I'm a Mommy!

Tiesday morning at 2:30 am I gave birth to a stunning baby girl. She weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces and is 21 & 3/4 inches long. She scored a 9 & 9 on the Apgar scale. She has a full fuzzy head of dark hair and huge feet. She's too tall already for her newborn jammies. I'll be writing the birth story soon.

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41 Weeks

Uh, well, here we are again. 

This will likely be the last post that I write for weekly pregnancy updates.  In 6 days (or sooner if need be) we will be starting the induction process, so if Bug doesn't make her appearance soon I will be in the hospital by the time I hit 42 weeks. 

Lets hope that doesn't happen.

I am thinking/hoping that something may happen soon.  Yesterday I experienced my bloody show, which means I am now sans mucus plug.  I was thinking that the moment I spotted blood it would be time to start thinking about heading to the hospital.  Then I reviewed the pile of childbirth books that I now have floating around and discovered that this means that labor should start "in the next several days". Pooohey. 

I have been cramping quite a bit for the last few days and had those things that I think might be contractions this morning at about 9 minutes apart for over an hour.  Now, they are still lingering, but aren't as regular. 

Bad news of the day... my sister has some dreaded illness ( fever and cough) that started on Thursday.  We had a breakfast/farmers market trip planned for this morning, but I'm staying away from her and her plagued ass.  She has vowed to stay in bed, load up on fluids and vitamin c, and get better fast so that she can be around when Bug falls out.  I told her not to worry too much, as it doesn't seem like there is any real reason to hurry.

The real tragedy is that I don't have plans for breakfast and I am STARVING! Beware, I may bite.


I will update when more exciting things start to happen.

Why My Husband is a Saint

The last few weeks have been torture for me, and its easy to loose sight of just how terrible they have likely been for my husband as well.  In this whole mess, he has done everything he can to be supportive, loving and understanding.

In addition to have a bitchy, pregnant and overdue wife to cope with, he has been having one hell of a time at work.  He is the general manager at his job, and in these hard economic times, he and the owner have made the decision to cut back on as much staff as possible.  This means in addition to doing his normal job, DH is doing the job of everyone who has been laid off.  

I had no idea how hard it has been on him because he hasn't been telling me everything that has been happening.  He is worried about causing me more stress. 

This week, he started having back problems.  His upper back is so tight, he is having trouble just moving around.  He winces in pain every time he sits or stands or reaches or does pretty much anything.  The cause... stress. 

This morning I overheard him talking to the company owner on the phone.  Apparently, in addition to everything else he is doing, he is taking one of his customers to court next week because they owe thousands of dollars, which at this point may make the difference in whether or not they have to let another employee go.  When is this court date?  Tuesday. 

I'm having my membranes stripped on Monday. 

When I asked him what we would do if I was finally in labor, he told me that he would figure something out.

Holy crap... I can't even imagine the pressure he is under. 

And he still fawns all over me every night when he gets home from work and loves me up and takes care of all of the stuff around the house that I can longer do myself.  And when I was sobbing yesterday, he sat with me and held me and told me how great I was doing.

I think he might actually be a saint.

Update: 40+ Week Check Up and I'm Still Pregnant

So, I feel like an idiot.  Twice I have been very sure that I was experiencing the symptoms of early labor, and twice I have been wrong.  Before this experience, I couldn't understand why women were sent home from the hospital thinking they were in labor.  Now, I totally get it.

I am still cramping like crazy.  In fact, that, combined with my still snoring husband and the two hour nap I had this evening, is why I am still awake.

I am starting to question whether or not I will know when I actually am in labor.  I haven't really been in pain, just mostly a high level of discomfort when I'm feeling these things I guess I imagined were contractions.

So, the good news is that the baby has dropped considerably since my last appointment.  I am at a -1 station and almost fully effaced.  Also, Bug's heart rate is around 145 bpm and her movement is good.  But I am still only dilated to 1/2 a centimeter. 

Time to develop a gameplan.

Doc says that if I hit 42 weeks we'll induce.  For now, she set me up with an appointment on Monday during which I'll have antepartum testing done.  As long as Bug scores well, she can hang out until the end of the week, but they will strip my membranes.  She sounds confident that there is a good chance that I'll have the baby before Monday without any intervention, but I'm not so sure.

So ladies, help me out.  How did you know that you were in labor?  What was the big difference between this cramping crap and actual contractions?

False Labor Again?

Last night I woke up with terrible cramps at about 2 am. It felt like the top of my uterus was trying to climb out of my mouth and the bottom of my uterus felt like I needed to poop or terrible menstral cramps. Labor, maybe?

