A few pics

4 days old

Well my baby boy is almost 4 days old already. Our first night home was HORRIBLE, as my milk wasn't in yet and the poor thing was starving. I know he was getting what he needed from the colustrum but his poor lil tummy wasnt full so he just cried and cried all night long. I basically got ZERO sleep because I was nursing every 1-1.5 hours for 45 min at a time. So it was nurse 45 min... then again 15-45 minutes later... talk about exhausting.

My milk did finally come in yesterday but it isn't quite up to par with the amount he wants yet, so I am pumping between feedings. Last night was a lot better, I mean A LOT better. He ate at about 11 and fell asleep at about 12, slept til 1, ate, slept til 4, ate, and it is now 8am and he is STILL sleeping. Im expecting a very fussy and hungry baby to wake up any minute now. Im guessing he was exhausted too from not really sleeping the night before.

He had his first pedi appointment yesterday too. He was down to 5lb 9oz, he was 5lb 11oz when we left the hospital so not too bad I guess. She doesn't want him losing much more though so she was the one who recommended I start pumping between nursing sessions. I have a whole 2oz of breast milk in the fridge!! (OK its weird that Im super excited about this, but it is a BIG deal to me, lol). Everything else at the appointment went really well... he is only actually 18.5 inches long, but the hospital told us he was probably shorter than 19inches anyways cause they measured him when he had his huge cone head... hehe.

The dogs have done a pretty good job so far, they have spent the majority of the time outside. At night they get to sleep inside and Tucker whines allllll night, so we will have to find a way to deal with that. Ginger gets REALLY excited anytime she is near Cody, so we just have to get her to calm down.

I will try and upload more pictures soon, I haven't had very much time at all to even take pictures, yesterday was full of trying to soothe a crying baby.

I will let you know how today goes!

He is here!

So induction was schedule for Sat morning, when I got up Sat I started to have my bloody show, so I knew I was getting close on my own. We got to the hospital at 6:30 Saturday morning, they didn't want to start me up til after shift change at 7 so I sat around from 6:30 until 8 when they started the pitocin.

My dr. came in at 8:45 and I was a "good" 2cm and 90+% effaced. At that time she broke my water... can we say ewwwww. Def felt like I was peeing myself. As soon as my water was broken I started feeling the contractions A LOT better.

I was checked again at 10 and at that time i was up to 4cm and completely effaced, I asked for staidol (sp?) at this time to take the edge off the ctx because they were getting really intense and only about 1-2 min apart and lasting 1 min. That helped a lot but wore off after 1 hour and they wouldnt give me any more for 2 more hours, so I had them check me at 11:45 to see if there was any change to see if I could make it without an epi. Well when she checked me I was only at 4.5cm so I had barely changed in 2 hours so I knew I wouldn't be able to make it without some more drugs, and since they wouldnt give me anything else I got the epi.
The anesthesiologist did a great job as I could still feel the contractions and my legs werent numb and when it came time to push I easily felt the pressure.

So I got the epi at about 12 when I was 4.5cm, they checked me again at 1:20 and I was 9.5cm! So 5cm in about 1.5hours, if I would have known it would go that fast I might not have gotten the epi.

I started pushing at 2:15 and at 3:04 he entered the world with a HUGE cone head! He was 6lb 3oz and 19in long. A full lb less than what the dr. thought he would be.

I had a post pardum hemorrhage and lost A LOT of blood so I had to have a blood transfusion yesterday, besides that I have been feeling great. We came home today, if it werent for the hemorrhage I would have been able to come home yesterday.


Here are some pics, we have tons of them and its hard to pick my favorites!

place your bets!!

So since Cody will be here in FOUR (!) days I thought I would be fun to post guesses on his weight and length. His estimated weight at 31w2d was 4lb 6oz and his femur was measuring as a 34weeker. He will be born at 39w exactly. So leave a comment with your guesses!!

Pictures!!

Here is me at 38 weeks:


These are a few of the maternity photos that were taken at 34 weeks:











If you want to see all of them go here:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=ji4qk8z.m21icuf&x=0&y=-m6v9d7&localeid=en_US

38 Week Appointment

Well Cody is still hanging in there! I went in today and everything is "about" the same... my doctor isn't very big on giving out exact numbers, dont ask me why. I asked her to strip my membranes and she did. It hurt pretty bad but as soon as she was done the pain was gone, so not too bad of an experience.

As soon as I got home I went to the restroom and had a huge gush of blood, I am assuming it was from the sweep. I have been spotting ever since but it seems to be tapering off now. I had a lot of cramping afterwards but that is starting to taper off too. From everything I have read it says if it is going to do anything it will do it within 24-48 hours. So only time will tell!

She did say that she gives me a 75% chance of going on my own before the scheduled induction... have no idea where she gets that number from. She also said she still thinks I will be able to deliver vaginally which is a relief for me because I am small and afraid he is going to end up too big to fit through my pelvis! Let's hope she is right!

11 more days til induction...

"37 Week" Appointment

So I recently found out my dr has me 2 days ahead of what I have me... making my due date 1/1. Whatever... I dont think it really matters at this point. So today was my "37 Week" appointment according to her... so for the fun details...

