

Not only do I have great new friends to talk about school stuff with, but they are also great new friends to do anything with!

This past weekend shows how great they both are.

We started off by going to see Bridget's new apartment. She just moved to the U-City area and we went over to see her place. After hanging out there for a bit, we headed to the Loop. We had a great lunch at Cicero's and then Bridget wanted to show me a store she likes, called City Sprouts. It's a kid store with clothes and games and neat things for kids. It has a LOT of cool stuff...but it's expensive...

We went in and Bridget told me to pick out something that I liked and she wanted to get it for the baby. At first I was just looking around. I saw a really cute swimsuit and checked the price tag...$42.00...um no thanks! Then I found an ADORABLE dress and checked that price tag...$58.00. I don't usually spend $58.00 on a dress! :)

So I told Bridget not to get me anything, but that didn't fly. So we picked out a few smaller items. She got me a silly onesie that Nick FREAKED out over. ;-) It says, "Someday I'll get TRASHED at Prom". Not gonna lie, that one made me freak out a little too.



She also got me a pack of "trumpet socks". They are little socks that Bridget told me will STAY ON, since most baby socks don't. And they have the sticky pads on the bottom for added traction when she needs it. They are sized 0-12 month so we'll see how long they last. And they are ADORABLE and look like little Mary Jane shoes!


Of course I was thrilled to get these things and love them but I feel so bad that a onesie and some socks cost her over $55.00!! Also, Bridget is going through a divorce and doesn't even have a BED! She sleeps on a couch and spent $55 on me and Baby A. She is so thoughtful and sweet and didn't even hesitate. She's a great friend.

While Bridget was looking at those things, I wandered over and looked at some stuff for Dom. I wanted to have a bag of goodies for Dom when he comes to the hospital so he has some fun things to do and have and it's not just about the baby. I found a neat puzzle that says it's for kids 3+ but I think Dom can handle it! :) It's a matching puzzle that matches colors with animals. I think Dom will be good at it. He's very good at colors already and he loves animals, thanks to Diego. And I found him a book. It's pretty cool. It's a flip book. One way is a book called, "What Brothers Do Best". Then you flip it over and the other way is a book called, "What Sisters Do Best". I think it will be good for him. :)

So after I found these two items, I went to check out and Ann was in line buying me a onesie!!



It's so cute! And it's one of those side wrap onesies so I don't have to worry about her belly button or anything.

I need to mention here that Ann recently lost her job. She's selling her house and going to school. And she bought me a $25.00 onesie for Annabelle.

She didn't have to do that. Neither of them had to do that! But I'm extremely thankful for the beautiful gifts and their friendship.

Annabelle might be even more spoiled than Dominick! I walked out of that store with 2 onesies, 1 package of socks, 1 book and 1 puzzle and it was more than $100.00 worth of stuff!

I'm one lucky girl. I have so many great friends in my life. Through Fontbonne, through school now, through Nick, through work. And my family is the best family ever. I can't wait for Annabelle to get here and meet all of these wonderful people as well.

Annabelle Updates

So this goes back to last Friday. I had my second monitoring appointment. The first one was on February 18th. At that appointment, my fluid was on the high range of normal. It was 18 cm. I think. They want it between 6-24. That wasn't the big concern that appointment since it was in the "normal" range. They were more concerned that I failed the NST and had to have a biophysical profile done. But then I passed the biophysical profile and everything was happy. I was told to come back in a week.

So my second monitoring appointment was on February 25th. I went in and started with the NST. Anna passed right away. I got the two heart rate jumps that they needed in the first 7 minutes. You still have to be hooked up for the full 20 minutes though. After those first two jumps though, Anna fell asleep. So we had to keep me on the monitors for another 30 minutes to try and wake her up. I guess eventually they were happy because around 4:15, they said I could do an ultrasound to check the fluid. We went back to the ultrasound room and looked in at Baby A. She was being adorable. So we took a few pictures. Then they checked my fluid...

