My Love

I've been busy snuggling this precious little thing. :)  I'll be back to post the birth story soon... if I can tear myself away from Miss Nora!

Introducing....

Nora Kristine
6 pounds 1 oz
19 inches long
June 10, 2012

She was literally like 5 minutes old when this picture was taken.  Here's one of her and daddy:

She is such a wonderful treasure and the most easy, laid back and happy baby.  Would you believe she is 3 days old and STILL HAS NOT CRIED!?!? She didn't cry after delivery, not through the 9 or 10 pokes she had to endure for her blood sugar, not when I change her diaper or bathe her, nada.  She fusses a little but I have yet to hear a full blown cry.

Her birth story is a doozy and I'll write it soon, but for now I'm kinda preoccupied snuggling my precious baby girl. ;-)

I'll add more pictures once I get the ones off my camera and my sister's downloaded. :-D

6-9-12

That'll most likely be Baby Girl's birthday if all goes well.

I just saw the OB and he said due to the fact I've had so many contractions for so long with no progress, and the fact that the baby's movements have decreased significantly, it's time to get her out.

So tomorrow morning at 7:30a.m. I'll be getting induced.

I've never been induced before and I'm nervous.  Excited, but nervous.  I had really, really, really wanted a natural, unmedicated birth and I just don't know if that's possible with pitocin.  He is going to start me on the lowest dose possible, and hope my body takes over.  If it does, then we can turn it off.

Here is a shot of me today, at almost 40 weeks:

So we'll see how it all goes down, but oh my goodness, I'm going to have my baby tomorrow!!!!!

Prodromal Labor

Hi All!
How are you?  I'm actually doing really good.  Which, is kind of miraculous, actually. ;-)

Yesterday I had ten solid hours of contractions that were coming every 2-5 minutes.  And they hurt. I thought I'd have a baby for sure.  But nope.  They weren't changing my cervix! That is what is called prodromal labor. Basically meaning labor/contractions that are "false" and don't lead to a baby at the end.  Fun times. :-P

I went down to the hospital in the afternoon because I thought my water had broken.  The nurse did a swab test, and as she was doing it (very ROUGHLY, I might add) there was fluid leaking.  So we thought FOR SURE my water had broken but 3 different tests came back negative for amniotic fluid.  We still don't know what it was! Weird, huh??  The whole time I was contracting every 2-3 minutes, but when she checked my cervix I was only dilated to a 1.  So she sent me home.

After I got home my sister was  doing some acupressure on my legs and they were so swollen that there was an indentation from where she had pushed for over an hour later! :-O I also started feeling really sick, threw up, had a headache, etc... so we went back down to the hospital.  Turns out I was fairly dehydrated so I got some IV fluids (after 3 rather painful pokes; one in each hand before the nurse finally listened to me about which vein to use) and I felt a lot better after that.  The baby perked up, too.  It was kinda crazy; she showed me the printout of the baby's movements and it was basically a flat line before the  fluid, and then after she was wiggling and moving all around and her heart rate was better. So I'm glad I went down.

Overnight everything stopped and today I've had only a few Braxton Hicks.  But the amazing thing is, I'm okay with it.  I have total rest and peace to just wait for her to be ready.  Labor WILL start.  She WILL come.  I have a doc appt tomorrow and I'm going to see if he'll strip my membranes, as that worked with both my boys.  I feel comfortable doing it because it only works if your body is ready anyway.

I'll keep you posted!  For now, I'm a cleaning fiend. Albeit a very slow, 90-year old granny moving, cleaning fiend. ;-)

Emotional

Hey there,
So, today I can't stop crying. I am so ding dang emotional!  I am so so so tired of having contractions that aren't doing anything, and that aren't progressing to real labor.  They wake me up, they hurt, but they are doing nothing. Nothing.

I'm really, really trying my best to just be patient, to give her all the time she needs and know that she'll come when she's ready.  But today, it's hard.  I am so mentally, emotionally, physically exhausted.  I just want this part of pregnancy to be over with.  My body hurts everywhere.  I can't walk without it hurting.  I can't get in or out of bed, up or down on the couch, drive, cook, pretty much do anything without pain.

I'm hoping I'm close.  I remember when Christian was born, the morning before I went into labor I called my mom sobbing because Kate (who was just 14 months old) was throwing her food on the ground and it was just too. much. to. handle.  So I took her to my mom's, went home and started cleaning and went into labor.

I hate to come on here and just complain; no one likes to read whiny words.  But I'm just keeping it real.  Right now, it's hard.

Hopefully really soon I'll be holding a baby girl, and my body can start going back to normal.  Until then, I'll just keep my Kleenex box handy. :-P

Come out, baby! Please?

Hi All!
How are you?  I'm doing pretty good, actually.  Last night I had contractions off and on all night, and really thought I'd have a baby by now.  But then they stopped. :(

My ankles and feet are SO swollen.  I don't even recognize them; it's so weird.  I've never had issues with swelling before.

My fingers are just as bad.  My joints hurt like crazy; I can hardly squeeze the shampoo bottle!

But, it's just a time and season and I think (HOPE!) that once I have the baby all the swelling will go away.

Here is my little baby corner that I set up in the living room:

The pictures of my backyard aren't uploading right now, so I'll have to post those separately.

Mostly, I'm writing to ask that you pray/send good vibes/ etc... that Little Miss will come out soon.  Like, today.  It's a full moon and babies are historically born on full moons.  I've had so many contractions over the last week and I'm kind of just mentally exhausted with all the waiting and wondering.  I'm ready.  Everything here is ready. The kids are ready. Josh is ready.  We're just waiting on  my body and baby to be ready.  So if you could say a quick prayer that today is the day, we would be eternally grateful!

I will try to get on here somehow and post as soon as she is here. :)

Friday Update

I had my 38 week OB check up today. 

Everything looks good! My blood pressure was up a bit, and I'm extremely swollen, but it's been really humid and hot today.  I'm not worried about it, and just hope it goes down quickly once Baby Girl is here.

The doctor checked me and my cervix is closed, but starting to efface.  The better news is that her head is firmly engaged in the birth canal and is pressing on the cervix.  He  said that is actually a better indication that labor/delivery are near since in women who have had prior pregnancies the cervix doesn't even have to thin all the way before it dilates, and it usually goes quickly once it starts.

I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions every 3-5 minutes for a couple of days now, so I'm really, really hoping she comes this weekend, or on the full moon Monday. ;-)  I'm currently drinking red raspberry leaf tea, in hopes that it'll help the contractions get stronger and progress to the real thing.

The baby is also back in a good position. I can totally tell when she is facing the wrong way because my back absolutely KILLS me.  And when she is in the right position there is little to no pain.  So I'm praying she stays where she is until she comes out!

All in all I'm doing very well.  Not too uncomfortable and everything is ready for her to make her grand appearance!

Hopefully you'll have sweet baby pictures to look at soon! :-D