Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A Week of Lasts for A Day of Firsts

It's hard to believe that we're already in the last week of the pregnancy. Overall, it has flown by, but I think the past few weeks have dragged on and on... I've been so excited to finally meet this little girl growing inside me and now, it's time!

It's our last official days before Evey gets here and Christopher and I have been attempting to make the most of them! We've been putting the finishing touches on the house but have been relaxing as much as possible too. We know those days of lazing on the couch are about to be long gone!

We had our last prenatal check-up on Monday. We were 38 weeks 6 days into the pregnancy. It was kind of bittersweet - I won't see the nurses that I've come to know and love over the past nine months again until September and the next time I see them, we'll be toting an adorable little girl with us!

Evey's heartbeat was as strong as ever - 159bpm (which may have been her highest heartrate so far!). We talked about what Christopher is allowed to do in the delivery room. He's definitely planning on cutting the cord and if the delivery goes well, he may be able to catch our daughter! He's so excited about his role in her birth and I'm excited for him!

My cervix had finally changed and Christopher and I were estatic! We've been waiting on changes for weeks, so it was nice to know that something was happening! I'm not quite at 3cm, but Dr. Ashmun said she wasn't able to get two fingers in before, and now she could. Evey has dropped another centimeter, so she's at a -1 station now (only 5 more to go until she's crowning)! She said we were still around 70% effaced, but now that Evey is dropping it will put more pressure on and cause me to efface more quickly. Overall, she was pleased with where we were!

She recommended that we reschedule the induction for Thursday, July 28th because she's on call that day. That means, no matter what, she'll be the one to deliver my little girl. Since we've been working towards this day together for so long, that's exactly what I want! We're set to go in at 6am, but she know us and said if we were having trouble sleeping we could come in a bit early and they'd get me started!

We're still praying that Evey comes on her own... and we definitely still have time for that to happen. I'm not giving up hope yet. We're still going on walks and doing everything we can to naturally induce, but it's not our decision to make! Maybe our little chunk will decide she's finally as ready to meet her mom and dad as we are to meet her!

Tomorrow is my last day of work and I can't how fast that time is going! It seems like I've been training my replacement for no time at all, and I can't believe I'm about to leave her in my position - no turning back! I know she'll be great though! She's been picking up on all my daily tasks so well over the past couple of months. She may feel a little overwhelmed, but I know she'll thrive once I'm gone!


There are so many little things we've done this week and it's made me think "the next time we do this, we'll have our daughter!" We made our last run to Babies-R-Us and next time, I won't be able to use the stork parking until we're ready for #2! I typically won't park at the front of a store, but when it's designated for me, I'm not turning it down!! Christopher's input: We had Charlie's fish sandwiches for lunch (which was the first time for me since I only like seafood since I've been third trimestered) but it's the last time we'll have that for a while. We're planning on going to see The Princess Bride at the Kentucky Theatre tomorrow night - which will be our last date and our last movie as just a married couple. We figured we could go out with a bang! Christopher thinks it would be awesome if I went into labor while it was playing!

As much as we've done over the week, I can't help but think that we're trading in all of these "lasts" for a ton of amazing "firsts!" I know that once Evey's here, time going to go even faster and before I blink, she'll be a grown woman, planning for her first child but I can't wait for the expericence! I know she's going to teach me more about myself than I've ever know and she's going to push me to grow like never before.

Let the adventure begin...

My! How We've Grown! (Part 2)





39 Weeks
  
 

35 Weeks

21 Weeks 5 Days


Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Best-Last Weekend Alone... Ever!

My plan for this weekend has not been effective. I'm having a TON of nesting urges, but I've had so little energy after work that I basically crash on the couch as soon as I get home and nothing on my to-do list actually gets accomplished. We've been planning on getting our carpets shampooed for a month and just haven't gotten it done. So last night, Christopher and I went out to replace our Swiffer vacuum that broke and came home with a SteamVac. At least our mainly trafficked areas will be clean before we bring home a baby who will be needing tummy time from the day she comes home.

So, today was supposed to be a day of shampooing carpets and re-arranging our kitchen cabinets, but Christopher had a revelation when he woke up. Today was Once Upon A Child's grab-bag sale (something we've been hoping to attend for several weeks but didn't know if we'd be able to or not). They give you a grocery bag as you go through the door and anything that is going out of season is on "clearance" and you can stuff as much as possible into the bag for $20.00.