My fluid was up to 26 cm. Which is too high. They didn't like that at all. They made me stay in a room while they went and found my doctor to discuss everything. Everyone seemed shocked that I didn't have diabetes, but I took the test twice and passed both times and I don't know how you can "cheat" on that test...

So after talking to my doctor, they determined that I have to come twice a week now. If it remains high, then I'll have to take fluid off of the baby. This is done like an amniocentesis, which the really long needle. Hopefully it doesn't come to that though.

So that was Friday. My next appointment was then Monday, yesterday.

So I went back yesterday. They started me off with the fluid check. It was back in the normal range, but still high. Yesterday it was 20 cm. So I still have to go twice a week but they aren't AS concerned...or something. After the fluid check we went and did the NST. It took awhile to wake her up but once she did she passed fairly quickly. It was an interesting appointment yesterday because Stella was off so I stayed home with Dom. Then Dom and I headed up to the hospital at 3 and Nick met us there. So we had our appointment with Dom in the room and he's not the most patient guy in the world! But we all managed.

So now I go back on Thursday to repeat the fluid check and do another NST. I don't really know what they will do if it's still high...

Here's the info I found off of March of Dimes website:

How are oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios diagnosed?
An ultrasound can measure the amount of amniotic fluid:

• One method is called the amniotic fluid index (AFI) . The AFI measures the depth of the fluid in four quadrants in the uterus. These amounts are then added up. If the AFI is less than 5 centimeters, the pregnant woman has oligohydramnios. If the AFI adds up to more than 24 centimeters, she has polyhydramnios (1, 2).

How common is polyhydramnios?
About 1 percent of pregnant women have too much amniotic fluid (1). Most cases are minor and are caused by a gradual buildup of fluid in the second half of pregnancy. However, a small number of women have a rapid build-up of fluid as early as 16 weeks of pregnancy that usually results in very early birth (1).

What complications can polyhydramnios cause for mother and baby?
Women with minor polyhydramnios experience few symptoms. However, those who are more severely affected may have abdominal discomfort and breathing difficulties as a result of the uterus crowding the abdominal organs and lungs.

Polyhydramnios may increase the risk of pregnancy complications including (1, 2):

• Premature birth
• PROM
• Placental abruption: This is a condition where the placenta partially or completely peels away from the uterine wall before birth.
• Stillbirth
• Postpartum hemorrhage, which is severe bleeding after birth
• Fetal malposition: The baby is not lying in a head-down position. This may mean that that the baby must be born by cesarean section.

What causes polyhydramnios?
In about half of all cases, the cause of polyhydramnios is unknown (1). Known causes include:

• Birth defects: About 20 percent of babies from pregnancies affected by polyhydramnios have a birth defect (3). The most common birth defects that cause polyhydramnios are those that affect the baby’s swallowing, such as birth defects involving the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system (1, 2, 3). Normally, swallowing by the baby maintains the fluid at a steady level.
• Maternal diabetes
• Maternal-fetal blood incompatibilities, such as Rh and Kell diseases
• Twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS): This complication affects identical-twin pregnancies. One twin gets too much blood flow and the other too little because of connections between blood vessels in their shared placenta.
• Fetal heart rate abnormalities
• Fetal infection, such as with parvovirus B19: In childhood, this infection commonly causes a mild illness called fifth disease.

How is polyhydramnios treated?
When a routine ultrasound shows evidence of polyhydramnios, a provider recommends a more detailed ultrasound to help diagnose or rule out birth defects and TTTS. The provider also may recommend amniocentesis and a blood test for diabetes. Amniocentesis is a test in which a small amount of amniotic fluid is removed through a needle inserted into the mother’s abdomen to test for certain birth defects.

In many cases, slight polyhydramnios goes away without treatment (1). In other cases, it may resolve when the problem causing it is corrected. For example, treating high blood sugar levels in women with diabetes or giving the mother medicine to treat certain fetal heart rhythm disturbances often reduces amniotic fluid levels.

Providers closely monitor women with polyhydramnios with weekly (or more frequent) ultrasounds to check amniotic fluid levels and fetal well-being tests to check for signs of fetal difficulties. If the woman is uncomfortable because she has an extremely large amount of fluid, her provider may recommend treatment with indomethacin. This drug helps reduce fetal urine production and reduces amniotic fluid levels. Amniocentesis also can be used to drain off excess fluid. This procedure may have to be repeated a number of times.

