The Birth Story...

Even though I wasn't on any pain meds to make me loopy, there were pieces of the delivery day that were missing from my memory. Just because things were so crazy and I was a little bit excited about other things!

So we went to the hospital on Thursday, the 16th to turn in our 24 hour urine collection. Dr. S made it sound like we were just taking it to the lab and waiting on the results. We knew if we failed we would be induced the next day. We didn't know they were going to take blood and put me on BP and fetal monitors while the tests were being conducted. We got to the lab at 5:00. About 7:15 the nurse came in to say that we failed the test. The last time I failed it was by 1 point, this time it was by 20. Since I was already "term," there was no reason why we couldn't go ahead with an induction. So the nurse said we would be admitted to the hospital, spend the night and be induced around 8:00 Friday morning. She started my IV and put in Cervi.dril to soften my cervix. Apparently L&D was busy that night because she said we wouldn't be taken up until 10:30 or 11:00. This also meant no dinner for Kimbo. No food since lunch time.....GRRR...

We started making our phone calls. I had made a "call bracket" for Dean so he wouldn't have to call so many people. Well, since we weren't going through what we thought we would, you know rushing to the hospital after my water broke at 3 AM....Dean broke the rules and started calling and texting people not on his list. Then both of our phones started blowing up with congrats and questions about when Friday things would get going...

We got a room in L&D around 10:00 and attempted to get a little sleep in before the big day. Dean had a lovely night on a fold out chair-bed. He was wishing we had opted for that $500 a night suite with the full size bed for the Dad!! At 7:40 AM, Dr. S took out the Cerva.dril and broke my water. At 8:10, they started the Mag.nesium Sulf.ate in my IV to keep my BP in check and 10 minutes later I got a finger oxygen sensor and Pito.cin was started. I really didn't know I was having contractions. I just thought I was cramping really bad. Those continued for a few hours and then I started getting bottom pressure, to quote my nurse. After a few of these, it was time for the epi.dural. This was around 10:00. The Pito.cin was stopped for the epi to be inserted and was turned on afterwards. Around 12:00, my nurse (patients on a Mag drip get a 1-for-1 nurse) went on her lunch break and I got a sub. The sub was older and more informative - at least she told me more about what was going on. Dr. S doesn't like to check the cervix very many times after the water is broken due to infection. But around 12:45 I told her that the pressure was getting much stronger and I think that the baby is ready to come out. She again reminded me about Dr. S not wanting to check often and that I was scheduled for a check at 1:30. I told her that I didn't think I wanted to wait another 45 minutes, so she agreed to check then. Good thing, I was already 9 cm! She then says, "How do I get a hold of your husband?" because around he same time he had gone to lunch with my family. I said I can get a hold of him. So I sent him a text message that said "9 cm. Lunch is over." Apparently it was a scramble of everyone to get back upstairs because they thought the baby was coming right then!

By then the regular nurse was back and with her on one knee and Dean on the other, I pushed through 4 rounds of 3 pushes - maybe 15 minutes. They said they could see the head and then the nurse yelled, "Stop!" I was like HUH? No more pushing. WHAT? WHY? Well Dr. S needs to actually deliver your baby. Oh OK then...let me just squeeze my thighs together to keep this little guy inside! WTF???

So the nurse makes "the call" and suddenly I feel like I'm the star on a movie set. Like 15 people come in with carts and equipment galore to get things setup. Dr. S came in and I pushed for about 10 more minutes and he was on his way out. The cord got wrapped around his neck while she was turning him so she had to cut it - fortunately for Dean - he didn't. Then the nurse who's closest to me says "one more push" so I did. Well Dr. S had apparently said to stop pushing because she was getting something situated and wasn't expecting my last push. Dean said just like THAT - there he was - like a rocket out of the hoo-hoo!!! LOL

7.5 lbs and 19 3/4 inches of pure love. He is so gorgeous - I know that's not what you say about little boys - but he truly is! Big blue eyes (hopefully they stay that way) and the cutest little button nose!

Antepartum (vs. Postpartum) rooms were full. There were 2 ladies who were also on a Mag drip that were waiting on stretchers after their c-sections for a room, so we hung out in L&D for a while. We were finally moved about 8:15 and had a couple more visitors before 9. We roomed in with him the first night. It was so crazy. I still couldn't believe I had a little baby of my very own!

Here are a couple of pics. This first one is his Week 1 pic. I am going to take a pic every week with his monkey so you can see how much he is growing! Watch for a new photo album over there ---------> with the weekly pics!

Miles and Mom taking a much needed nap on the couch!

