Busy, busy...

It's been over a week since my last update and with good reason -- I'm a mother of two now, so finding time in between feedings, changing diapers and cuddles is a little difficult, but I love it. In fact, I feel like I'm more hands-on with both of my children now than I have ever been before. I really want to achieve "Super Mom" status, if possible, even if at times I feel like I might just lose my mind. :o)

My labor with Christian was mostly uneventful. Mark and I showed up at the Pavilion for Women on time last Tuesday and within the hour Dr. Hulsen had broken my water and my labor had started. I felt like a complete boob because I asked for the epidural around 11am, after 2 and a half hours of labor. I was still sitting at 2cm dilation and in a lot of pain. After speaking with my nurse (who convinced me when she said it could take up to an hour before the anesthesiologist showed up) I got the epidural and the rest of my day was spent laying in bed and alternating between watching TV, checking the internet on my iPhone and sleeping.

Around 3pm, I started to feel nauseous and I got the shakes really bad. The nurse came in and gave me a shot of Zofran, which was like heaven in a syringe. I felt so much better after that.

Dr. Hulsen came in and checked on me a couple of times throughout the day, as I slooowly progressed. By 6pm, I was still only at 6cm and convinced that I was not having the baby on Tuesday. At 6:30pm, Christian went into tachicardia and they had to stop the Pitosin. My contractions were coming too fast and he was basically being squished. It scared the hell out of me. There were three nurses scurrying around my room, one was monitoring the baby, another was putting oxygen on me and the third was having me change positions. Luckily the baby's heartrate sorted itself out.

Around 7-ish, they started the Pitosin back up again and after increasing the doseage once I started to feel something weird down yonder, like something was "oozing" out. I called the nurse in and she did an exam on me and noticed that the baby's head had moved down considerably and all that was in the way was a piece of my cervix. She had me push just a little bit to see what it would do and the baby started coming again. So she had me keep my legs crossed and called Dr. Hulsen because she was afraid if she kept me in the stirrups that the baby would just slide on out. :oP

Dr. Hulsen arrived around 8:30 and the whole feeling in the delivery room was just...well, fun. Seriously. There were three nurses, Dr. Hulsen, myself and Mark and all of us were just making jokes and laughing the entire time. Even when I was pushing, I was cracking up. It was just so laid back and before I knew it, at 8:57pm Christian was here. All 7 pounds, 6 ounces of him. I only pushed for maybe 15 minutes and most of that time was waiting for the contractions to come. The first thing Dr. Hulsen said when he came out was, "He has boy parts!" :o)

The first thing Mark and I noticed was how much Christian resemebled him. He has Mark's lips no doubt about it and his nose, but he also kind of reminds me of Aidan when he was a baby too. And he's so tiny, only 18 inches long.

Mark and I got to hold Christian for an hour and then the nurses scooted him away for his bath. In between phone calls to family and friends, I got to finally eat. I was so hungry! At 11pm, when the feeling had returned to my legs, they took me and Christian up to the second floor where I got to spend another hour with him before they took him to the nursery. The nurses had remarked that he was such a calm baby -- he didn't even cry when they bathed him!

The next day I wasn't allowed to eat because my tubal ligation was scheduled for 2pm. Mark brought his mum and Aidan up to the hospital to see me that morning. My step-sister also stopped by to give Christian a few cuddles before heading off to work. At noon, I said good-bye to my family and they wheeled me to pre-op before my surgery. Those two hours were like the longest of my life, but once the nurse came in (about 30 minutes before the surgery) and gave me a shot of Zofran and Versaid, I was just fine.

After the surgery, I was in A LOT of pain but I suffered through having visits from my Dad and my friend Allison. Once they were gone, though, I laid in bed and cried. The only thing that helped was taking 600mg of Ibuprofen and Vicodin at once. That didn't even really stop the pain but it put me to sleep, which is what I needed.

Much to my suprise, Christian and I were both released from the hospital on the 5th. I thought I would at least be there until the 6th, if not longer because of my surgery but there I was, basically out on the curb by noon on the 5th. I seriously felt like they kicked us out of there. Healthcare just isn't the same, even as it was 4 years ago.