We met Christopher's sister, Renee, at the store when they opened and stuffed two bags full for my daughter and nephew. It's always so much fun to see how much you can actually fit into those little bags and Christopher is a master-packer and can get so much to fit. He LOVES it - shopping is never this fun!

After shopping, and then waiting in line for an hour, we finally got up to the register. The employees finally got through taking all of the security tags off of our items and totalling everything up, between Renee and I, our total came to $416.00, but we only had to pay $40!!

We went over to Christopher's parents' house to split everything up and actually see what we got. We had a good time making plans for the babies that should be born within the next week. It's amazing to think that this time next week our entire world will revolve around two precious babies! I absolutely cannot wait!

After we left Cathy & Gordon's, we ran down to Nicholasville to see my parents. My mom, like me, had been doing some shopping for Evey this morning and she was so excited to show us what she bought, and vice versa. We ate lunch with my family and had chocolate-chip-strawberry-shortcake-waffles for dessert. They were delicious!

This heat wave has been killer with my little furnace running full blast. I walk outside and I can barely breathe and it's just too hot to even think about putting clothes on.

So Christopher and I decided to hit the pool this afternoon. My doctor hasn't said that I couldn't swim (granted, I forgot to ask) so we thought we could get at least one day at the pool in before our little bundle arrives.

Our family friend, Sandra, opened her pool to a very uncomfortable pregnant woman and her husband so I wouldn't have to suffer the heat as much. It was one of the best days I've had in a while, and the pool offered a ton of relief to my expanding hips and ever-growing belly.

Not only did she open her home to us, but she had a present for Evey waiting when we got there, and I have to say that it's one of the CUTEST outfits we have for her, which is definitley saying somthing! Her daughter (who I babysat for eons ago) works at the Disney Store and they found a little Minnie Mouse onesie with a matching hat and slippers. It is so cute I had to post a picture of it! I love the little ruffles on the legs and the hat has mouse ears! It just makes me smile!! Thanks again, Sandra & Jaclyn (for everything)!



I was definitely tired after such a big morning, but when Christopher and I got home early that evening, we were able to relax and actually get some work done.

We took the tags off of all the clothes we got today (including the 5 brand new items totalling $60.86 that we got in the sale) and totaled them up. We came home with $320 out of the $416 total and after divying up the clothes, we only spent $30.00 on all of it! All in all, we got a 90% discount on everything we brought home!

I would have to say we made out like bandits!! Check it out:



So, as I said earlier, it's been a rather unprocuctive weekend, but for our last days as just a married couple, it has been relaxing and very, very enjoyable!

Friday, July 22, 2011

The Countdown Has Begun

My doctor is on vacation this week, through Sunday, so she told me to keep my legs crossed until she got back into town. And so far, we're doing good...

Since Dr. Ashmun was out, I had to see her partner this week and that was definitely an experience. Her partner happens to be male and I know some women are okay with male OBGYN's but it was just awkward for me. So, as my husband watched, Dr. Bradley checked to see how Evey and I were doing.

He said we were still at 2cm, only 50% effaced and that Evey was still at a -2 station. It was a little disappointing to find out we hadn't changed at all, but we knew I could either be dilated to 2 for weeks or I could have her any day.

Dr. Ashmun wanted to have my labor induced because she felt like Evey was big, but she didn't want to schedule it unless I was dilated to 3cm at least. Dr. Bradley felt like we were very favorable to be induced, even though we hadn't changed, so he went ahead and scheduled the induction for the 26th, pending a follow up with my doctor on the 25th. If you've ever dealt with insurance at all, then you know that in order to schedule any procedure, it must be medically necessary. Dr. Bradley's reason for scheduling the induction was because of my "modest weight gain" the baby was likely to be small. When he measured my belly, he said she felt like she was around 7.5lbs - which was an average size for how far along we are.

It's so weird to think about - everything we think we know druing pregnancy is just a guesstimate that is different for each person checking. My doctor thinks big, her partner thinks average - the ultrasound we had that showed she was 6lbs 10oz, could be over or under by a pound at most. It's just amazing to think that with the technology we have and the high levels of education our physicians go through, there's still no way to predict the miracle of birth.