The Final Belly Pic?

Here's the 39 week belly pic, both of Mommy-To-Be and Parents-To-Be. He was too embarrassed to do a bare belly pic! It looks like my belly is poking him, it is sticking out so far!

We will know in just a few short hours if Peanut will make his debut tomorrow or if he will continue baking in my oven until he is good and ready to show his face. But man.....do I want to meet him...or her...SO BAD!!!

I will try to remember to text in a message tonight saying if we are being admitted or not. But I guess if you don't hear from me for a few days, you'll know why. OhMyGoodness, I can't believe this is finally happening!

39 Weeks

The 39 Week Belly Comparison....

Could it be the Final Belly Pic E.V.E.R.?

39 Week Update

So we are back from the OB's office for the 39 week appointment. Let me start by saying that the little sore throat I started getting yesterday progressed overnight and now I sound like a frog. My throat is itchy and scratchy so I've been coughing and sneezing. I got about 2 hours of sleep last night because of the coughing... I took some Tyle.nol Cold N Sinus before going to bed.

Now here are the stats:

Weight: +2 lbs from last week
BP: 150/90, after resting 128/86
Belly: 39 1/2 cm
Baby HB: 148
Dilation: still 2 cm, same as last week
Cervix: still soft but closed, same as last week

She was a little concerned about the high BP, but said that the Tyle.nol contains Suda.fed and that can raise your BP so it could be nothing. However, to be on the safe side, I am starting another 24 urine collection immediately. I will take it to the lab at the hospital tomorrow at 5 PM. I will have my BP checked there and wait for the urine test. If it comes back ok (which the other 2 I have done during this pregnancy always have been) then I go home and wait for Peanut to come on his own. If it is abnormal, then I will be admitted to the hospital and they will start an induction Friday morning.

So I could have a baby by the weekend!

Friendship Award & BH!

The always sweet Martha has given me another award! The Friends Award is self explanatory and the rule is to pay it forward to 8 bloggy friends!

So please consider yourselves my dear bloggy friends. I treasure what each of you has to say and it warms my heart to know you are out there thinking of me! So here you are in no particular order....



BrandiH2007
s.e.
PJ
Mel
Ashley
Beautiful Mess
DeLenn
On My Mind 24/7

Also, on the baby front....I think I am finally having some Braxton Hicks contractions. I had thought that it was just Peanut pushing up and out on my belly, but I looked at What to Expect again this morning, as well as a couple of websites, and I think they are BH! So that is kind of exciting I think - one more step, right?

On another note, I started feeling a sore throat coming on last night after dinner. I gargled some salt water, but all throughout the night, I could barely swallow! My throat feels like my tonsils are swollen or something. Dean looked with a flashlight and said they don't look red nor have white patches on them...UGH - I called the doctor and she said I could take Tyle.nol cold-n-sinus and gargle salt water. I have been gargling today and drinking lots of fluids, so we'll see how we fair tonight. If this doesn't get it, I will pick up some cold medicine tomorrow. I definitely don't want to be icky-sicky when Peanut arrives!

Plug Be Gone

I don't really have much to update today, except to say that for my Easter present I lost my mucous plug!

BLECH!

One more step towards Mommyhood though, so WHOOP!

38 Week Appt

Back from the 38 week appointment. Dr. S was working the hospital today so we didn't really have an appointment time. I called in around 8:30 to find out when would be a good time to come in and Dr. S would just walk over from the hospital. She said 9:30 would be good. EEK - I hadn't even showered yet! So a quick shower and off we went.

The nurse paged Dr. S that we were there and to come on over. In the meantime, did her usual.

Weight: -1 lb
BP: 120/80
Baby HB: 144

Then Dr. S called saying she had 2 patients she needed to deal with and couldn't make it over right now. She didn't say if these patients were in labor or what so we had no clue how long it would be before she came back. I really wasn't up for waiting there all day long...and Dean had meetings to get to. So the nurse suggested we grab breakfast in the deli downstairs while we wait. I had 1 bite of a breakfast taco, Dean had 3 bites of an egg sandwich when we got the call to come back.

Belly: 39 cm
Cervix: very soft
Dilation: 2 cm

She said the baby could come at any time now and "see you next week unless you have a baby before then." Oh - during the exam when she was checking the cervix she pushed extra hard and then said "want to stir things up a bit?" HUH? Like if she poked him in the head he would come sooner? UH NO was my answer. I'm not QUITE ready yet. The more baking time Peanut gets, the better I will feel.