Mark's mum kept Aidan overnight for our first night home. Mark and I took turns with Christian and he is such a good baby. He's just so calm, all the time. Even when he's hungry, he rarely has to screech or anything. He just starts sucking everything in sight. :o) Of course he's not sleeping through the night yet, but getting up every 2 or 3 hours isn't so bad because I just go right back to sleep when he does. I keep telling Mark that's the secret -- sleep when the baby sleeps. He hasn't listened to me yet though.

Saturday was our postpartum check-up at the hospital. My check-up went fine (I was a little swollen but that was it) but Christian had lost a lot of weight (he was discharged at 7 pounds 2 ounces) and was down to 6 pounds 14 ounces and his bilirubin levels had skyrocketed. Our doctor had a home healthcare service bring a phototherapy bed out to our house and my little 4 day old had to lay in the bed 24 hours a day unless we had to feed or change him.

I was devastated. Just seeing him in that bed broke my heart. I just cried and cried, but luckily both of my sisters were here for support and Mark came home from work to be with us too. After 48 hours and two more blood tests, Chrstian's levels were low enough that he didn't have to lay in the bed anymore. I was so relieved.

Yesterday was his 1 week check-up and Christian woke up with a goopy eye. Our doctor believes that his tear duct hasn't opened up yet and that's why it's infected. So we have eye drops we have to give him three times per day. Already there's a noticeable difference. The doctor also told us that she believes his bilirubin was so high because of Christian's rapid weight loss. Since Saturday he's gained back 2 ounces but he still has a long way to go. He's also grown 1 whole inch!

I guess that pretty much brings us up to date. Aidan is doing great with the baby and loves helping us with him. We also make sure to pay as much attention to Aidan as we do to Christian. If one of us is with the baby, the other is playing with Aidan. It seems to be working well although Aidan still throws the occasional toddler fit.

Today is Mark's first full day back at work, which is a relief because he only brought him $100 last week, which made me extremely nervous. It's lonely being at the house by yourself, even with two kids, but I know he has to work. Why can't we all be independantly wealthy?? :o)

Well the baby is starting to fuss so I should probably close for now.

Finally!

I have reached the final frontier -- even though I'm just five days shy of my actual due date, Dr. Hulsen has given me the green light to be induced. So tomorrow morning, Mark and I will wake up insanely early (for us, nowadays, anyway) and head to the Women's Pavilion to start my induction at 7:30am. Dr. Hulsen is going to break my water and then start me on the Pitosin. I'm hoping that by tomorrow evening I will be holding my new little one, but you never know what'll happen. I could end up with a 24 hour labor like my step-sister. O_o But if the Pitosin works even half as well as it did with Aidan, then I'll have my baby in no time.

I am excited and terrified all at once. I'm glad to be finished with the pregnancy but terrified of what is to come. Labor sucks, no doubt about it, and each delivery is different so one cannot predict the outcome. I just hope everything goes smoothly.

I have a bit of a headache so I'm going to close for now. But I'll leave you with the last of my BabyCenter updates:

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

See what your baby looks like this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

38 Weeks and hardly any sleep...

My growing tummy and my husband's horrible snoring are keeping me from getting the amount of sleep that I want these past couple of weeks. I used to LOVE to sleep, in fact it was my favorite thing to do. Now all I do is toss and turn and when I do eventually fall asleep, that's when Mark decides to come to bed and muck it all up with his nose noise (OMG. How can he not HEAR himself?!). It's starting to get to the point where we are arguing constantly because I tell him to roll over (he doesn't snore if he sleeps on his stomach) and he gets peeved because I've woken him up to do so. If anything ends this marriage, I'm afraid it will be the snoring. Not because of divorce, but because I will smother him with his own pillow out of aggravation.