I'm definitely feeling pregnant now. I come home from work each day barely able to keep my eyes open and I don't think I've gotten more than 5 hours of sleep in the past few weeks. I told Christopher it was a good thing one of us was sleeping through the night - at least he'll be cognitive once she gets here. I'm swollen all the time, and I haven't put my wedding band on in what seems like forever. The heat wave we're sitting in with the 110* heat indeces on top of my little furnace running full blast all the time is gettting a little old, but when my nurse asked how I was doing and I shocked her by telling her how much I was still enjoying the pregnancy.

I told her even though Evey kicks and it hurts, and I have contractions and they hurt, and my feet are too swollen to fit in my flip-flops and they hurt, it just means that we're that much closer to having our little girl. That makes everything SO worth it. She's my whole world - and I haven't even met her yet!


If everything goes according to my plan (which doesn't count for much in the grand scheme of things) we could have our little girl in our arms within the next week. We'll know more for certain what's going to happen next Monday, but I'm still praying that Evey gets ready to go on her own before the induction date. I know God has the whole event worked out, so now it's just a waiting game.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Cankles

Check out this foot action.
So, I've had swollen feet during the pregnancy, but never like this. We were at our friend's house for dinner last night and my feet were tingling like crazy. When I looked down, I was completely shocked. My normally long and thin toes were round and puffy and my ankles were non-existent.

My amazing husband (who did my pedicure and is such a trooper) gave me a foot massage, but it barely helped. He said my feet were so big, my toes wouldn't even touch the ground when I walked.

When we got home, I slowly made my way to the couch and didn't move until time for bed. Even keeping my feet propped up on pillows, when I went to bed last night they were still huge.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Practice Makes Perfect

We had the most interesting weekend.

We hung out with Christopher's parents on Friday evening. We had dinner with the whole family and then started watching The Adjustment Bureau (which is excellent, btw) around 10:30pm. I was sure I'd fall asleep in the first five minutes - but somehow managed to stay awake. Christopher and I assumed our normal movie-watching position (aka me laying down with my legs over his lap). He was loving on Evey throughout the night.

About an hour into the movie, he looked at me with a shocked look on his face. He asked what Evey was doing because my stomach had balled up so tight. She'd never moved like that before and I just knew it wasn't her. It just felt so different, and I really had to focus on breathing because it took my breath away so much. That same feeling happened five times in a row within the next 20 minutes and I finally realized they were contractions (yes, I'm a little slow in my late pregnancy). After that they completely stopped.

The next morning, we woke up and had some quality relaxingt time. Around 11:30, I started having contractions again. We went on several walks to help me get my stamina up and to help Evey drop further into the birthing position. We put the finishing touches on packing and getting our car ready to bring our little girl home and we ran a few errands to get the last of what we needed to care for her. I started off having 2 an hour and worked my way up to contractions that were about 10 minutes apart on Sunday morning. As much as I tried not to get my hopes up, it was impossible not to. I thought for sure we were going to be bringing her home in the next few days.

Sunday morning, I was still relaxed and mobile enough to make it through the contractions with some semblance of dignity, so we went on to church. One of our pastors and his wife prayed over us and I breathed my way through an amazing message. Around noon, my contractions were slowing down - a lot. By 5pm, they'd completely stopped and Christopher and I were a little bit crushed. We called the on-call doctor to see if false labor could last for 2 days and he told us that it definitely could.

He re-confirmed that if I did go into labor, they wouldn't do anything to stop it since we were so close to being full term. Our doctor had told us that at out last appointment, but it was nice to be reassured. We spent the next bit of time praying that the labor wasn't falase, but we didn't have any luck.

By Monday morning, to my disdain, I was up and on my way to work.

We were so excited to see where we were at our appointment today. We had hoped with the amount of contractions I'd had that we were somewhat closer to seeing our daughter.

Evey's heartbeat was so strong, as usual, and so loud! It's still the best sound I've ever heard. I know the only sound that will be better is her first cry. After Dr. Ashmun checked me out, we were exactly the same as we were last Tuesday. She said since the contractions didn't change my cervix at all, they were definitely Braxton Hicks.

We also learned that my Strep-B test came back positive, which means that I have to be on antibiotics during labor. Strep-B is some kind of natural bacteria that you either have or you don't have. It can't hurt me, but it could hurt Evey if she's exposed to it. So they'll hook me up to an IV and keep the antibiotics flowing to treat the bacteria while I'm giving birth.