WHOOP! (SI and MN - these are 2 less cm that I have to be drugged in the hospital to get, so even though you say, "That's all? Don't you have to go to 10?" This is quite a lot!!!) There are lots of women who don't dilate at all before being admitted in the hospital. And just for you SI....here's a pic of 2 cm dilated!! :0)

So HA! Look at me - I'm ahead of the class!

On another note, our financial dude is coming over today. Dean and I both have some money lingering in our TRS accounts (Teacher Retirement Savings) from when we used to work for the state - me for a school district and him for a college (as a janitor when he was IN college - HA!). We are trying to get that moved into our other 401K's or Roths or whatever. We are also going to talk to him about setting up a college fund for Peanut.

Other than that, I need to make my easter basket handle - for the easter basket cake - for Sunday today so it will have time to harden. I already made a little bunny and some flowers. Pics will be posted when the final product is ready!

Hope you all have a great day!

37 Week Update & a Crafty Craft

We are back from our 37 week appointment with good news!

* BP: 110/70
* Weight: -1 lb
* Baby HR: 160 - again very active right before she took it. Actually when she started taking it, it was 140 and increased as she measured, so she probably took the high end of it.
* Baby at -3 station
* Soft cervix
* 1 cm dialated!!!!!

That's 1 less cm I have to have drugs to get and/or be waiting in the hospital for! Next check up is Thursday!

Also - looky at what I made last night. One of the last things that we needed to get (because it was driving me crazy) were those closet dividers for baby's clothes. Unfortunately, BRU only carries them online and being that this is the only thing I need to order from them at the moment, that seems like a waste to pay shipping for one small item. So yesterday afternoon, I searched the internet for some other crafty way to make my own. I came across several good ideas, some cuter than what I did, but I don't have the energy right now to make something crazy complicated - and repeat it 4-5 times, depending on the number of dividers I make.

Anyway, I used the foam door hangers and foam stickers and designed them myself. You know they had to have monkeys on them! It was a cheap, easy project! And I have leftovers to make new ones when the baby gets bigger. I'm so crafty!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Growing Pains

At least that is what I think I had last night. Let me back up. We had dinner at Den.ny's last night. Of course I was feeling some pregnant cravings so I had the appetizer buffalo chicken strips and the appetizer bacon and cheese covered fries. Thus spicy and greasy food. Not good for my already sensitive and filled to the brim with stones - gall bladder.

About 30 minutes after we got home, I started having constant pain all across my upper abdomen - right near or under my ribs. When I was first holding the right side of it, Dean immediately said I shouldn't have eaten that stuff because now my gall bladder is acting up. I told him I would be SO PISSED if after 37 weeks of pregnancy, NOW would be the time it wanted to act up? When I'm already so big, it hurts to bend over?? But then the pain was in my lower back as well and I could NOT get comfortable. We were trying to watch a movie and I kept getting up off the couch and bending over the couch and laying down and walking laps in the living room...nothing would make it stop. This continued for about 2.5 hours. We didn't want to call the doctor just yet because the pain wasn't fitting into the description of Braxton.Hicks, pre-term labor, early labor, or labor-labor. Yes, we did have to bust out the What.To.Expect book to be sure. Nothing matched because the pain was constant and not coming and going as contractions should do.

I asked him to call the doctor and he said they weren't going to do anything for me so why call? Well, I can't get comfortable and the last paragraph of the labor chapter did say, "If you have any doubt, CALL." So he talked to the on-call doctor (not same on-call doc that prematurely had me thinking I had pre-e, thank goodness). She said basically that the baby is growing a whole lot right now and these are basically just late pregnancy pains. Take a warm bath and a couple of Tylenol. UGH.

So off to the bathroom we go for a bath at 11:30. That helped the pain until the water started cooling off. I was so tired and finally decided to try and go to sleep - HOW I have no idea as there were zero positions that I could get cozy in.

I ended up, upstairs in the guest bed because its not as squishy as our bed, and helped my back a little. I tossed and turned for a few more hours, but finally was able to go to sleep. Of course, this only lasted a few hours because then I had to pee! Luckily after that pee break, I slept all the way until morning. Morning - at 9:30 - when Dean came in to wake me and Maddie barked and tried to bite him for touching Mama! She is totally in protective mode now.

This morning we are pain free, thank goodness.