Since I've been off of work I've done a lot around the house -- little by little. I'm definitely in the nesting stage of the pregnancy but my Sciatica has been keeping me from being able to really accomplish all the things I want to do at one time. So each day I do a little here and there. Yesterday I cleaned our bedroom from top to bottom. I haven't done that in months. I washed all of our bedding, dusted and vacuumed and put things in the basement that had been hanging around our room for far too long (such as a couple of old pieces of wood under our bed, my Knifty Knitter long loom set, and some canvas Mark brought home from work). I also packed me and Christian's bags for the hospital so should I go into spontaneous labor, I can just grab them and run (or waddle).

Mark took me shopping on Tuesday to return the baby shower items that were unneeded and I ended up getting a swing, a really nice diaper bag and some Dr. Brown's nipples for the baby bottles Crystal gifted me. The swing wasn't the one I wanted, but we really couldn't afford anything else, so it will make do for now. Honestly though, we really don't have the room for a regular size swing anyway. Yesterday I made another purchase, this time online, for the Dr. Brown's Formula Mixing Pitcher. I can't wait to use it and see how it works.

Mum finally gifted me my crib bedding set. She said she had a "feeling" that I was going to go into labor and didn't want to wait any longer (unfortunately, her feeling wasn't correct). Friday morning I went over to her house to pick it up and by that afternoon, the crib was finally set up. I love it! The dinosaurs are so cute and the colors match perfectly with our new crib. My sister couldn't believe it that we only paid $96 for the crib! I went out and got the matching mobile and receiving blankets that same day.

I really feel like I'm totally ready for the baby to come now. I've washed and sterilized all of the bottles and nipples, I have a couple packs of newborn diapers to last us for a couple of days, a couple cans of formula (they same type they use at the hospital), all the baby's clothes are washed and put away and like I said before, our bags are packed. Now it's just the horrible old waiting game. I've never gone into spontaneous labor before and to be honest, I'm terrified of it. If I'm at home when it happens, that's just great but I have this fear of being in the middle of Walmart and suddenly it happens. Now I know enough to know better and to know that when you go into spontaneous labor, the pain comes on gradually (unlike being induced) and when your water breaks, it isn't like it is in the movies, but it's still scary to me because of the unknown factor.

Tomorrow is my 38 week check-up with Dr. Hulsen. I'm hoping that doing so much shopping (and walking around) this week kind of helped out in the dilation area. Unfortunately I just have this sinking feeling that when he checks me tomorrow I'll still be at one measly centimeter. Bah!

***

Anywho, here is how the baby is developing this week. I only have three more updates via BabyCenter to post so this baby better come before then! :o) Maybe my next post will be from my hospital bed! A girl can wish, can't she?

How your baby's growing:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

See what your baby looks like this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

50th Post!!

This post my marks my 50th update! Yay!

This post also marks my 37th week of pregnancy, which means...[drum roll please] that Christian Adam is officially FULL TERM. Which means if I were to spontaneously go into labor in the next five minutes, Dr. Hulsen would have no reason to stop it. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. I had my check-up this afternoon and I'm holding steady at a whole centimeter dilation. Boo!

Yesterday was my baby shower, thrown for me by my mother-in-law. We had a great turnout and I mostly got clothes, but I don't mind. I did get a few doubles of things and a couple of items that I didn't need, so with the money I get back from those items, hopefully I'll be able to pick up a few misc. items that were overlooked (for example, a diaper bag, a swing, more bottles, etc).

We had a bit of a crisis last week. I had Mark bring up the parts of our old crib on Thursday so that I could put it together while he was at work. Unbeknown to us, somewhere between our old duplex and moving into our new house, we lost a very important piece of the crib that would help lock the side rail into place. The company that originally made the crib is no longer in business and even if they were, we really don't have the time to order a new piece. So Mark gave me the go ahead to pick out a new crib online and we would buy it in store. Unfortunately, most of the cribs online cannot be found in the store, so I started to get a little panicky. My husband, however, is the most awesomest guy in the world and he found a very beautiful cherry crib on the Kmart website that was on sale. At first I thought it was a lost cause because it was sold-out online, but Mark called our local Kmart and they had three in stock! He picked it up that evening and we put it together after Aidan went to bed. It's gorgeous and I love it. Crisis averted!