If the tests show that mother and baby are healthy, a woman with slight polyhydramnios near term usually does not need any treatment.

So I'm assuming that I have slight polyhydramnios, if anything at all, and that me and Baby A are healthy since they haven't suggested any treatment and even told me that they didn't think they would do anything at all since I'm almost full term. They just want to keep up with the twice a week monitoring.

I guess we'll see what happens on Thursday with the next fluid check.

I'm not over concerned with all of this but it is slightly scary. Everything was going PERFECT with this pregnancy and I wasn't expecting anything to come up that would have me worried. But there's nothing I can do. I trust my doctor 100% and I'll keep doing what he tells me to do. Hopefully everything continues to go well and I'll have my baby girl in just a few weeks!

That's the plan anyway!

36 Weeks!!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

How your life's changing:

Now that your baby is taking up so much room, you may have trouble eating a normal-size meal. Smaller, more frequent meals are often easier to handle at this point. On the other hand, you may have less heartburn and have an easier time breathing when your baby starts to "drop" down into your pelvis. This process — called lightening — often happens a few weeks before labor if this is your first baby. (If you've given birth before, it probably won't happen before labor starts.) If your baby drops, you may also feel increased pressure in your lower abdomen, which may make walking increasingly uncomfortable, and you'll probably find that you have to pee even more frequently. If your baby is very low, you may feel lots of vaginal pressure and discomfort as well. Some women say it feels as though they're carrying a bowling ball between their legs!

You might also notice that your Braxton Hicks contractions are more frequent now. Be sure to review the signs of labor with your practitioner and find out when she wants to hear from you. As a general rule, if you're full-term, your pregnancy is uncomplicated, and your water hasn't broken, she'll probably have you wait to come in until you've been having contractions that last for about a minute each, coming every five minutes for an hour. Of course, you'll want to call right away if you notice a decrease in your baby's activity or think you're leaking amniotic fluid, or if you have any vaginal bleeding, fever, a severe or persistent headache, constant abdominal pain, or vision changes.

Even if you're enjoying an uncomplicated pregnancy, it's best to avoid flying (or any travel far from home) during your final month because you can go into labor at any time. In fact, some airlines won't let women on board who are due to deliver within 30 days of the flight.

Eating in "Start collecting take-out and delivery menus from local restaurants. You won't have time to cook in the early weeks after giving birth. Even restaurants without a visible take-out business will usually accommodate a to-go order (especially if it's for a new mom!)." — Kristina

Well I have updates from the last few dr. appointments but I'll put those in another post.

When reading this information, I think I'm right on track. I am noticing a LOT more contractions that are starting to hurt a bit, but nothing super consistent. I know that I probably won't go into labor on my own so I'm not really concerned about these contractions. I time them and do my breathing exercises through them and they always end on their own. So I'm not worried. Yet. :)

I have no problem eating...at all. Last night I ate a TON at my parents for dinner. And I enjoyed it all. Typically, I do eat less at each meal and just eat more frequently but I can eat a lot if I'm hungry!

Walking, etc. is getting more uncomfortable but I don't want to complain too much. Sleeping is really the worst part. I can't get comfortable and rolling over is a nightmare. Who knew it could be so hard to ROLL OVER. But it really is. And then add to that how I'm waking up every 2 to 2-1/2 hours to go to the bathroom and it's just insane. But I guess it's good practice for me since I'll be up every few hours for a feeding in just a few weeks!

I'm hoping to go to Time for Dinner next week or the week after (maybe Tuesday, the 15th since I'm on "Spring Break") to get some meals for us while I'm out. I think I'll probably go through our fridge and freezer this week/weekend too. I have so much in there and I need to go through everything. Make some room for the extra meals I'll have! :)

I think that's it! I'll do another post about my specific Baby A updates.

Happy 36 weeks Annabelle!

One more month...