I am slightly more effaced and slightly more dilated but nothing significant. But I am honestly glad that at least SOMETHING has changed... she even made the comment "look I put you on bed rest to stop things and now nothing's happening!" I was like yeah, tell me about it!

My GBS came back negative so that is good.

And we are scheduling an induction for Dec 27th if he is not here by then! It is soooooo nice to have a date set. I will be over 39 weeks by then. So now I know I will not be pregnant for any longer than 18 more days!!!

She also told me the pain in my back is from him dropping... I told her it felt like he was sitting in my butt, lol. She says he is really low and she seemed surprised that I haven't really changed or been experiencing many contractions.

When I got home from work today I went to the restroom and noticed some brown tissue looking stuff... then I wiped again and there was a lot more brown discharge. I lost part of my MP when I was in PTL then I have been losing little bits and pieces here and there and then on 11/30 I lost a pretty big piece of it. It has always been yellow though and never brown. I realize this could be from the internal, but I have never bled from an internal before so Im holding out hope that it means *something*.

Friday is a full moon so wish me luck!

Sharing some pics...

These are from the baby shower... I was in lots of pain :(










And these are of the completed nursery!

Some updates on me...

Well here I am almost 2 weeks after my hospital visit and I am still pregnant! Hard for me to believe since the first doctor I saw that day at the hospital wasn't very optimistic on me making it much longer. I go in for my appointment at 9am tomorrow morning to see how lil Cody is hanging in there. Hopefully there will be no more progress!

I was a bad girl this weekend and did not stick to my bedrest like I should have. There were some things that I felt just HAD to be done before I could give birth, so I did those things and just rested the rest of the time. I didn't lay down nearly enough though, I was sitting up more than I should have been.

So what I've been experiencing the last week...
~More pelvic pressure... this is what got me admitted to the hospital in the first place, hopefully it means nothing right now!
~Menstrual-like cramping in my back - so I know this is supposed to be a labor sign, but it wasn't coming in waves or timeable, basically my back hurt for 30 or so minutes then went away, and then it would happen again a few hours later. Its been about 18 hours since I last had it so Im hoping it was just "false" labor pains
~Have had contractions, but not at regular intervals, or so it doesn't seem, I have such a hard time recognizing contractions
~A SORE tummy... but as you will see in the pics below, I think its cuz I grew so much this week!
~A very high heartrate - I simply put the crib bumped on the crib and my HR got up to 130 BPM. Waking up this morning it was 108 BPM. I will be asking my doctor about this tomorrow.

I am leaving you with belly pics from 33 and 31 weeks. It looks like I may have dropped a lil... what do you think?

31 Weeks

33 Weeks

Back from the doctor....

and officially on bedrest. I wont lie and say Im not bummed... we have enough money saved up JIC something like this happened... but I really didnt want it to happen. Every week that I am off of work is an unpaid week. Im going to have to look into selling tupperware or something, lol.

She checked me and there hasn't been much change since I got released from the hospital, she says she wants to keep it that way so no activities for me. However, if by 35 weeks I am still pregnant, she will consider letting me go back to work then.

So basically I get to be really bored for the next 2.5 weeks.... but I guess if thats what it takes to keep my lil man baking a little longer then thats what it takes. She says he will prob stay put until 35 weeks if I stay on bedrest but she thinks as soon as I start moving around again that labor will start again. POOP.

Oh... I did just reschedule my maternity pics for next thursday though... sorry but nothing is going to stop me from doing those!

Some more info

Well I finally got discharged from the hospital on Friday. I was not very happy at all with my experience there. I originally went into the hospital on Tuesday for pre-term labor... I was having ctx every 3 or so minutes and I was 80% effaced and a fingertip dialated. They put me on trib and it didnt work so they started mag which also didnt work so they sent me to a hospital that could "better" take care of me if I were to deliver a baby that premature. Lemme just say... I will never go back to the "better" hospital again.

Once I got there I started getting pain in my right side in my kidney area... I told them about it and they gave me a pill for gas... I told them it was not gas but they had me take it anyways. Of course it didn't get any better and they had to give me nubane so I wouldnt be in so much pain cause everytime I started getting to be in pain the contractions got closer together.

They monitored me in L&D until the middle of the night Wednesday night, then they sent me to the antepardum unit saying they were going to get me an u/s to see if I had kidney stones. My MIL had come up there and saw I had blood in my urine and suggested maybe I had kidney stones and then all of the sudden thats what they think I have. We waited 24 hours for an ultrasound for them to come back and tell me that they didnt see any stones just a swollen ureter so I was probably trying to pass a stone.

The next morning they decide to discharge me even though I was contracting every 3 minutes still and told me I did not have to be on bedrest as this was all probably because of the kidney stones... WHAT?? I wasn't even IN any pain until I got to the hospital. And either way... I am effaced and now 1-2 cm dialated... but they told me to resume normal activites and that I could go back to work.

So I called my Dr friday after I left and was told by the nurse to absolutely not go back to work until I have a follow up with my Dr. I really think the people at the hospital were quacks. Neither the mag nor the trib would sto my ctx's... and thats OK? I think not.