Oh but I have another story for the day - ugh and it's only 10:45 as I type. When I got up, there was a voicemail on my cell. Guess who? Remember this lady who was going to save the day? Yeah, it was from her. We had a meeting this afternoon to meet her and see her house where our baby would be taken care of....the message was this, "Hi Kim. It's Jen. I know we were supposed to meet today, but I didn't really get a good response from the ad I posted (remember she posted it on 3/9 and I was her first call last week) so I am going to have to look for something full time outside the home. Sorry, Thanks, and Good Luck."
WHAT THE HELL? Why are you waiting until the day we are supposed to meet to drop this on me? What we think happened is she talked it over with her husband and he said if you are only going to be keeping 1 kid, that's not enough money to cover us so you need a full time job. And I understand that, but her timing B.L.O.W.S.

So Dean has posted an ad on our neighborhood website and I just found a home based child care lady in the section across the street from us. Hopefully one of those will pan out...

The What-Are-We-Going-To-Do-When-Mom-Goes-Back-To-Work-Game is back on.

36 Week Update

• Blood pressure - R arm: 130/90; L arm 120/90; after resting L arm 110/76
• Weight - up 2 lbs from last week
• Little bit of swelling
• Belly measuring 37 weeks
• Baby HB - 148 (NOTE: he has been super active today up until right before the appt so I guess it was enough to increase the hb since its been in the 130's for the past several visits)
• Baby hasn't dropped
• Baby weight approximately 6 lbs.
• Cervix a little soft
• No dilation

HOLY MOLY did that internal exam hurt like a BI-ATCH! I thought her fingers were going to come out of my throat! I had to potty before we checked out and it was already spotting a little bit. She said that was normal and due to the soft cervix.

She said since the baby was still high and no dilation, she doesn't expect labor any time soon. Which is fine by me. I love being pregnant!

No Sleep & Lots O' Pics

So I have finally gotten to the point where I cannot get a full night's sleep to save my life! I had a headache last night so I took 2 Tylenol and went to bed at 9:20. I was hoping going to bed early would let me get a little bit more sleep, but no. I woke up at 11:45, 2:00, and 4:00 and 6:00 to go to the bathroom!! How does my little, tiny, squished bladder have the capacity to hold that much fluid without me drinking anything during the night???

I am also having to sleep with the wedge pillow under my belly and the big giraffe body pillow behind my back in the event I try to roll over in the night - which I do - but if I don't have the pillow I start to get short of breath? I guess cutting off circulation to my main vein would do that, right? Oh and to top it off, Maddie has turned into a 65 year old man! She snores SO LOUD and SO LONG! I was knocking on the headboard and calling out to her from 4-4:45 to get her to shut up!! Finally I picked her up and put her on our bed. For some reason, she doesn't snore up there, but if she does, I can easily give her a little nudge with my foot!

The 35 week appointment is this afternoon, so I'll update that tomorrow morning. Until then, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Beautiful Mess asked for pics of the patio furniture we bought last weekend...

Here is the 35 week belly pic!

The first piece of Peanut's Blanket-to-be, signed by all the shower invitees...

The changing station, dresser, and hamper. The baby's name will go above this once we know what it is!

The valance...the picture of the whole window wouldn't show up clear because of the sun shining through the blinds...

The pics Aunt Mel, Grammy, and myself painted and the crib...

The growth chart

The little shelf and painting Aunt Mel painted. We will put the baby's name and birth information in the clouds. It will also be hanging on our Post Partum room at the hospital!

The pappasan that I just can't get rid of (it will probably move to the living room and the rocker will go here after the baby moves into the nursery), the monkey we will take baby pics with, and the blanket my sister-in-law made.

The wardrobe - it has diapers and wipes inside!

Bonus!

We had our Infant.CPR.and.Safety class last night. We are now educated in car seat installation, CPR, and choking - or rather how to releive choking I should say. It was definitely worth the time and money for this class. It was the shortest of the 3 that we took, but probably the most beneficial considering it could be applied to save Peanut's life!

Afterwards, we met S&J and Baby Andrew at Buffalo.Wild.Wings because, you know when Peanut wants wings, Peanut gets wings! (It's never because I want wings, it's always because "it's what the baby wants!") We hadn't got to visit with them in a while, so after dinner we went back to their house....until 1 AM! HOLY MOLY is this Baby Mama T.I.R.E.D. I felt like I got run over by a truck. Dean had a 7 AM con-call he had to get up for. Me, well I "work from home" too, but remember I don't have anything to do since my backup-to-be wants to "learn all the ropes" before I am really out on maternity leave and un-contactable (is that a word?). So I slept in - SSHHH - don't tell LaRay. Wait. Who am I kidding? She left last night to take the fam to Disney World for Spring Break. She'll never even know!