All things considered, it was our most dissappointing appointment to date, but I just told myself that if that's the only thing that goes wrong - I can't complain. We've had such an amazing pregnancy and our girl is big and healthy, which doesn't happen to everyone, so the fact that I have to have a constant IV instead of just a saline lock is not a huge point of concern.

As of now, I'm still pregnant and we'll just have to wait and see what happens. My doctor is out of town from Saturday to next Sunday, which means that next week I'll have to see her partner for my regularly scheduled appointment and if Evey decides it's her time, he will deliver her instead of Dr. Ashmun.

If we're dilated past 2cm next week, we'll be scheduling our induction for July 26th. Since Evey is so big and gaining so much weight each week, Dr. Ashmun wants to induce to give me the opportunity to go natural. She's already around 7 1/2 lbs, so we'll see what happens. As much as I want the doctor I've been working with for 3 years to deliver my girl, I'm not telling her to stay in while she's on vacation. I want to do everything I can not to have to induce, so we'll be coaxing her out and thinking downwardly thoughts over the next couple of weeks!

Friday, July 8, 2011

SURPRISE!

I walked into the office yesterday morning and the breakroom was totally decked out. My first thought was that I'd never seen SDi decorated so much and then I was wondering who the party was for.

Yes, it took me a minute... I finally realized that they were throwing a baby shower for me and the other girl in the office who was pregnant. I was completely dumbfounded! Apparently, Nancy and Greta have been planning this for a month and everything looked fantastic!

They actaully had our programmer bring in a grill to grill out burgers and brats for our lunch, and everyone in the office brought in a dish. Everything tasted so great and I had so much fun! Thank you for EVERYTHING!!

Melissa is having a little girl, Ryleigh Faith on 7/21/2011.
I'm due on 8/2/11!
We never would've thought that SDi would have pregnancies so close together, but it's been a blast!
How adorable is this cake?? The little booties are plastic and you can write the babies birth stats on the bottom!
It's Evey's first Christmas ornament!




The lamp really brings the finishing touches to Evey's room! I can't believe how awesome it looks!


We definitely got spoiled!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Sooner or Later

We had a fantastic appointment this week.

I mentioned previously that our doctor was ordering an ultrasound because Evey was measuring a little small and I haven't been gaining weight like I should be.

So I've been going crazy over the past couple of weeks. I've allowed myself to indulge in a little bit more of the "unhealthy" foods as opposed to sticking to the same stuff I've been eating since I found out our little one - which no one in their right mind would actually consider a "healthy" diet.

It was so amazing to see our little girl again and both my mom and Christopher's mom were able to join us. She definitely has stage fright. She kept her hand in front of her face the entire time, but we were able to tell that she has Christopher's nose!. During the utlrasound, the tech zoomed through measuring her head and all her extremities. She double-checked to make sure Evey wasn't an Everett (we're golden, by the way!) and finally she asked if we had any guesses on her weight. We were thinking logically, assuming she was on the small side and we were way, way off!

Let me preface this next part by saying that everything that could have gone wrong during our prengnacy, God has shut down completely! Evey measured at 6lbs 10oz which put her in the 75th percentile for our due date. She is definitely not too small!


When we went to see our doctor, she was definitely pleased with the ultrasound results. Evey's heartbeat was nice and strong - as usual - and we had our first "official" check to see where I was in the pregnancy. I was dilated to 2cm and 70% effaced. Evey was still at the -2 station, but she was still in the birthing position, so that was good to hear. We seemed to be right on track for a normal delivery.

We basically found out that she will be here - either sooner or later, and the sooner the better, in my opinion!   

Monday, July 4, 2011

Call Me John Denver

Christopher and I had a very unexpected, but very exciting weekend that has resulted in a packed hospital bag. We are ready to go!

I woke up at 3am on Sunday thinking my water might have broken. I wasn't 100% sure (since I've never had it happen before - lol) so I didn't wake Christopher up. I just kept getting up to go to the bathroom over and over and over without any relief. By 4am, I'd been to the bathroom five times. Evey was going crazy. I've never felt her moving the way she was and her hyper-activity made me a nervous.