I did get to go to my baby shower Saturday, but I was not able to really enjoy myself. My kidneys have been KILLING me to where I am barely able to even move. I think I may have passed the stone now though, as I am not in NEARLY as much pain. I was taking hydrocodone to keep the pain away... I felt really bad taking it but I just can't be in that much pain. At the hospital they were having to give me nubane and morphine just to keep me from screaming.

Hopefully my dr. can give me more answers tomorrow at my appointment... at this point I honestly feel like I have no idea what is going on.

Pre-term labor

Wohoo... Not. I went to the dr on tues for my reg 2 wk appt and told her I had been experiencing some back pain and pelvic pressure... She checked me and I was 80% effeced... That's from 0% effaced two weeks earlier. She then hooked me up to the NST and I was contracting every few mins though I could not feel them. She sent me to the hospital where after 4 doses of trib and 2 hours of mag they could not get the ctx's to stop so they transferred me to a hospital with a NICU that is equipped for a -34 weeker. I got here and was on mag for another 24 hrs and the ctx's slowed but haven't stopped. They are now thinking that I may also have kidney stones, I get an u/s in a few hours to look at my kidneys and if there are no stones I get to go home on strict bedrest, if there are I will have to stay til they pass. I'm typing this from my blackberry so its kinda spacy and there are parts left out but I wanted to give a general update. I will def be having Cody in the next few weeks we are just hoping it will be later rather than sooner. Ill update more when I get a better chance to.

I got in ANOTHER wreck...

Well happy monday to me. I got in a wreck on the freeway this morning, the guy behind me couldn't stop in time and hit me going about 20 mph from the back and made me hit the guy in front of me. Then a car hit hit and that car got hit too so there were 5 of us. I'm so mad at the guy behind me, he had plenty of time to stop I guess he just wasn't paying enough attention. My car isn't badly hurt or anything... I probably just need a new bumper.

My doctor had me go to the hospital to get monitored to make sure the baby was fine. I got there at 11:30 and was told that due to Ike they only had half their beds so it would take a little bit to get a bed... I thought ok maybe 15-20 minutes... NO... 2.5 HOURS later they finally get me hooked up to a NST machine. Good thing I wasn't in labor or they woulda been screwed.

Anyways they hooked me up and I was having contractions. They monitored me for about 1 hour and the contractions weren't getting any stronger so they checked my cervix and confirmed that it was still firm and closed and they allowed me to go home. They told me that if the contractions start to get any stronger then not to hesitate to come back up there. They also took my blood to do a test to make sure the baby's blood wasn't mixing with my blood? Or something like that. So I was just told to take it easy and here I am at home.

The guy's insurance co called me and I told them about the hospital visit and they told me to just fax them over copies of any medical bills I get... so hopefully that won't be too much of a pain. It was a company truck that he was driving so I'm sure his company will do anything to stay out of a lawsuit anyways.

So I guess its just rest and relaxation for me the rest of the day... oh and I have a follow up appointment with my doctor on Wednesday. It just irks me to no end on how I ALWAYS seem to get in a car accident. I have been in 5 accidents now and none of them have been my fault. Why am I so prone to them???

At least the guy had insurance this time I guess...

My Son...

The ultrasound was great... he was sleeping almost the whole time and had his hand and the umbilical cord in front of his face... so that made things complicated but we still got some pretty good pictures. Of course I think he is absolutely perfect... he has chubby cheeks and thin lips just like me and chad. He also already has lots of hair. Im very excited and can't wait to see him so that I can compare his pictures!!! I added some of my favorites... we got 32 total photos and 30 minutes of video.


One of my favs, a great shot of his hand and arm.

He is using his left hand to play with his right foot
Pic of his face... it looks pretty distorted because of the umbilical cord being in front of his face
His whole body... his legs are crossed and his hands are in front of his face
His toe is in his nose!
Another pic of his face
His hand on his face... he is sticking out his bottom lip

have you missed me?

Soooo long time no post. Not too much has been going on, just staying busy at work and home. Can't believe I am almost 28 weeks... just a short time to go now and so much to do still!

I failed my 1hr GTT with a 161 the cutoff being 135. So I have to go in next Wednesday for the 3hr... OH JOY!! I was afraid of this happening and I'm even more afraid of failing the 3hr with the history of diabetes in my family.

I was also told to start taking calcium supplements to help with the leg cramps, so if anyone else is suffering from this you may wanna try that. OB says in pregnant women it is usually calcium and not potassium that causes the leg cramps.

I'm also anemic so I have to start taking iron supplements... Grrrrr. I just hope they don't upset my tummy too much.

So now I have prenatals, iron, calcium, and B12 shots to take... Yipee! Oh and tums are my BFF now too.

I don't think pregnancy agrees with me. Don't get me wrong I LOVE being pregnant but I don't love all the aches and pains that come with it. My tailbone and my rib cage are the two big things that are hurting right now and its CONSTANT. I'm just ready for Cody to be here already!!

Oh I'm getting my 3d tomorrow... Ill upload pics after!

The Nursery

Well we are ALMOST through with the nursery... just a few more things need to go up on the walls... here are the pics... enjoy!