Today is February 24th...one month exactly until my c-section. 4 short weeks until I have two children. Holy cow...

One more month.

I am so unprepared. It's kind of ridiculous. I mean we aren't entirely new to this, so we have things at home to help us with a new baby, but for the most part I feel lost.

I want my house perfect before this baby comes. PERFECT. And I know that there's no chance of that. I need to make a list. A list of things I need to do/have done before the baby comes and just work on it. One day at a time. No stressing.

At least the floors are done...I think. I'm pretty sure they are, at least. We still need to paint the walls and baseboards and put up the baseboards but the floors are done. We can start THINKING about putting furniture back.

One more month.

Once we can put furniture back, I think I'll settle down a little. I seriously have a small panic attack every time I'm on the main floor. You should see our kitchen. I should take a picture. In our kitchen we have our desk, a bookcase, china cabinet and hutch, dining room table, kitchen table and like 8 chairs. You can't hardly move in there. It's a chore to "make" dinner, which honestly consists of making a frozen pizza right now since I have no room to do anything.

We have all the china from the china cabinet and hutch on the floor in Dominick's big boy room. There is a wine rack on the poor kid's bed. Don't worry he's not sleeping in there yet... :)

One more month.

Here's what I want to have done before the baby comes. If I just make a list, we'll be fine. We can do it! We will do it!!

• Paint the living room/dining room walls
• Paint the baseboards
• Put up the baseboards
• Move all the furniture back in to the living/dining room
• Pack my hospital bag
• Pull out all the 0-3 month clothes and wash them
• Start to transition Dom downstairs
• Pack the hospital diaper bag
• Get the car seat installed (or like have Nick do it since he's now installed and uninstalled a car seat like 5,000 times)
• Finish the main floor bathroom closet
• Go to Time for Dinner and get one more round of dinners before the baby comes
• Re-decorate the nursery for Annabelle (not doing much, just a few little things to make it her room)
• Get a few things for Dommie when he comes to visit at the hospital so it's an easier transition
• Pull out the pack n play's and set one up on each floor
• Finish buying things we don't have and still need (i.e. swing, etc.)
• Set up diaper stations (for both kiddos) on each floor so after the baby comes and I am recovering from surgery, I'm not having to do stairs every time I need to change a diaper
• I'm sure there's more, I just can't think of anything else right now....
  

That's not so bad, right?? I can handle all this, right??

Of course I can handle it...I still have ONE WHOLE MONTH! :)

Udder Cover!

So that name just makes me laugh. :)

Not too long ago, my friend Ashley sent me an email with a promotional code on it to get a free nursing cover from Udder Covers. You only had to pay for shipping which was $9.95. I don't know if you've looked up nursing covers before but they are about $30-45. I had registered for one with Dominick and I got it, but I didn't like it. It didn't fit right and I just didn't like it. So I never used it. I also only breastfed Dominick for 6 weeks.

This time I am determined to make it longer. So I am buying all kinds of things to make breastfeeding and pumping easier to hopefully make this an easy thing.

Anyway, one of the things I wanted to get was a nursing cover. Since she sent me this promo, I figured why not? So I went online and picked one out and ordered it. Wouldn't you know it though, I picked one on backorder...That figures.

So I wasn't sure when I'd get it. But I got it today!! Yay!

I really like the design (even though it's not exactly the same color I thought it was) and I tried it on and it seems to fit ok. Obviously I just tried it on over all my clothes and I don't have a breastfeeding child yet, but I think the fit will work!



The color is more of a yellow than white, but it still looks good with the pink. I'm also afraid it's a little see through, but I think you really have to look to see anything, and it's not like people won't know what's going on under this thing. I think it will be pretty obvious!

Anyway, so today I got my $32.00 + tax + shipping Udder Cover for only $9.95!

A little more progress! Always a good thing!

Some Progress

I got a "few" things done last night...not a lot, but enough that it made me feel a teensy tiny bit better and like we're more prepared.