DH hurt his back on Monday at work and decided to take a muscle relaxer last night. Though he's had back problems before, thus the access to drugs, he rarely takes medication or drinks. This is yet another piece of evidence that we are polar opposites. I need 2 bloody marys just to get on a plane with many drinks on the flight. Because DH isn't used to the drugs, he passed out within minutes of his head hit the pillow and couldn't be woken up by a nuclear war taking place in our bedroom.

I decided to work on lesson planning because there is more than enough to do. Contractions were 6 minutes apart.

After hours of planning and a bath, my contractions lost their consistency, so I have been napping on and off all morning.

I have a Dr.'s appointment so Im hoping we'll have some dilation happening. Will follow up if I can... just updating and running for now.

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False Labor

On Saturday night I started having what I think was contractions.  My doctor explained that it would feel like pain shooting from the top of my uterus and working its was down.  That's not what it felt like.

I felt a very intense tightening at the top of my uterus, followed by tightening in the rest of my uterus and a teeny bit of back pain.  It felt like the the Braxton Hicks contractions that I have been having for the past 2 months, only way more intense and at regular intervals. 

At about 11 pm, these contractions were happening every 7 minutes.  DH was starting to get anxious and wanted to know if we should start heading to the hospital.  Knowing that they'd turn us away with contractions this far apart, I suggested we go try to get some sleep and wake up early to get the pets ready for being on their own.  We had a list of things we still wanted to do, and from everything I'd read, we should have plenty of time.

DH kept excitedly squealing "Tomorrow we are going to have a baby!" and we cuddled and talked about what she might be like.  Soon after he drifted off to sleep.

It took several hours before I could fall asleep.  The contractions stayed about 7 minutes apart, but were getting a little more painful.  I was too uncomfortable and excited to sleep.

I woke up early, and noticed that the contractions had slowed significantly.  They were now about 20 minutes apart.  I figured this was caused by innactivity, and decided that we should start getting ready anyway, and perhaps the activity would start the contractions again.

I was scheduled to do brunch with my sister, but DH and I know full well that if anyone in my family gets wind of labor, they'll all be over in no time flat.  We've decided we want to go through the delivery together, ALONE, so I made up a story about feeling nauseous and declined the brunch invite.  My sis hates all things vomit and she didn't question it.

DH is responsible for doing payroll at work, and payroll needed to be done this Monday.  To make sure that no one went unpaid, DH went in for a few hours and got as much work done as he could.  I stayed and cleaned up around the house and did a little more lesson planning.

Sometime during the late morning and early afternoon the contractions stopped. 

And they haven't started back up.

And people are still calling, and facebooking and texting excitedly to see if the baby is coming.

And I am starting to feel like I am letting people down.

I feel like I'm going absolutely nutty.  Everytime I feel a weird kick I get excited and then quickly realize that nothing is happening.  I know she'll come when she is ready, but I wish I knew when.

I have been knitting and crochetting like crazy to try to keep my mind occupied.  I've made a scarf and and pair of crochetted Mary Jane's.  Here's my first attempt:

The one on the left was try #1 and my second attempt is on the right.  I'm going to make a 3rd to replace #1, you know, now that I have some extra time on my hands.  Note the ladybug buttons, they are my favorite. 

I'm super mopy since DH had to work today.  Apparently, everyone else has MLK day off so that they can call me and ask where the baby is. 

This sucks.  I'm ready for the baby to fall out.

Mommy vs. the TV: Distraction Free Dining

Our TV is insanely huge. It is so huge that it doesn't fit into the gigantic built-in shelf that seemed perfect when we bought this house. It is so large, in fact, that everything in the house orbits around it.

The TV was here before I was.  I met the TV on my first date with DH.Our first date was on December 22nd and neither of us had started our Christmas shopping. We'd met few months before (a sordid tale for another time) and had been chatting on the phone for awhile. A mall date seemed like a safe, easy first date, but we never made it to the mall. DH, who I think secretly had less than pure intentions, wasn't feeling well and opted out of the mall trip but offered to have me over to get a pizza and watch a movie (or makeout on the couch).

I should have realized then that the TV would become the other woman in our relationship. That beezy was always around to distract one of us. She gave him college football and March Madness and me all of the crap reality TV I could handle.

We were both very fond of her until I realized something.

All of our time together is spent in front of the massive beast.

We don't talk, we don't do, we just watch.
 
And it is driving me crazy.

I don't mind it when the two of us are apart. She was great while I was home alone during winter break, resting my bloated whale feet. And she is fine for him to be with when I'm not here. But when we are together it drives me crazy that we both become these glass-eyed zombies, drooling in front of her. No interaction, no thinking, nothing. Bug's impending arrival is only making me hate the TV more. I keep feeling myself becoming more & and more glued to the couch, porking out and feeling disgusting.

The most disgusting thing we do is eat in front of the TV.

Mindlessly.

Shoveling.

We've both have gained too much weight during this pregnancy and I can't take it any more. Its not good enough for me, and it most certainly isn't good enough for Bug.