Other than the crib drama, not much has been going on around here. I have been doing a little bit everyday to get ready for the baby. Laundry is the hardest thing for me to do because carrying the baskets up from the basement aggravates my Sciatica. I have also been reading a lot and watching old seasons of "House." I can't believe I still have three weeks before my due date. It feels like an eternity.

Oh! I did my pre-registry at Anderson on Friday. I didn't have to watch the epidural video again, which was a relief. I also sent off my papers today for my cord blood donation.

Well, it's getting late so I should jump off here and get Aidan ready for bed. Here's where how the baby is doing this week:

How your baby's growing:

Congratulations — your baby is full term! This means that if your baby arrives now, his lungs should be fully mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away.

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

See what your baby looks like this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

hmm...

I just logged on my blogger page out of boredom and discovered that I haven't updated my blog since the 5th. How can that be? I could have sworn that I updated last week, but I suppose I hadn't. Then I realized that the 5th was just last week and I'm not as behind as I feel that I am. :oP

Let's see...well, at last week's exam Dr. Hulsen did do the Group B test, which came back negative. w00t! I was also diagnosed with a yeast infection though, which sucked but the medicine I was prescribed worked wonders and my nether regions have not been swollen since. Yay for modern medicine! During my pelvic exam, Dr. Hulsen said I hadn't thinned or dilated yet, which was a complete bummer but it's still early!

We also spoke with the doc about me having my tubes tied after the baby is born. He said that he could do it while I'm in the hospital, post-delivery, although he wanted Mark and I to think about it carefully because it's a pretty important decision. After the appointment, Mark and I talked about it and decided to go ahead with the tubal ligation, that is if my insurance pays for it. I am finished having children at this point and have no desire to be pregnant again.

At this week's exam I found out that I am one centimeter dilated!! Mark and I also talked to Dr. Hulsen about my shortness of breath, which was causing my hands and feet to tingle. He said it was normal however it's going to get worse within the next couple of weeks. I'm not sure I have dropped yet and found out that since this is my second child, I may not drop at all. Ug. We also talked about when I would go on my maternity leave and Dr. Hulsen left it up to me. Mark and I told him we would see how the week went and discuss it at my next visit.

Well, that evening I started to spot, which is normal after a pelvic exam when you're preggers, but by noon the next day I was 99.9% sure I had lost my mucus plug and was still spotting. I couldn't tell if I was having contractions or not though -- I kept thinking that I was imaging them.

The spotting and mucus continued through the night, so I made an appointment to see Dr. Dalla Riva yesterday morning (Dr. Hulsen was off work). He examined me and said I was still at one centimeter but that he did notice the spotting and the mucus. So we decided that going on maternity leave early would be the best bet for me, especially since I work so far away from home.

It's bittersweet going on leave early -- the good part of it is that I get to relax and have a lot of time to prepare before the baby arrives. The bad is less money, less time post-partum with the baby and I tend to get bored really easily. I also have to miss my work baby shower which was supposed to be today at noon. I asked Mary Anne if it would be okay if I still attended and she said she was uncomfortable having me there when I've been told NOT to go to work, even though I wouldn't be working. She said if anything should happen while I'm there (like go into labor), that Express-Scripts could be held accountable. Bummer. Mark is going to drive me up to work on Monday so I can pick up my gifts though so it won't be so bad. It just sucks missing out on the lunch and the cake and all that fun stuff.

Physically I am feeling better today. No more spotting, a few Braxton Hicks scattered throughout the day, but nothing serious. I spent the majority of yesterday on the computer, doing nothing but today I've made myself a list of things I wanted to accomplish. I wanted to get the pieces of our crib upstairs today and I was going to assemble it myself, but when I went down to the basement to take a look at it, it's covered in cobwebs and dead flies. EW. I'm going to make Mark clean it off. :oP

I guess that's all I have to update about now. Here's where I am at 36 weeks:

How your baby's growing:

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

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

See what your baby looks like this week. (Or see what fraternal twins look like in the womb this week.)