Last night was a Monday, so we were going to my parents for dinner. Dominick was already there...that's another story. I won't go into the full extent of my hormonal hysterics but basically I brought Dominick to daycare yesterday morning, only to find out that she was taking off for the holiday. Apparently she thought she told Nick that last week, he doesn't remember it, I wasn't ever told, etc. etc. So I bring him (in the rain) to her house and then have to leave with my 2 year old with no where to bring him...

So I got in my car and started crying. :) I called Nick and he called his mom. She was busy. I knew my mom was working but I called her anyway and she told me to call my Aunt Lisa, who works for a school and was off. I called her. She could watch him for the morning. My mom told me she could watch him in the afternoon. So I headed out to North County (from South City) and met my mom at her house to get some essentials. I had nothing with me. I got diapers, wipes, toys, and a binky. I brought him to Aunt Lisa's and he ran right in and started playing. Then I headed to work.

Anyway, so Dominick was already at mom and dad's last night. Nick went straight to their house after work since he is working out that way. I ran home after work (which is in North City) to let the dogs out and feed them and then head back North. I got to my parents house around 5:15 ish. As soon as I got there, my mom asked me to run to the grocery store for her to pick up a last minute ingredient. So I did that and then came back and we ate dinner.

After dinner, mom had to go to a meeting, so I ran out to Babies R Us. I have a baby shower that I'm helping host on Saturday and needed to get a gift for that and I wanted to get a few things for Dom and Anna. I got Michelle's baby shower present AND I got two things I wanted to get for Baby Annabelle AND 3 things I needed for Dom. :) Yay!

So I am in NO way, shape or form ready for this baby or anything, but I got 2 more things I needed!

That's some progress and at this point, I'll take it!

35 Weeks!!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

How your life's changing:

Your uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside your pelvis when you conceived — now reaches up under your rib cage. If you could peek inside your womb, you'd see that there's more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. Your ballooning uterus is crowding your other internal organs, too, which is why you probably have to urinate more often and may be dealing with heartburn and other gastrointestinal distress. If you're not grappling with these annoyances, you're one of the lucky few.

From here on out, you'll start seeing your practitioner every week. Sometime between now and 37 weeks, she'll do a vaginal and rectal culture to check for bacteria called Group B streptococci (GBS). (Don't worry — the swab is the size of a regular cotton swab, and it won't hurt at all.) GBS is usually harmless in adults, but if you have it and pass it on to your baby during birth, it can cause serious complications, such as pneumonia, meningitis, or a blood infection. Because 10 to 30 percent of pregnant women have the bacteria and don't know it, it's vital to be screened. (The bacteria come and go on their own — that's why you weren't screened earlier in pregnancy.) If you're a GBS carrier, you'll get IV antibiotics during labor, which will greatly reduce your baby's risk of infection.

This is also a good time to create a birth plan. Using our form will help you focus on specifics — like who'll be present, what pain management techniques you want to try, and where you want your baby to stay after you deliver. It will give you a starting point to discuss your preferences with your medical team. Childbirth is unpredictable, and chances are you won't follow your plan to the letter, but thinking about your choices ahead of time — and sharing your preferences with your caregiver — should take some of the anxiety out of the process.

Haha, the baby weighs in at about 5-1/4 lbs.....My last ultrasound guessed that this baby girl is between 6 lbs 2 oz and 6 lbs 14 oz. A little more than 5 lbs 4 oz!! That's ok though. I want her to be big and healthy. Dom was 8 lbs 9 oz a week early and that was just fine by me.

I'm still feeling plenty of kicks and that's great. I love it. I'm actually sad that soon I won't get to feel those kicks and punches anymore. Although, the alternative of getting to hold my baby girl will be much better. But still, it's sad. Nick and I have both always wanted 4 kids but you never know what will happen. We might not get that wish. So this could be my last pregnancy. You never know. I'm trying to savor these last few weeks.

I'm definitely going to the bathroom more. Not so much during the day but night time is the worst. I get up at least 3 times a night to go. I won't miss that! I'm not really sleeping at all anymore to be honest. Between getting up for the bathroom and finding a comfortable position, it's a battle to get sleep. Oh well. Good practice for when I'm up for 2 am feedings!