Now, I'm not going to pretend I am going to be one of those parents who managed to keep their kids life TV free. Though I think it would be a good idea, I know that its one of those things that new parents adamantly decide to do, and fizzle out before their child's first birthday. I am realistic. But the amount of TV we watch is out of control. So after having a complete psycho pregnant lady meltdown this weekend, we agreed that we needed to start somewhere.

Unfortunately for me, DH happens to feel the same way about my cell phone that I feel about the TV.


We agreed Sunday-Thursday, we would have a family dinner, distraction free.

We'll see how it goes. With a new baby scheduled to make her arrival at any second, I know that there will be bumps in the road, but I think its important that we unplug for a little while and its something I want to work at. And since this is the season of resolutions, why not?

I'm curious to hear your feedback. Do you do family dinners?

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40 weeks

Today is my due date.

Still no baby.

However, I have gotten 3 phone calls, several text messages and 2 facebook comments asking me if there is any sign of the baby.

People suck.

I have been having quite a bit of cramping and my pelvic and sciatic pain is back in full force. But nothing else.

DH and decided to try to get our minds off of the baby by going out to a late breakfast and movie date. And we got ice cream after.

Now I'm doing as many mindless things as I can to keep my brain from going crazy. I have knitted almost an entire scarf and I think I'll havecenough yarn to make a baby hat and booties to match when I'm done. I'll update with finished products if I ever follow through.

Hoping the baby comes soon. I'm going crazy!

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A Cruel Joke

Everyone around me has been urging me to enjoy my last few night of uninterrupted sleep before the baby arrives. 

That sounds like a great plan.

But

I

CANT

SLEEP

!!!!!!

It is now 1:13 am and I have spent the last two hours listening to DH snore.

This happened a when I was on winter break.  I spent several nights tossing and turning throughout the night and doing everything I could to avoid a nap during the day so that I might get on track. 

Last night, at some point Bug decided to make a noticible descent south.  My belly is visibly lower than it was before and now I am pretty sure that her head is stabbing me in the bladder. 

Having to pee every 20 minutes is not helping me fall asleep.

To make matters worse, I know that my sub will call me at 7:30 in the morning, like she did today. 

No bueno. 

So, in my last few childless nights, I am completely and totally unable to sleep. 

Its not funny.

39 Weeks

I'm a little slow getting up my 39 week post.  Things have been hectic around here. 

I am officially on maternity leave. Hooray!!!!

One would think this would mean that I am sitting with my feet propped up and enjoying the end of my pregnancy.

Not so much.

This morning, my sub called me 6 times. 6 times.  3 before 8 am. 

I want to stab her.

Because I work for a school that does independent study, we don't see students every day and things are a little tricky.  My principal suggested a sub based on the fact that she has taught for our school in the past and understands our strange little proceedures.  Unfortunately, many of the proceedures have changed and she really has no idea what is going on. 

And she is older, retired and not so familiar with that new fangled thingy on my desk called a computer. 

Stupid me, I left electronic files. 

It seemed like a good idea at the time.  I have remote access to my desktop so I can go in an change assignment and adapt lessons to meet her needs, because, oh yeah, she also isn't a science person. 

DH is ready to have my phone disconnected.

On to the baby update. 

There is no baby. =(

I had an appointment last Thursday and found out that I was a half centimeter dilated and almost completely effaced.  My doctor is hoping that something will start happening soon, but suggested that I make an appointment for early next week to start discussing induction.

Fuck!

I am pretty flexible with my birth plan, and will do what I need to do, but induction is the LAST thing I want done.  I was hoping to have a low intervention birth so that I could walk around and hide in the shower and do that kind of a thing.  But once they start with pitocin, I am bed ridden for most of the process.  This takes away a lot of the things that I was hoping for.

And.... I am not a big fan of the multiple day labor that so many people I have talked to who have been induced seemed to have. 

Let the crazy interventions begin.

Spicy Food.
Walking.
Cod liver oil.
Sex.

I think I'm going to start trying it all, knowing damn well it probably wont work.

Wish me luck and start thinking baby!

When the Baby Falls Out

We started talking about when the baby falls out when I first got pregnant, though the conversation has evolved dramatically since it began.  It started with my 8 week appointment when I nervously awaited the results of the pregnancy test that the nurse had administered.  I don't even remember how many pregnancy test I'd taken, but despite the consistent results, I'd convinced myself that somehow, since the last time I peed on a stick, the baby had fallen out.  There had been no visual evidence of this happening, but I still was pretty sure it did.

Crazy only gets worse when you are pregnant.

After the appointment every bit of moisture I felt down there was the baby, once again, falling out.  Though most of the time I felt pretty sure about this pregnancy, I still worried a lot about miscarriage.  I think I felt like things had just gone too easily for us.  Tragedy could strike at any minute. 