We have a pretty boring weekend ahead. Dean is taking his son to pick up a motorcycle he bought off of Craigs.list. It's a 1963 BSA - Sportstar or something like that. Not that I know what that means. Just that it's a small, light bike that is super cool according to our friend in the UK. It is currently not running, but the boy is eager to fix it up. I am excited too, because he has no other transportation right now and lives 15 miles away. Anytime we want to do anything with him, we have to go pick him up, usually just to bring him back to our house. Then after whatever we are doing, Dean takes him back again. I just hope he gets it running sooner than later!

After that, we plan on going to look for patio furniture. Dean built this awesome flagstone patio 3 years ago when we moved in. And then last year, we finished building this outdoor barbecue. Now we need to add some nice furniture to complete the ensemble. We had better do it now while we still have money leftover from my bonus at work. Oh - and I think I forgot to post what else we have already bought with it. Baby stuff? NAH. Mommy stuff? NAH. Daddy stuff? BUT OF COURSE!

Not ONE, but TWO 46" LCD HD TV's!! Here's a pic of the one in the game room, currently in front of my couch planted butt...

Actually, he has been wanting one of these TV's for a very long time and at Christmas I put a note in his stocking that he could use some of my bonus in March for a new TV. But TWO? REALLY? And you'll never guess where we got them....at the grocery store! Our HEB is an HEB Plus. This just means it has more stuff than regular HEB's, but not as much as HEB Central Market (The granddaddy of all grocery stores). It has textiles, electronics, baby department. Anyway, they were clearing out their '08 models to make room for the '09s. We got the last 46" in a box and the display model. He was so happy to be rid of our 1990 TV's....not really 1990, but the old school box style. Hell - one was my TV from college!

What a loving wife I am to give my husband the money that I so desperately worked for (ok, the company worked for) to let him make such a grand purchase???? LOL

A little delayed, but here's the 34 week, 2 day belly pic. Please excuse the no bra and fishing pants that I am borrowing from the husband. None of my pajama pants will fit anymore!

33 Weeks & Picture Updates

I have been promising some pics for a while, not to mention we forgot in all the commotion last week to take a 32 week pic... But the pics in a minute. Let me catch up to date on "Is it Pre-E or Is It Not?"

Today was our 33 week appointment. This is also the first time we have actually spoken to Dr. S since going to L&D last week and being told to stay away from work. They were only running a little bit behind schedule today. Good thing, since we had a cooler in tow with the pee bucket inside! I think they felt sorry for us and let us go on back to the waiting room in the back with the ice chest. Luckily, we were put into a room promptly after that, just for the nurse to check vitals, but it got us out of the weird stares - I kept telling Dean I felt like we were transporting a liver or a heart or something. He kept putting it up to his ear asking if it was still beating...ugh - boys! Anyway, the vital check:

• weight check - down 3.5 lbs since since 2 weeks ago
• BP - initial 128/81; had me lay down for a few and it was 117/60. REALLY?
• baby HR - 138
• baby belly - measuring on schedule

Dr. S said looks like the resting was helping with the bp. We said wellllll....and proceeded to tell her about this crazy week and that the Monday after all that was done was the day I called the after hours line and had to go for BP monitoring. Her response? That high activity and stress have NOTHING to do with pre-e and that no one even knows the cause of pre-e. If someone did, they would win the Nobel Prize! HA! She said old school medicine said if you had high BP, protein in your urine, and swelling, then you had pre-e. Now swelling is not even considered a "symptom" of pre-e because almost every pregnant woman has some type of swelling. But the ONE POINT over the limit of protein and my BP not remaining high (it goes down after sitting or laying) means that I DO NOT HAVE PRE-E!!!!

WHOO HOO!!! She said she doesn't see me having pre-e or any other issues and to just take it easy. She even said I could go back to work if I wanted. I said I was more comfortable working from home because when I was getting those killer headaches, it was at work. I think (not that I have an MD, only from Go.ogle) that sitting up all day caused those. She said she was good with it either way. I spoke with my boss and she said she was ok with it too. Whatever it takes to keep Peanut incubating as long as possible! So I will continue working from home....however, my backup dude has asked for him to still be able to do my tasks and for me to just "supervise" him, given that we have been blessed with this extra time that I am available for questions. So....sounds like a cush job to me right? ;0) Not cush, just an awesome, understanding manager who only wants best for me and this baby. So UNLIKE my previous managers!!!

We also asked Dr. S what was up with the weight loss and she said a week of resting probably and then weight loss probably meant it was swelling weight that I lost. I didn't even realize I HAD swelling. I've been checking my legs and ankles and didn't see anything. She said it was probably all over swelling, just under the skin where I couldn't even tell.