I had the Group B strep test done last week. You don't need to worry about about it if you have a c-section but since there's still a small chance that I'll have a VBAC, we had to do it. So that's out of the way.

Nothing else is really going on. Everything is going well so far so I'm sure (knock on wood) things will keep going smoothly!

I'm not going to have a birth plan. I didn't have one with Dom either. I understand why people have them, but it's not for me. I don't want to have it in my head that things have to go a certain way. I know they won't. I want to be flexible. My doctor and I have talked and we both are in agreement in how I would like things to go but I'm completely willing to deviate if need be. So no birth plan for me. Have a healthy baby. That's my birth plan! :)

Only a few more weeks to go! 4 weeks from Thursday at the latest.

The Date is Set!!!

It's official!

If I don't go into labor on my own, I will have a scheduled C-section.

Baby Annabelle Jean
Scheduled C-Section
Thursday, March 24, 2011
10:30 am

So we'll see what she decides to do! It's nice to have an official countdown, instead of a countdown to a due date and then maybe go past it. I know, that no matter what, the latest I will have my daughter is March 24th. Which is just 5 weeks from yesterday!!

Scary! Now that we have an official date, we HAVE to get on the ball!

So much to do, so little time!!!

Dr. Updates

I'll start with yesterday's doctor appointment. It was another long one...I sat in the waiting room for almost 2 hours. No fun at all. But at least this time, he was gone on a c-section. I can handle that. When we are 2 hours behind for NO apparent reason, I get annoyed. But being gone to deliver a baby. I'm fine with that.

My appointment was at 11:00 and I got called back to the doctor around 12:45. They weighed me and I'm down 2 lbs from 2 weeks ago. They nurse was concerned but I promised her that I'm definitely eating!! That puts me at a total weight gain of 20 lbs so far, with just under 5 weeks to go. I think I should be able to stay under my doctor's goal of 30 lbs! :) Let's hope anyway! They did my blood pressure, which was good and then listened to the baby's heart rate, which was 145 and perfect.

When the doc came in, I told him about my contractions and he decided to check my cervix. We also did a Group B Strep Test just in case I am successful in having a VBAC. My cervix is still closed, so no dilation yet, but I am starting to efface. I'm almost 50% effaced already actually, but that's nothing to worry about my doc said. He said just keep drinking water and take it easy. But things are going well.

And he said we need to schedule the c-section. I got excited to pick the date but then he told me that I don't pick anything. They look at the OR schedule and look at my doctor's schedule and they schedule it and call me. I was just hoping it was not on a Monday or Tuesday, so I could go to school on Tuesday and try to miss as few classes as possible!

All said and done, when I finally got back to the room, I was in and out. I was out of the hospital and walking to my car by 1:06.

That was yesterday's appointment.

Today I had monitoring and another ultrasound. My appointment was at 7:30. I dropped Dom off at his Nani's house at 7 am and headed to the hospital. I got to the Perinatal Center at 7:34 (a few minutes late) and waited. I didn't get called back until about 7:55. They decided to do my ultrasound first. Everything was GREAT! :) She's looking perfect. Growing fine. Growing BIG actually. I'm 34 weeks 5 days today and measuring around 37 weeks 2 days. She's in the 81% for size. They estimated that she was approximately 6 lbs. 14 oz. That's a big girl!

After the ultrasound, we headed back to a monitoring room. They hooked me up to measure the baby's heart rate and my contractions. Her heart rate was good, hovering around the mid 140's, but it wasn't accelerating like it should. They had me hooked up to the machines for almost an hour. They gave me some juice and had me try moving around. I could feel her moving fine, but she wasn't "active" enough for them. So they gave up. I failed my first Non-Stress test. They brought in a hand held ultrasound machine and did a BioPhysical Profile. I had to have this ONCE with Dominick...and he failed and they induced me the next day. So I was a little concerned when they started this. Luckily I had nothing to worry about. Her fluid was good (19.3 and they want it between 12-20), so we got 2 pts there. She was breathing immediately, so we got another 2 pts. We just had to see her move sharply and we were done and out of the woods. She did that within 5 minutes, so she's good. Just not a big mover in the morning. The nurse suggested that I make my future monitoring appointments in the afternoon.

