Hospital Pictures, Part One

Okay, the not cool thing about this is that the pictures are in backwards order for when they happened. Which sucks. But I have a baby that's starting to wake up, and I cannot figure out how to drag the pics, so oh well. Scroll to the bottom and start there, I guess. :)

Birth story

Birth story finally! How am I ever going to keep up with this thing?

So Friday the 21st was the most miserable day for me. I really wasn't feeling anything happening, and I just knew I wasn't going to be having her on the 22nd. I was so upset at the thought of having to go back to work on Monday (24th). Everyone was like, "Good luck this weekend" and I kept telling everyone I would see them on Monday. All week long people had been saying "You're STILL HERE?!?!" trying to be funny and I wanted to punch every single one of them. So I started telling people on Friday NOT to say that Monday morning because I would probably cry (or punch someone in the face!) Saturday came and went with the occasional contraction but nothing regular. I went over to my friend Angie's house that evening for her birthday and ate her husband's massively hot habenero sauce. We figured it was worth a shot. :)Sunday (23rd) I went to church and started to notice some regularity to my contractions. Still nothing good though, because over the course of that hour and a half the were 12-15 minutes apart and only 20-30 seconds long. My pastor was actually there (recovering from back surgery, so not preaching but there) and she prayed for me before I left.

I don't know if I mentioned it in here or not, but I was considering having my induction moved up to Tuesay. I had an appointment Monday afternoon and if I hadn't made much progress in the two weeks from when he first checked me and I was 60% effaced and 1.5 dilated, I was just going to get it done Tuesday. I still wasn't sure I wanted the induction, but why wait three more days? I was miserable at work, my doctor was leaving for vacation on Wednesday and if we waited until Friday Zane wouldn't be the first to meet Raegan. So the plan was I would go in for cervical ripening Monday evening and we would start the pitocin bright and early Tuesday morning. As usual, my baby girl had her own plans and was going to come when she wanted to. :)After Zane went to bed Sunday evening I ran out to Walmart to get batteries for the swing and a few other things. Ran into someone from work and told her I would see her in the morning. Got a call from a friend from work and told her I would see her in the morning. Noticed some contractions, so started timing them when I got home. From about 11:00 p.m. on they were consistently 10-12 minutes apart. I did not sleep Sunday night. Probably 3 hours total. Partially because I was uncomfortable partially excitement.

By 6:00 that morning they were 7-8 minutes apart and I decided I was too uncomfortable to go to work that day. As much as I hadn't wanted to go to work Monday, if they had still been at 10-12 or more apart I would have gone in, just to save as much sick time as possible. :) Told Zane someone would be at the house after school since we would be at the hospital by that point and he left for school. Luke decided not to go to work because who knew when things would start to pick up. Called my doctor's office at 10:45 to ask what to do. My nurse thought it was hilarious that I had an appoitment that afternoon and was scheduled for cervical ripening that evening. She laughed and told me she would cancel my appointment that afternoon. My doctor said to go ahead and go to the hospital. No thanks. Not when they're still that far apart. So I showered, checked my bag, and just generally dinked around. Finally called my mom around 12:30. She asked me if she should go to work that afternoon (from 2-5) and I assured her I would not be having the baby before 5 p.m. We stopped at Sonic so Luke could get some lunch. I knew I probably wasn't supposed to be eating but I had some cheddar bites because I knew I couldn't eat once I got admitted.

Got to my room a little after 1:00. Several nurses on the floor asked me what I was there for, because they had me in the system to come in that night. Nope, doing it all on Raegan's time. :)Nothing much happened over the afternoon. When I got checked (maybe 3:00 or 3:30?) I was at an almost 5, so I thought it wasn't going to take all that long at all. Haha silly me. I got kinda of crabby because they put an IV in my hand that hurt like HELL, and I found out since it was going to be an evening delivery it would NOT be my doctor delivering me but another one in the practice. I. Was. Pissed. He seriously couldn't come in when it was time for me to push? I hadn't even met Dr. Prendergast so I was not a happy camper. Watched a lot of TV, walked around a good bit. It really didn't hurt all that much. Luke left around 5:30 to get some dinner from the cafeteria and buy me some Chapstick (the one thing I forgot). Walked again when he got back. Got checked around 7:30 and I was at an 8. Still wasn't hurting all that badly although they were coming a lot closer together and I wasn't able to chat or focus on anything else during them. Zane called to talk to me around 8:00, wanting to talk about doing Children's Choir this year. Not the time for that sweetie. Robin later told me she figured I wasn't that far into labor then because I was able to carry on a good 5 minute conversation with Zane. :)

Then it started to hurt around 9:00. They checked me again at 9:30 and I was still at an 8. And starting to hurt a lot. At this point my water still hadn't broken, btw. I was all wanting to be natural and crap so when Dr. P asked me earlier if I wanted my water broken I said no, thinking it would break on it's own pretty soon. At 10:20 I paged my nurse and said I wanted Dr. P to break my water and she said he had just called and said he was on his way to talk to me about that. About 5 minutes later it broke on it's own after the worst contraction I had had so far. And THEN it started to hurt. But I still didn't progress very fast - I was at "almost 10" with a rim left forever! Oh, and at some point in there Dr. P had to turn Raegan because she was going to come out sunnyside up. Every time he rotated her she would rotate back. That's my girl - everything her way.:) And that turning her was probably one of the most painful parts of the whole labor, except for when I tore. So I'm having the most painful contractions, feeling like I have to push and not really able to yet. It hurt so bad. So, so bad. I kept saying I couldn't do it and was almmost in tears. Luke kept telling me I was doing so good and it was almost over and he wished there was something he could do for me. He was awesome. So awesome.