It didn't.  Everything has been going great.  No scares or mishaps.  Being pregnant is definitely not fun, but it really hasn't been that terrible either.  We have been incredibly lucky.

And now we are rapidly approaching the time when the baby is supposed to fall out.  It's a difficult mental transition to make; going from continuously and neurotically willing the baby to stay in to anxiously awaiting the day she arrives.  When I get a weird twinge or pain my first reaction is panic, but it's getting to be that time. 

I refuse to call it "going into labor".  I make DH and everyone around me call it "when the baby falls out" because I'm hoping it will be a self fulfilling prophecy.  Maybe if I just believe she will slide down the birth canal like a she is being shot out of a water slide, it will just happen. 

We really haven't been doing the prep work I planned to do either.  I was obsessively reading books on childbirth for awhile and I was pushing DH to be my birth coach a la the Bradley Method. Making him be "coach hubby" hasn't worked so well because my mood swings have rendered him terrified of me.  And I myself have put more work into meal planning this week than I have into getting ready for this thing to happen.

Maybe now is when I should be freaking out.

But I'm not.  

11 more days (+ or -).

Cats Don't Like Water

Last week I decided that I should probably wash everything on the co-sleeper again since our two male cats were using it as their love nest.  Thats when something bad happened... Not only was the co-sleeper covered in fur, there were flecks of what pet owners can immediately identify as flea poop.

Fuck.

I have a baby due in two weeks and a flea outbreak.  Yuck.

Though I am incredibly messy, there are certain things I can't deal with.  For example, my desk is covered in random papers, water bottles and post-its most of the time.  However, if there is a sponge that has been used more than a few times, I freak the hell out.  I cut my sponges in half because I go through them so much.  Why, because sponges are the ideal breeding ground for nasty ass bacteria.  DH doesn't understand how I can be so messy, and yet so anal retentive, but that's what happens when you marry a crazy ass science teacher.  And on the top of my list of things that freak me out.

Fleas.

Why?

Ever heard of a little thing called the bubonic plague.   

Being pregnant is only hightening the insanity.  I immediately started washing and vaccuming and scrubing and re-ordering flea medicine for our 4 fluffy pets.  While I am crazy about giving Daisy Dog her frontline on the first Saturday of every month, the cats get spared most of the time because they are forbidden from leaving the house.  Besides, who heard of a flea outbreak in the middle of f-ing winter? 

After the frantic cleaning session, everyone needed a bath.  Yes, everyone. 

Daisy is an absolute angel about bathtime.  I simply drag her into the shower with me once a week and she politely lets me scrub and rinse and it takes less than 5 minutes. 

But we also have 3 cats.  Sorry kitties!

Whenever we are doing something terrible to the cats, Lox gets to go last because he is almost completely deaf.  He had no idea what was about to happen.

Now it has been a few days and there have been no flea sighting to speak of.  The adult fleas are dunzo, but there are probably eggs somewhere in this nasty ass house that are just waiting to hatch.  We may have won the battle, but the war still rages on. 

Poor kitties don't know that they will be getting another bath in 2 weeks. 

38 Weeks: Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

This is the first New Years Day in a long time that I woke up and was ready to go at 8 am.  Funny how sober living will do that to a girl. 

I even met up with a friend to go to the farmers market and breakfast.  Before noon. 

Unfortunately, the farmers market wasn't open today. 

Oh well, breakfast was FANTASTIC!

Today I am 38 weeks pregnant and CANNOT WAIT to get this baby out of me.  I'm just tired of being fat and unable to do so many things.  Belive it or not, I am incredibly jealous of the people who are starting the year off with a run or a long bike ride.  I would absolutely kill to be able to hop on my bike today or take Daisy Dog for a run. 

I might almost be craving a run more than I am craving champagne. 

I said almost.

Unfortunately, a Wednesday's checkup, the midwife told me that an early birth looks highly unlikely.  I'm 50% effaced, but Bug hasn't dropped and there is no dialation happening.  Grrr.  She said to expect Bug right around my due date (the 15th) and possibly a little after.

The midwife also told me that Bug is approximately seven and a half pounds.  That's not a fetus, that's a baby.  A baby that is still cooking and getting bigger by the day. 

DH is thrilled.  Since we missed the deadline for the tax write off, his new goal is for us to have a 10 pound baby. 

I kind of hate him right now.

Bug also kicked and punched at the midwife while she was examining me.  This is the second appointment in a row where this has happened. 

Also this week, DH made the terrible mistake of replacing my broken down, hardly working crackberry with a new droid something or other.  That means that I now have a camera on my phone that will actually upload pictures.  So here is a picture of my tummy, from my point of view. 

I assure you this t-shirt used to be much less stretched.

This is definitely going to be a crazy year.