So I got the go ahead to leave. I have to go back weekly for monitoring but didn't have to come back for 3 weeks for another ultrasound (like full measuring ultrasound...they do a mini ultrasound each).

I headed to the appointment desk to schedule my next few appointments when my dr. office called. They scheduled the c-section! I'll post that in another post though. Just for fun. :)

I got to make my appointments 3 weeks out so I'm all ready for the next few weeks ahead.

Everything is going perfect! Just a few more weeks to go! Woohoo!

Upcoming Appointments:
Friday, February 25: Monitoring
Thursday, March 3: Monitoring and Dr. appointment
Thursday, March 10: Monitoring and Ultrasound

34 Weeks!

How your baby's growing:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

How your life's changing:

By this week, fatigue has probably set in again, though maybe not with the same coma-like intensity of your first trimester. Your tiredness is perfectly understandable, given the physical strain you're under and the restless nights of frequent pee breaks and tossing and turning, while trying to get comfortable. Now's the time to slow down and save up your energy for labor day (and beyond). If you've been sitting or lying down for a long time, don't jump up too quickly. Blood can pool in your feet and legs, causing a temporary drop in your blood pressure when you get up that can make you feel dizzy.

If you notice itchy red bumps or welts on your belly and possibly your thighs and buttocks as well, you may have a condition called pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy (PUPPP for short). Up to one percent of pregnant women develop PUPPP, which is harmless but can be quite uncomfortable. See your practitioner so she can make sure it's not a more serious problem, provide treatment to make you more comfortable, and refer you to a dermatologist if necessary. Also be sure to call her if you feel intense itchiness all over your body, even if you don't have a rash. It could signal a liver problem.

Slide your way to slumber "In the third trimester, turning over in bed is a nightmare. The solution? Big satin pajamas and even satin sheets — the slipperiness of satin helps tremendously!" — Carrie

34 weeks and exhausted!!! Part of the exhaustion is probably from the trip we just took, but I don't remember being this exhausted at 34 weeks last time. I kind of remember actually having energy and then being told I had to do bed rest and was going nuts! This time I might actually welcome bed rest! (ok, not really...).

Things are still going extremely well. I feel good (except the tired part), the baby is moving a lot, and things in general are good. I go back to the doc this Thursday for my normal appointment and at this appointment we'll schedule the c-section.

We've decided to take VBAC off of my chart. I don't know if I blogged about this before or not, so this might be a repeat. But VBAC stands for vaginal birth after caesarian. I wanted to try for a VBAC this time and not go straight into the elective c-section. We originally put that on my chart. However, if I choose to do that, we can't schedule the c-section until the last minute. I'll get a bad time and potentially not even my doctor. If I don't put it on my chart (which I have now taken it off) and I go into labor on my own (you can't induce with a VBAC, you have to start labor naturally) then I can choose to do a VBAC or the c-section. Either way, and at least I'll already have the c-section scheduled. So that's our plan. And I pick the date on Thursday.

That's all that's going on, I think. No other news. :)

Happy 34 weeks Baby A!

Upcoming appointments:

Thursday, February 17 - Dr. Appointment

Friday, February 18 - Ultrasound and Monitoring

Not so ready

So I was emailing my friend Leslie today and she asked if the nursery was almost ready....

HAHAHA

No. The nursery is not ready. In fact Dominick is still in the nursery and not anywhere near his big boy room. That's our fault right now.

If you know us at all, you know we can't sit still around our house. We love where we live and we love the idea of our house, but our actual house? Not so much. So we've been making changes. A lot of changes in the last few years.

Right before Dominick was born, we added the fourth bedroom upstairs. We added a wall, ran new lighting and made sure he had enough heat in the winter and cool in the summer and made the nursery right next to our room.

Then, after Dom was born and right before his baptism, we redid the basement. We rebuild the entertainment center, re-carpeted most of the basement, re painted everything, and added ceramic tile by the laundry room and bathroom.