Inside I was freaking out because it was much too early for my water to break. We were over a week away from being considered "full term" and we definitely didn't want Evey to be a preemie. Part of me wanted to wait until our scheduled appointment to see what the doctor said.

Finally Christopher became semi-conscious and I told him what I thought was going on, but we both ended up falling back to sleep. The next morning, I felt so strange. Evey was still over-active and I still felt like I was leaking. Christopher was ready to head straight to the hospital but I called my mom and told her what was going on. She said I should just call my doctor's office and talk to the doctor on call.

When I called, amazingly enough, my doctor was the one on call. I was relieved to the point of tears - she knew me and Evey, and she would be straight with me about whatever was going on. When she called me back, she told me to come on in to Labor & Delivery and she'd check me out just to be safe. If my water had broken, they didn't want to risk infection or cord prolapse which could be devastating both of us. I asked her if it would be okay if I took a shower and she said since it had been almost six hours since I thought my water broke it would be better for me to get in ASAP.

We hadn't packed anything yet - even though the bump told me to get it done by 35 weeks, I'd been procrastinating. So I told Christopher to throw some stuff together and I took a 7 minute shower while he packed. We were on our way within 10. It was the most bizarre feeling. We were driving to the hospital, possibly to have our baby. We were giddy and frazzled and obviously not thinking completely cleearly. Our conversation was simply anxious chatter about Warwick Drive and how if we lived on that street we could be midgets like Warwick Davis.

We finally made it in and Christopher dropped me off at the front entrance without deciding where we'd meet. I tried calling him from the hospital phone - of course I didn't have my own - when he came running around the corner.

We made our way to the second floor and got checked in, then went to the nurses station to get our room. On our way into the room, someone said "Hey strangers - guess who's going to be your nurse!" It was the instructor from our labor classes. I don't know if I mentioned before how amazing she was, but at the end of our three sessions, I asked if it would be possible to request her when we came in. She said just to let them know a the nurses station and if she was on duty and available, they'd be more than happy to let her work with us.

I told Evey that if she wanted to come early, she picked the PERFECT time to do it. Our doctor was the one on call, Annalisa was our nurse - without even having to ask. Everything was lining up perfectly and I was much more relaxed because I knew I was in great hands!

After a long string of medical history questions and once I was hooked up to the monitors (which Evey hated) Annalisa checked to see if my water had broken or not. Fortunately, my water was still in tact, so we were in much better condition to have a full term baby. She asked if I'd been having any contractions and from what I could tell, I hadn't. After three hours on their monitor, though, I was definitely able to recognize the contractions that I was having. They were just little contractions and not painful at all. It just felt like Evey was pushing out on my tummy with all of her strength.

We found out that, on top of my contractions, I was 1cm dilated. In order to start pushing, I'll have to be dilated to 10cm. I was 50% effaced, which means that my cervix was thinned halfway. In order to deliver, I'll need to be 100% effaced. Also, we learned that Evey had dropped to a -2 station in my pelvis. The station is a scale to see where the baby is in the birth canal. The scale starts at -4 (where the baby is not in the birth canal at all). Once you get to a +3 station the baby is crowning, so Evey is on her way down and out! The most important thing we learned was that I'm not completely crazy. This baby is coming and will be here before we know it!

I could stay this way for weeks, or I could have the baby within a few days. It all depends on how Evey feels about entering the world!

We were able to leave the hospital with the baby still inside, which was a major blessing and I've never been so happy to have someone tell me that I just peed on myself!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

One month to go...

I can't believe we're a month away from our due date. And I really, really can't believe that I'm beginning my ninth month of pregnancy!

I'll be holding my little girl in my arms before we know it. I'm feeling a little melancholy about having to share her with the world - I've had her to myself for so long - but I suppose it's worth the sacrifice so that I can finally see the face I've been envisioning for years!

She's still so active and she dances like never before. Christopher finally got to see her move across my belly. I didn't realize he hadn't seen her yet, so now if he's around I'm constantly making him watch her. I think I drive him crazy (in a good way), but isn't that what wives are for???

We've still been trying to get a video of her moving, but somewhere along the lines our daughter picked up the shy-gene. We're can't quite figure out where the stage fright came from. I suppose we'll have to see what she does when she gets here and she can't hide anymore! Mwhahaha!!