back to the beginning

The birth story ( part 1)…

On Tuesday May 19th I had an OB appointment at 2 in the afternoon. I was about 50% effaced and not dilatedat all so we decided to go ahead withthe induction as planned. Scoop and I went off to have dinner at Outback, then home for a little time with the dogs. On our way to the hospital we stopped by the hospital I work in ( the sister hospital to where I delivered) to see my friend Heather who was due 6 weeks after me. ( side note Addison Grace was born July 3rd) We took some belly pics of the two of us, then we went off to labor and delivery.

When we got there, there were three couples all arriving at the same time to be induced. Luckilywe got the nurse Jen who had been sitting in at all of our childbirth classes. It was nice to have someone familiar. We went to our room and got all settled in. After a lot of paperwork and changing into my lovely gown we were good to go. Cervadil was inserted around 9 pm. I was told then that we would see the doctor at 9 am, start the pitocin, and have a baby by Wednesday afternoon. *sigh* the best laid plans.

Wednesday morning the doc arrives. I had been having contractions all night. Nothing terrible, but definitely contractions. Turns out I am still not dilated at all. After some discussion, it is decided we will do another round of Cervadil. So my doctor says he will be back at 9pm, we will start the pitocin then and I will have a baby in the morning. ( Seems I have heard this before.)

Now with the second dose contractions have picked up a lot. My day nurse says that I will probably not even need the pitocin because I am already in labor. I am getting more miserable by the moment. At 4pm my doctors partner arrives to check on one of his patients and my nurse asks him to check me because I am contracting so well. Still not dilated. Nothing. So we wait for my doc at 9. In the mean time Dr. O gives me some morphine so I can relax for awhile. By this time I am sick and not able to keep food down. Not fun to lose your dinner while having contractions. And I am a person who hates throwing up more than anything , so I was not happy.

Nine pm my doc arrives. 100 % effaced. No dilation. None. Zero. He can’t even get in to break my water to progress things along. Time for round three.

At this point Scoopy and I had a discussion about the fact we were pretty sure this kid was not going to come out on her own. I was ready for the possibility of a section, but we waited it out. Our night nurse came back in wondering why we were still there.

So at 9 am on Thursday I am still not dilated. We start the pitocin. More contractions which were lovely, but now I am not allowed to eat or drink anything. I haven’t had anything since I lost dinner the night before, and I am tired and hungry and sick. At 1pm the doctor check me again and says the happy words ” We have an OR booked for you at 3:30″ I was thrilled at that point.  42 hours of labor before the c- section. I knew there would be no way I would be able to push by that point so I was very happy to just get done and have my baby outside with me.

The next post will pick up from the OR. Coming soon I promise.

many apologies

With all that has transpired bringing this new little life into our family it seems this blog has become terribly neglected. I promise to try to change that. I am going to go back in time to catch everything up to the here and now, so be on the lookout for many posts yet to come. ( and new pictures!)

More Pictures of Annie

Here are a few more……

Here Comes Annie

Scoop here, reporting on the birth of Anara Grace. She was born at 4:13, 8lbs 4ozs, and 19″ long. Mommy and baby are both doing well. More will be reported on later.

holy hormones batman

So one day past my due date and this little one needs to come out soon. I am pretty much a complete mess right now. I have cried pretty much non stop for the last two days. I am so stressed out right now I can’t even stand myself. Poor Scoopy. I don’t know how she is putting up with me.

I want so bad to be getting stuff done around the house and I just can’t seem to get it done. I don’t feel like I am ready to bring a baby home. I don’t know if I am ready to be a mom.

The pets have all been acting wierd the last few days. I know they know something is up and I feel guilty about that. I don’t want their lives completely disrupted either. They have had some pretty hard times before they came to live with us, and I don’t want to hurt them.

I know a loit of my htoughts are irrational right now so I will stop rambling. The next post should be a happy baby is here one god willing.

the end is near

At my 39 week appointment last night it became apparent that I am making things too comfortable for Annie so far. She is showing absolutely no signs of wanting to come out on her own. So that led to the discussion of how long do we want to hang in there and see if she changes her mind and decides to come on her own. After discussing how big she is and how bid she could get in the next couple of weeks, and the upcoming Memorial day holiday weekend when the hospital is short staffed, we decided that I will be induced starting next Tuesday night. It is a two parter with cervadil being given Tuesday night, then going back in and being admitted Wednesday morning for the pitocin to be started. Hopefully it will force Annie to decide she wants to come out and meet us after all.

I am kind of glad to have another week to prepare for her arrival, but it is also a little scary knowing that she will be here that soon. And I called Scoop this afternoon and the thought I had was… one week from today I will probably be in a lot of pain right now. I am kind of a whimp when it comes to pain, so I am little freaked out  thinking about it. I tend to either pass out or throw up from pain and I am not looking forward to either option.

I just need to keep my eyes on the goal. A happy healthy baby girl in one week.

38 week ultrasound results

We had a growth ultrasound yesterday because our OB thought we had a big baby on the way. Turns out she is 7 lb 4 oz right now which puts her in the 52nd percentile for 38 week babies. She is actually a little small on all her measurements except her legs which are almost a week ahead. So maybe she will be tall. So what this let us know was that we are not going to need to induce, we are just gonna wait until she is ready to come out on her own.