For Dom's first birthday, we needed a bigger kitchen for the big birthday party...so what do you do when your kitchen isn't big enough?? You knock down a wall of course! So we knocked down the (load bearing) wall between the kitchen and our guest bedroom and made a big kitchen (which is normally my favorite room in the whole house now, FYI).

For Dom's second birthday, we redid the first floor bathroom. It had been gross and now it's beautiful.

So in theory, we had until Annabelle's baptism to do anything new to the house. But we couldn't wait. We are currently refinishing all of our first floor hardwood floors. We wouldn't have started this project except that when we redid the bathroom, Nick pulled up the tile outside the bathroom and discovered beautiful hardwood floors underneath. They just needed to be sanded. Hence the beginning of this project. So far, the living room and dining room are completely sanded and getting stained today and this week. Then after we get back, we'll move the furniture from the entry foyer to the finished dining room/living room and do that last little section. Then we'll have perfect hardwood floors!

Anyway, I got off track. Since we are redoing the hardwood floors, we have the stuff that was in the living room/dining room either in the entry foyer or in Dom's big boy room. The main stuff in Dom's big boy room is all of our china from the china cabinet, so Dom's not really allowed in there right now. Since Dom's not allowed in his new room, he's still in the old room. So the old room is NOT ready for a baby.

It's weird. I keep thinking about how much time we have, and thinking that we have an eternity. We have time to get the room ready. We have time to move Dom downstairs. I have time to pack my bag. I have time to get all my work stuff done before I leave for 8 weeks.

Time, time, time. I have plenty! Right?

WRONG. This baby will come, whether I'm ready or not, in about 6 to 6-1/2 weeks. Um, that's not very far away at all.

So I guess after this vacation, we better get our sh!t together and start preparing for this baby girl!

6 weeks. Holy cow.

33 Weeks!!

How your baby's growing:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

How your life's changing:

As your baby fills out even more of your belly, lots of things might start to change: Whereas before you were sashaying, you may find yourself waddling. Finding an easy position to sit in — let alone sleep — is becoming more of a challenge. And bumping into chairs and counters is par for the course.

You may be feeling some achiness and even numbness in your fingers, wrists, and hands. Like many other tissues in your body, those in your wrist can retain fluid, which can increase pressure in the carpal tunnel, a bony canal in your wrist. Nerves that run through this "tunnel" may end up pinched, creating numbness; tingling, shooting or burning pain; or a dull ache. Try wearing a splint to stabilize your wrist or propping your arm up with a pillow when you sleep. If your work requires repetitive hand movements (at a keyboard or on an assembly line, for instance), remember to stretch your hands when you take breaks — which should be frequently.

33 weeks and still feeling pretty good! I remember when we first planned this vacation and I saw that I'd be 33 weeks when we left. I was thinking, "Am I even going to be able to do this?? Will I be feeling ok??" and I'm thankful to say, I still feel pretty good! I know that going on a vacation will be tough and I'll be exhausted I'm sure, but I'm happy to be feeling good at the start.

I definitely bump into things a LOT, but luckily no damage yet! I honestly still forget that I'm pregnant sometimes. I guess not forget that I'm pregnant but forget that I'm 33 weeks pregnant. I think I can squeeze by tables and chairs and I can't. I think that I can run up the stairs, two at a time, and then get winded about halfway up. I forget that I should slow down and relax more because our lives are about to get flipped over!

I'm not sleeping very well these days. It's not just the getting up to go to the bathroom but I have restless leg syndrome SO BADLY right now. I feel like my legs are tingly and I have to get up and stretch. I don't know how to make this go away but it's been bad so far. Hopefully I can start to get better sleep soon.

It's crazy to think that we only have a few more weeks to go. In about 6 weeks, we'll have a daughter. A new baby girl. I'm so excited and scared all at the same time. More excited than scared though. :)

We still have a lot to buy/get ready before this new bundle comes. Hopefully after this vacation, we can really start to get this stuff done. I want to have everything ready by the first week of March. That's my goal anyway! We'll see how that works out.

Happy 33 weeks Annabelle!