So all in all, it was an AWESOME appointment. She doesn't expect any more issues for the rest of the pregnancy - THANK GOD. Hopefully we'll get the 2nd pee bucket results tomorrow and it will be normal again...

We learned lots of good info at Breastfeeding Part 1 last night. I am very glad we signed up for the class. I especially got a lot from the actual holding of the pretend babies and the pretend boob to know how to hold each and help the baby get a good latch. I am sure Part 2 will be just as informative! And I think Dean laughed only twice - once when they said the word "placenta" - for some reason that word just makes him hysterical - and another when they talked about not allowing the baby's nose to be smushed into the boob - he says "you'll suffocate him." HA very funny!

Ok, onto the pics....

This is a chrysalis that will be a butterfly soon. It is residing in the Butterfly Garden at the Children's Museum where we took the fam 2 weeks ago.

This is the fam at NASA - Adrien (daughter), Dean, Jody (son-in-law), prego and Catherine (granddaughter) in front.

If you look closely in the bubble up top, you can see Catherine waving to us! This was in the indoor playground at Space Center.

During our NASA tour of the astronaut training facilities, our tour guide noticed this thing was being taken out of the building so we all hauled it outside to watch it in motion. It's the new Mars Rover that will be used for our first Mars landing!

And finally....the 33 week belly pic! In my oh-so-attractive Men's XL sweat pants!

Thanks for the Words....

Thanks everyone for the prayers and slaps back into reality to let me know that I really am doing something laying around on my butt all day long....and that is growing Peanut bigger and stronger everyday.

I also feel better since Sister came over yesterday and organized the baby stuff that was still all over the place. I also sent her with some things we need to return to various stores, as well as a list of things we still need i.e. the changing pad!

Nothing on the agenda today besides thank you notes and filling out the warranty cards for the baby items that were put together on Sunday.

Tomorrow night is the first breastfeeding class. That should be interesting. I rsvp'd for only myself, but at the childbirth class on Saturday, the instructor said the partner should come too, so they know what is going on and how to encourage us if we are having trouble. I am sure D will be all over that because undoubtedly there will be pictures and/or videos of boobies!

Thursday is our 33 week appointment with Dr. S, as well as the first time we will have had to talk to her since everything went down last week.

Happy Tuesday.

Homebound Day #5

Here I am, in the recliner, on Day #5 of resting. I have the TV, laptop, phone, water, BP cuff, and Maddie all within my reach.

Saturday was our Fast Track AKA 8 hours long child birthing class. It was ok. The teacher was nice and educated. We did learn a lot of information and see a lot of videos. Dean could have gone without the delivery of the placenta, but hey - it's all part of the process, you know? HA. The hospital I will be delivering in has recently built a new wing - which we got to tour. Apparently by April, all of their rooms will be Private (no more sharing with some other mother) and L&D and Post Partum will all be in the new wing. That is awesome! The other side of the hospital is a little bit more antiquated. They are trying to keep up with all of the other hospitals in the area. The instructor had asked if I wanted a wheelchair for the tour. I said no, that I would be fine. But near the end, my cheeks were flushed (Dean says this is always an indication of my BP going up). So when we got back to the classroom, I had to lay down on a mat with my pillows while everyone else was in chairs. I felt like the slow kid in the class. :0(

That did me in and I fell asleep while watching a movie after dinner.

Sunday I had big plans to remove the tags off of the remainder of the washables and get a laundry pile ready for somebody. All I did was come upstairs, get some stuff out of the closet, something out of the dresser, and then sit on the floor to cut the tags off. Dean came up to see how I was doing and my face was flushed again. He told me to quit so we went downstairs. It was almost 1:00 so I wanted to take a shower and he told me no. I started crying. All I wanted to do was get my baby's stuff organized and take a shower and I couldn't even do that. He had some errands to run at the grocery and hardware stores, so he left me on the couch and said not to get up. I cried the entire time he was gone. Its just so hard. I know there is so much to get done in the baby's room and I can't do a damn thing without getting flushed.

I just know in my heart that Peanut is going to want to come early and I won't have anything ready. What a terrible Mom to not even have an outfit ready for him to come home in! There are some things that need to be exchanged for some things we really need...and the nursery needs to be organized. Right now all the non-washable things like pacifiers, bottles, car stuff, etc. are just sitting in baskets on the dresser.