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

The Holiday Season is over. Finally?

It's Monday morning, my first day back after a five-day hiatus from work. It's also the last sign (for me anyway) that the Holiday season is over (the first sign being me and Mark taking down our Christmas tree). I know some are relieved when Christmas/New Years is gone, but I get a little depressed. It's such a happy time of year, or at least it's supposed to be. :o) I just keep telling myself that next Christmas is going to be awesome because I'll have two little boys running around!!

New Year's was great. We had Allison and her husband Terry over as well as my step-sister and her husband. We played Guitar Hero World Tour and a round of Trivial Pursuit (I won!). It was definitely a good time and I think it was almost better than bowling for New Years last year.

I haven't been feeling great, physically, lately. I've been really swollen in my nether-regions which no one warned me about until I googled it. I never got swollen like this until after Aidan was born, so it as quite a shock when I looked down and saw the monstrosity that was there. I felt really embarrassed to call Dr. Hulsen or Dr. Dalla Riva about it, so I called the nurses at Anderson and they told me to alternate between sitz baths and ice packs. So far, both have helped a little bit but it still sucks. I feel like I've been riding a horse for a week straight and sometimes it hurts to sit down.

I'm still suffering from the shortness of breath as well and that sucks. It's suppose to get better the further the baby's head travels downward, however I'm thinking because I'm such a tiny person to begin with, that just isn't going to happen. :o/

And I'm totally freaking out now because one of the girls that was pregnant here at work (and was due the day before me) had a stroke last week. They had to take her baby early (obviously) and apparently the baby is okay, but I haven't heard about the girl. It scares me because she is only a year older than me. I hope she's doing okay. I'm going to have to ask around to find out.

I have my check-up with Dr. Hulsen at 5 this evening and it will be a pelvic exam. I'm assuming he's going to do the Group B test (why wouldn't he?) and I'm hoping that I've already begun to dialate. With all that's going on down there, something better be happening!!!

In non-baby related news, Mark and I bought a new car last week and it definitely has all the room we need for our new little one. I love that car so damn much too. I look forward to driving to work now instead of loathing it. I'm sure that once the new-ness wears off I'll hate the 40 to 45 minute drive again, but now it's just fun.

I guess that's it for now. Here's where I am this week...only five weeks to go!!

How your baby's growing:

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

See what your baby looks like this week.

Note: Every baby develops a little differently — even in the womb. Our information is designed to give you a general idea of your baby's development.

Back to work!

I hope everyone had a very Happy Christmas (I'm saying "happy now" instead of "merry" because I'm trying to be cool like the English people *grin*). Ours was great but there were it's moments of family drama which sucks, but it happens whether you want it to or not. Aidan had a great time and loved all of his gifts. Christmas was awesome for him this year because it was the first year he REALLY understood everything that was happening. He opened almost all of his presents without help and I loved the look on his face when he got something he truly wanted. There were so many wow's. It was adorable.

Christian didn't recieve much in the way of Christmas gifts. He got a book from his Aunt Amber, Uncle Andy, and his cousins Zeke and Olivia and a Snugli from his Aunt Crystal, Uncle Nick and cousin Chelsie. I'm really looking forward to using the Snugli. I asked for one when I was pregnant with Aidan but no one ever got it for me. :o) Mark's family took bets on how much Christian is going to weigh when we were together on Christmas Eve. I think I had the smallest weight with 7 pounds even and Dallas guessed way over 8 pounds. Everyone else guessed in the mid-7 pound range. That was really fun, to get the family involved.

I am 34 weeks today and really feeling it. I've been feeling out of breath more and more lately and I hate that, plus my vaginal muscles and back have been killing me. 6 more weeks! That's kind of exciting and frightening all at the same time!

Here's how the little one is doing...I have to get back to work now. We're working Sunday thru Wednesday so that I can have a four day weekend this week. Then it's back to the old work schedule, at least until the end of January. :o)

How your baby's growing:

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

See what your baby looks like this week.