I have to say here that at this point if I could have still had pain meds, I would have taken them. Of course at that point it would not be good for baby, so I was shit out of luck. So I'm not totally awesome for doing it all natural, because I would have gotten out of it if I could have. Just wanted to say that because everyone at work is in awe that I did 28 hours of labor and two hours of pushing with no meds, so I feel like I have to throw that in there. lol

Finally, freakin finally at almost 1:00 I got to push. I didn't do a very good job the first 30 minutes or so because I didn't want to bruise my face so I was trying not to push with my face. Finally said screw that and just gave it all I had. Raegan's head isn't even all that big and it still took forever to get past my pelvic bone. Pushing wasn't really that bad, because it felt like I was doing something about the pain, you know? And finally Dr P started getting everything out and the nurse to take care of the baby comes in. I got to feel her head when she was coming out, which I really didn't think I wanted to do, but it was pretty cool. I tore, almost a second degree he said. That sucked. I begged him not to cut unless he had to, and he didn't so I love him for that. It almost felt like it was ripping up instead of down, which is weird. Dear God, it hurt. But then she was out so I really didn't care. I got to hold her on my stomach for a loooong time which was so cool. And when they took her, it turns out she pooped all over me. (Another reason I was going to go ahead with Tuesday - we KNEW she was past due. I was wondering when the meconium was coming.)

So I got stitched up, Luke took tons of pictures (which I will try to post tomorrow) and then I got to snuggle her for awhile. Then Luke took her so I could eat. Since it was the middle of the night I got a ham sandwich, chips, and cheesecake. Best damn ham sandwich I have ever had. Probably the best meal I've ever had in my life. I had the shakes pretty bad for a couple hours after I had Raegan, which was such a weird feeling. Didn't like that at all.We finally got to move to our room at 5:30, so I basically didn't sleep again that night either. The nurse came in at one point to do one of our vitals and woke me up because Raegan was a little blue because she was choking on some spit up. I was so tired and out of it that it really didn't even freak me out. Now thinking back on that it gives me chills but at the time I remember saying, "Really? Okay."

So that's that. Zane was the first one to meet her. My mom actually stayed put in the waiting room for a good five minutes. Oy. 28 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing. But all worth it for my sweet snuggly baby girl. I love her so much. I can't even describe it.

Been having contractions rather irregularly all day (Sunday). About 8:00 in the evening they started coming at 15 minute intervals, and by 11:30 or so they were at 10 minute intervals. I would say now they are 8 minutes apart or so. I'm trying like crazy to sleep because it's going to be a loooooong day if I don't, but every time I doze off I have a contraction. They are definitely getting more painful, so I would guess that this is the real deal. I sure hope so.

So thank you Lord for the timing! If this is truly labor, then I don't have to go back to work tomorrow. And I don't have to decide if I want to be induced Tuesday morning or not. :) Pretty awesome!

Well, Baby Girl's due date has come and gone. I was really depressed yesterday. Not that I thought she would actually come yesterday, since only 5% of women have their baby on their actual due date. My doctor told me that 85% of women have their baby in the week before their due date, but I think he was just saying that to make me feel good, because the books that I have from the class I took in college say anywhere from 20-30% of women go over. Thanks for the false hope there doctor!

I've been having some cramps last night and this morning, and some other signs (that are just TMI so I won't get into it) that make me really hopeful that this child will be coming in the next day or two. But I'm really trying not to get my hopes up, you know? More as it happens, I guess.

Doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. This time I actually get checked, and I'm hoping that he finds that something is going on. Anything. I'll even take a centimeter dilated, which really doesn't mean much of anything. I swear if there's no dilation or effacement..... :(

A lot of people have been commenting that I look like I've dropped, and I think I agree with them. There's a lot more space between my belly and my chest now, and I can actually eat more than ten bites of food without being stuffed. If nothing else, I think I've dropped because her head is sitting directly on my bladder and if I drink all the water I'm supposed to I pretty much live in the bathroom.

I've actually gotten a good nights sleep a couple nights this past week. Not last night, but a couple, so that's something. I think it's God's way of preparing mothers for having a newborn and not sleeping a lot anyways. Warm up.

38 weeks tomorrow! Still no signs of anything definite or real going on. The Braxton Hicks are coming more frequently - probably 8 or 9 times a day, but nothing steady. As of my appointment on Wednesday her head hadn't dropped down any. Boo! However, no protein in my urine this time, and my blood pressure is still good. Not as low as it used to be, but still hovering below the line where it's considered to be high. So that's good at least. Next week Dr. Knox will do a check to see if I'm dilated or effaced any. I've been praying like mad that I will be because I just do NOT want to go over. It has been a long 38 weeks, and I am ready to meet my baby girl.