Luckily, the grandparents came over yesterday and Grammy washed the clothes, blankets and bath stuff. Some of it got put away, but some still needs to be put up as it came out of the dryer after she left. Then Dean and Grampy put together the stroller frame, pack-n-play, swing, and bouncy seat. I feel a little bit of relief. But I would still feel better if the room in general was prepared...

I know this ended up being a whining and complaining post and I know that all of this resting is for the betterment of Peanut. And that's all that matters in the end, right? No matter how many weeks I have to stay at home and/or in bed, that's one less stressful week that Peanut has to fight to live outside the womb. Everything is about the baby.

AND I LOVE MY BABY!

Update...

Picked up my pee jugs from el doctor today. We spoke with the nurse in regards to the "no work" comment. We needed further clarification as to what this means. What this means is that I am to not go into the office (I can work from home as the doctor allows - which, really....right now I am laid up in the recliner with Maddie beside me and the laptop in my lap!) She didn't say "bed rest," just to stay home and relax. Nice Nurse even said "consider it a mini vacation before the baby comes." Really...do you know me? Do you know how my mind wanders? Do you know what I'll be thinking about all the time?

I know Martha and LaRay - you don't have to lecture me again. I will rest and relax and all that jazz and hopefully not let myself think about things too much. I know this is all for the benefit of keeping Peanut incubating a while longer....hopefully a lot longer. I just need to suck it up and let people do stuff for me (HA) that I can't do right now.

I guess I'll definitely get caught up on all my blog reading and maybe even add some more to my list as I will have plenty of time!

Thanks for all the good wishes. Talk to you soon!

Bad News

I finally got my results back from my pee test. Only after calling again myself yesterday afternoon. Apparently the cutoff for protein levels in your urine is 299. And mine was.....you guessed it...300. ONE FRIGGIN' POINT TOO HIGH!!

Nice Nurse said this meant no more working. I am hoping they just don't remember or didn't look at my chart in regards to exactly what my "work" consists of. I work in IT, therefore am sitting at my desk all day long, working at a computer.

My regularly scheduled appointment is next Thursday, so I'm home until at least then. She wants me to do another pee test next week. Has anyone ever been put on rest just for a week and if the next pee test comes back ok, then you went back to work? I have to go to the office in a little bit to pick up more pee buckets. At that time, I hope to ask her exactly what "no work" means. Does this mean I am officially on bed rest or is it modified bed rest or is it just no working or what. I hope after I remind her what it is that I do, that she'll allow me to "work from home" i.e. work from my bed and/or couch. I can't and don't want to use my maternity leave and vacation all up before the baby is even here!!! I only get 6 weeks and using 3 weeks vacation. And I just don't think we could swing short term disability since it is unpaid. I wonder what people do who get put on bed rest this early who don't have the ability to work from home?

I am getting way nervous that this baby is going to come way sooner than I am ready for. Just last night, D and I went through all the shower stuff. Because I still had company through Sunday and Monday was the L&D visit, we haven't done crap around here, especially with the baby stuff. We rechecked the gift lists before taking everything out of their bags, removed the tags from the washables, and put away (kind of) everything else. Now I need someone to get some detergent so we can wash everything and put it away. Mom said she was willing to do that, so holler when you can. We also have to return a few things to a couple of stores. I think if I send D with what to exchange everything for, he could manage that?? I think I mentioned before that we got tons of washcloths and towels? We ended up with 17 towels and about 60 washcloths! Can you believe it? We are actually keeping most of them since I hear some of them wear out so fast.

We have our FastTrack childbirth class tomorrow. Obviously we need to be in attendance for this, but I guess I have to ask the doctor to make for sure it is something I can do.

Please keep us all in your prayers while we go through this. And let me know of any tips you know of on how to remain calm and not get so anxious and nervous about something going wrong.

GRRRR to "Satellite Offices"

So when I called Dr. S's main office on Tuesday afternoon to find out what I needed to do with aforementioned pee bucket, Mean Nurse asked if I had orders for the pee test. No, hospital said to just bring it to your office.... So Mean Nurse says I'll have the orders at the front desk. Bring in pee bucket and pick up orders. You will then take it to the lab down the hall.

5 minutes later, Nice Nurse calls and asks if I am still in Pearland. Yes. Ok then you can take it to the satellite office in Pearland since its closer and so you won't have to pay for parking. GREAT. So yesterday morning I dropped off said pee bucket off. Lab is in the office here. Stupid Lab Lady comes out to greet me and asks me back to lab. She looks at orders (which were faxed) and asks ME if that's all. Really? Aren't you the lab tech and aren't you READING THE ORDERS? Yes ma'am. That is all. Are you sure no blood draw - to me - yes, we did that Monday night, thank you. Are you sure no blood draw - to other office person - no, remember we looked at the orders in the computer yesterday...just the pee test.