As of last night I am not dialated at all and the OB thinks she is very comfortable where she is so she will not be coming early from the looks of things. According to my mom I was a week late. The funny thing is, I just realized the other day that if I was a week late my due date was also May 17th. Wierd huh?

So for now we wait.

On the plus side, this means we will more than likely make it to our B 52s concert on Sunday! YAY!

full term now

My 37 week OB appointment went really well today. My doctor thinks we totally made the right choice about my leaving work a week earlier than planned. The swelling in my legs has gone way down and my BP was back to normal. I have an ultrasound scheduled for next Tuesday morning and an OB appointment for Tuesday afternoon because he thinks I am having a large baby. Eeek! I have only gained 5 pounds this whole pregnancy and he thinks she could be over 8 1/2 pounds! So after we get the measurements checked we will decide our plan of action.

Scoop has been off of work the last couple of days and we have been working on getting the nursery ready to paint. I have done all the baby laundry and have most of the stuff together for my suitcase to take to the hospital, so slowly out check list is getting done.

We had a couple of more showers in the last week. At my work they had bagels for a breakfast shower on my last morning. It was nice. Then at Scoops parttime job they had a surprise shower for us on Sunday night. We had the most awesome cake! One of the women who works in the bakery made it for us. It was a baby carriage made all out of cake and fondant with sugar cookie wheels. It was amazing.  I will try to include a picture below.

Other than that it has just been hotter than hot here. In the 90’s in April does not seem to bode well for a nice summer. We had no spring. I went from my winter coat to shorts and a tshirt in less than a week. Tonight it is finally cooling down a bit so I am hoping for a nicer rest of the week. The heat drains me too fast and I am way not running on full as it is. I am still having a lot of pain in my lower abdomen that leads me to have to lay down several times a day since when it is bad I cannot sit or stand without crying. My doc has no idea whats causing it, but doesn’ seem to be too worried about it since it goes away when I lay down.

In other news, keep some good vibes out there for my friend Melissa. She has been fostering to adopt a family of three, and now it seems their grandmother is trying to get custody. Melissa is sooo good for these kids in ways their grandmother is not even close to ( she has had almost no contact with these kids in a year). And to top it off the weekend she finds this out, she gets in a car accident and has to deal with all that. I am hoping things take a turn for the better for her very very soon.

So I will leave you for now with a cake picture…

hello my honey, hello my baby

Nope, no actual baby yet.

If any one has seen Spaceballs the movie, remember when they are in the diner and the guy at the end of the counter has the Alien experience? The little alien bursts out of his stomach and dons a top hat and cane and starts singing hello my baby as he struts down the counter. I think Annie is practicing to do that.  Her favorite new hobby is to push as hard as she can against the front of my stomach to see if she can work her way out that way. If it doesn’t work she goes back to hobby number two which is trying to rearrange my ribs on the right side to  give herself more leg room.

It’s hard to believe in around a month she will be here on the outside with all the room to stretch that she wants. We still aren’t quite ready ( yup the nursery is still not painted and clean and ready….oops) but I think mentally we get a little more prepared for the reality of a little person in our house everyday. Our shower is this weekend ( yup not a surprise… SIL spilled the beans) so I think that once we have most of our equipment it will really seem real. I am actually looking forward to the shower which is kind of surprising because I don’t like being the center of attention, but I am really happy to get to celebrate this little one with friends and family.

35/35 and suprise!

Today I am 35/35. That is 35 weeks pregnant and 35 days to go. I can’t believe how fast and how slow it has gone. And to know that she could show up and time now and be perfectly fine is a little overwhelming. I personally hope she decides to hang out for a another 4 weeks at least. We are still working on getting the house together and gathering the important stuff. We still don’t have a carseat, so she needs to hang out inside until we get that done at least!

On Friday morning while working in the lab, I got a call around 3:15 am that I needed to go to the ER to draw blood that they needed on a patient that they couldn’t get. When I worked the evening shift, this was a pretty common request, but since I moved to nights 7 months ago I haven’thad to draw blood even once. I went down to the ER with my phlebotomy tray in hand and ran into the doctor as I walked though the door. “This is probably not going to go well” I said to him, ” I haven’t done this in months”. He responded that it wouldn’t be a problem , he knows I am good at it. So I walked in and asked the nurse who had called me what bed the patient was in. Her response was bed 16, and Janet would take me in and introduce me to the patient. Well my anxiety level jumped 3 notches. Bed 16 is our locked psychiatric bed, and to have to be accompanied by a nurse means the patient is trouble. And to top it off, one of our local police officers was standing leaning on the wall right outside the door. So I geared myself up, walked through the door, and right into a baby shower! They had the whole room decorated with balloons and streamers and table cloths on the stretcher which was covered with food and cake and goodies!!!! I think my jaw hit the floor. When I get copies of the pictures I will share them. I was so overwhelmed, I had no idea they were going to do that.

I hope everyone has a good hoppy bunny day and I will hopefully have more updates soon!