I would guess that today she flipped around so that she was positioned with her face out, because I can't feel her hard little butt under my ribs when I poke around. Found a lump that I think was a hand near my belly button, and when I started to mess with it a little, she moved it. I was looking at my stomach at the time, and you could see this little lump travel a couple inches across my stomach. It's just so crazy looking!

On my list of things to get done this weekend: finish packing my bag for the hospital and buy a diaper bag. My bag is about half packed, I just need to add in my coming home outfit, toothbrush, and a couple other things of the sort. The problem is that I have so few maternity tops and bottoms that I just don't want to have to retire any of them by packing them in my bag.

Luke and Zane are going to the lake one last time tomorrow afternoon, and camping there overnight. Don't take that as a sign that you should go ahead and show up, okay Baby Girl? :)

Long overdue update

My God, I didn't realize it had been almost three months since I had updated this thing. I mean, I knew it had been a while, but good grief. So much for documenting my first pregnancy.

Three weeks to go. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly of lately.

The Good: Almost done! The end.

Haha, no I kid. There's more good to it than that. Last weekend we got the nursery finished. Well, almost. Sunday we're going to hang the letters for her name and put up this really cool press on wall decor thing that I found at Hobby Lobby. THEN it will be finished. Of course, we're hanging the letters, then taking them down once the nails are in the wall so that someone with the initials of ZANE doesn't see the baby's name and tell everyone what it is. :) I shall post pictures when all of the decor is up and the stroller and bassinet are out of there. We ended up painting the walls a really nice greeen, to go with the green in the quilt. I really thought I would be a pink, pink, pink person. Well, her clothing is pretty heavy on the pink, but all of the pink paint we looked at was a bit too "bubblegum" for our tastes. The quilt has a couple different pinks and some green and brown and cream in it, so the walls make the room not too pink and bring out the green in the quilt nicely. We just took the window valance to Lowe's and had them do their color match thing, which was pretty dang accurate. I was pleasantly surprised.

Lots of baby movements. The other day I was sitting on the couch and gave my stomach a random pat. Totally startled the crap out of Baby Girl, because she pretty much jumped in there (as best as she can, that is). Pretty funny. Lots of hiccups this week too. And sometimes you can see what looks like a knee or elbow or something sweep across my stomach. It is just so cool, I can't even describe it.

Luke has been super sweet and helpful the last month or two. Tonight he pushed in the coffee table and got me pillows and wet washclothes so I could put my feet up to maybe get the swelling down some. It did nothing for the swelling, but it was very sweet of him I thought. Last night he was poking my swollen feet because if you press on them, they stay indented for a little while. Gross. He was having way too much fun with it, I thought. :)

The Bad: I have the Heartburn from Hell. Some advice that I have for all women out there: do not schedule a dentist appointment for three weeks before you are due. Because laying back in the chair was hell. I've had so much heartburn and acid lately that I was coughing the whole way through as a way to try to keep it all down. It. Was. Miserable.

Apparently she hasn't dropped yet, but there are days her head floats down into my pelvis, and dear God, I just want to curl up and die. It frakkin' hurts! Earlier this week it was raining and I thought when I left the bank that I could do a little bit of a job to my car. Not with her head ramming into my pelvis I sure couldn't. *shudders*

Sleeping is no longer enjoyable, and honestly, if I could make it the next three weeks without sleeping, I would. I put a pillow between my legs. I prop myself up. I wait until I super tired to go to bed. And I still toss and turn all night. And I'm so freakin' fat that if I lay on one side too long the arm I'm laying on gets numb. I can't just flip over either, because of all the pelvic pain. I have to either sit all the way up then turn to the other side, or get on my hands and knees to flip over. It's seriously a one to two minute ordeal.

And, The Ugly:

Some protein in my urine at my appointment on Wednesday. That, along with my perma-swollen ankles and calves and hands, and the unexpected FIVE POUND IN A WEEK WEIGHT GAIN has me worried. Those are all signs of toxemia/preeclampsia. Which I am at an increased risk for because of all of my fertility problems, and because I'm borderline GD. So I'm kind of stressing about my appointment next Wednesday. If my blood pressure goes up (which it hasn't yet, so there is hope) and I still have all those other symptoms, or the protein in my urine increases, that's the end of this pregnancy. I just do not want to be induced. Of course, I want a healthy baby more than anything, but oh I do not want an induction. That's always been one of my top things about labor and delivery - no induction. I don't want forceps, I don't want an episiotomy, I don't want all of that crap. I took that class in college you know. If you induce, the odds that you need everything else is so much greater.

But more than anything I want Baby Girl to be okay. So. If it comes down to it, I'll deal with an induction. In the meantime, I'm doing a lot of praying. And putting my feet up and trying to avoid salt. I also read somewhere that there *might* be a link between not getting enough Vitamin C and preeclampsia. So I have oranges and grapefruit in my fridge that I will be eating every day between now and next week. It at least makes me feel like I'm trying.