THIS should have been a sign of things to come.

I called the main office yesterday afternoon around 3:00 (I had to refrain myself from calling too soon) to see if the results had come in yet. No, but she would call when she got them.

I called the main office today at 9:45 to see if the results had come in yet. Mean Nurse - no, but we'll check on them and call you back. Nice Nurse calls back 5 minutes later after speaking with Stupid Lab Lady (see above) at the "satellite office" she is informed that they only "Do" that test in the afternoons and that the results were not in yet. EXCUSE ME? I dropped it off yesterday M.O.R.N.I.N.G. Wasn't yesterday afternoon considered an "afternoon?" WTF??? She said yes, but apparently the courier didn't PICK IT UP until yesterday AFTERNOON, therefore will not be processed until THIS AFTERNOON.

Don't they realize this is a critical test and that it is imperative that both Dr. S and myself know the results ASAP??? I swear, sometimes I wish we could have seen Dr. H - The Almighty and Wonderful RE - for the duration of this pregnancy....It seems he and his staff cared a little bit more than these OB morons...

Results coming soon. Maybe THIS afternoon....

UGH!

Pee Check

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am back at work with my feet propped up, drinking lots of water. Dropped off the pee jug this morning. We should have the results back today...and if we don't, I will be calling! I feel lots better after resting all day yesterday.

Oh, and I just made our "New Mom" appointment to meet and greet the pediatrician-to-be. Is it a bad sign that even THAT appointment couldn't be made until MARCH 12TH???

24 Hour Pee Bucket & High BP

So Dr. S had told me because the BP has been high the past 2 appointments (even though it lowers after laying on my side for 10 minutes) that if I get another headache that Tylenol can't cure, to call the office immediately.

So on the way home yesterday, I started getting one. I took 2 Tylenol when I got home and took a nap. When I woke up at 6, the headache was still there. Dean had 2 teeth extracted yesterday also (a piece of a lower filled molar broke off on Saturday exposing the nerves) so he wasn't feeling up to par either. We laid around on the couch waiting for our pain to go away. Ate a late dinner and by 8:00, the headache was still there.

I didn't want to be a nervous patient, so I wanted to check my BP before calling the after hours line. Nobody in my neighborhood had a BP cuff available, so we drove to to CVS to use theirs. It was 139/83 both times we took it. So I called the office and the on-call doc said to go to L&D at the hospital for some monitoring and bloodwork...

The experience was totally NOT what I was expecting. I was expecting to lay on a bed with my clothes on with a BP cuff and have them take it every 10 minutes or so for a couple of hours. I was NOT expecting to have to completely undress and put on a hospital gown. I also had to pee like nobody's business, but the doctor wanted a urine sample via catheter. EEK - WHAT? So she used a catheter to get the sample and drain the rest of my bladder.

Next up was the fetal heart rate monitors strapped to my belly to monitor Peanut's HR. Then the BP cuff for me which read my BP every 10 minutes. After a couple of hours, the print outs were taken to the doctor and all is well - both Peanut and my BP. Of course it was high when I got there, but since I was laying down the rest of time, it was low.

So here I sit, at home on the couch with the laptop and Maddie, watching Deliver Me and Bringing Home Baby (yes, at the same time) so I can do a 24 hour urine collection in the comfort of my own home. I am sure my co-workers appreciate me not lugging a pee jug between my cube and the ladies' room. The pee jug is chilling in an ice bucket. That is so weird to me that it has to be cold when it comes out hot? Anyone? Mrs. Martha RN I know you know why I have to "chill" my pee bucket...

My Heart Is So Happy

I really want to bitch about the octuplets' MORON of a mother and that entire dramatic, welfare, food stamp situation, but I think most of you guys have already had some type of post about it or read 1400 news stories about it. Plus I had a fired up lunch conversation about it already. Thanks AJsMom. But also thanks for lunch. :0) This having no debit card for a week is KILLING ME. My cash flow runneth outeth.


Anyway, what I really wanted to post about was this. My daddy called me at work today. Know why? To check on how his grandbaby was doing. That makes me smile and makes my heart so happy. I am so glad to know that he is excited about his first born grandkid. Not only can I not imagine myself having a baby in just 10 (or less) weeks, I also can't believe that my parents will be real grandparents (minus the fur grandkids) at that time either. It is just so exciting!!!

Martha - I promise to follow up on your memes and awards tomorrow.


Ready for the belly pic of the week?

30 weeks