Life at Home

Wow...it still feels surreal to me, we have a little baby girl. And she's so cute. So far we've been managing, it is a learning process for all three of us. :) My stomach doesn't hurt so much now, but it's still a tender moment to get up from sitting or lying down. Holiday is absolutely perfect. I'm not sure what her hair color will settle on being, it's seems to change a little every day. Her eyes are blue for now. David is the ultimate husband and father. He's amazingly helpful and supportive, even though he caught a cold from the hospital, he hasn't missed a beat. Breastfeeding is pretty difficult but we're making it work. I think we need to set a schedule because Holly seems to sleep all day and has a hard time sleeping at night. Jury's still out on the cloth diapers, I'm not exactly sold that they're as great as cloth diaper people say they are, we'll see. It's definitely nice to be home now, no one's poking the baby and waking her up. Holly gets her first check up tomorrow.

The Andersons have returned home

So, here's the story:

I started having contractions the afternoon of the 15th, I didn't realize what they were right away. By the time David came by to pick me up from work I was really happy to be going home. About 6pm I started believing I was having contractions, so then I kept track, they were about a minute long, 4 times an hour at that time. I took a little nap that evening to wake up to everything going faster. From 10:30 to midnight, they were coming at 12 times an hour 1-2 minutes long so we went in to the hospital. By 2am the contractions were painful enough that it would be silly to send me home then, especially since that was when I first requested pain medication. After that I'm not exactly sure 'when' a lot of stuff happened. David might not either, he didn't get to sleep at all that night. But shortly after that I wanted the epidural, which only worked on my left side so they did another one that had worn off quickly so I'm not exactly sure how long natural labor lasted. By the time the third epidural was called for my OB doctor was there along with our nurse (who was awesome, kept making David take a nap or eat something) to help me with the epidural process, which is painful in itself, at least to me it is. David could tell it was bad, and he only saw it from the front. At some point in the afternoon I had a fever going of 102 degrees and it was determined that I had an infection in my uterus, so they immediately started me on antibiotics for it. By this time I was feeling a little better but my contractions started slowing down so then they gave me plutosin to try to drive things again. I was stuck at 6cm for 6 hours with an infection in my uterus, so in the early evening hours, the call was made for a c-section. They used the successful epidural for it, so I didn't need a spinal done. David was in charge of the puke pans during the surgery, I only threw up once. But the medical staff was amazed at how much ice chips I could throw up (since I was denied water during epidurals which is absolutely hateful). When you're thirsty enough you tolerate ice quite easily...I  digress. I didn't feel any sharp stuff, but I felt the pulling and pushing and it did so hurt. I was kept being told all day that pressure isn't pain, I strongly disagree. But they pulled Holly out of the womb and apparently she was looking right at them, another reason for it hurt more, she was looking the wrong way. The first thing I noticed about Holly was how much dark hair she had. She also recognized David's voice and mine. She stopped crying and looked up at us when we were talking to her. She's way cute. The removal of the placenta sucked but in hindsight that whole day felt like a whirlwind. We got out of surgery back into the regular room. We watched Holly get her first bath, I got cleaned up and got more pain killers. Everyone thought David was a genious for bringing a sleeping bag to the hospital. We got packed up and moved into a recovery room for three days. They had Holly on antibiotics too just to make sure she didn't catch my infection. So we've been waited on 24 hours a day and generally we're really happy with the care we got at Swedish. The doctors, nurses and specifically the lactation nurses were extremely helpful in helping us recover and take care of our little Holiday. On the first day I wasn't so sure I'd be able to leave the hospital by Sunday. I couldn't get out of bed, use the toilet, or take a shower by myself. But the staff made it a point that I'd feel up for it by the time Sunday came along. I do feel much better today. I'm still working on being able to wear shoes, my feet are super swollen still. But it's all worth it.

40 weeks OB Appointment

Well, we had our OB appointment yesterday and everything's going swimmingly. My doctor did mention a cervix scraping if I wanted one. There'd be a 50% chance I'd go into labor within 3 days if I had it done and it would be painful if I did it. So I passed...it needs to have better odds than that if it's going to be painful. I'm not that desperate yet. Cervix scraping...who's bright idea was that. It sounds terrible...like root canal. Since everything checked out, there won't be much discussion about inducing for some time. So I'll just be getting bigger in the meantime until Holly punches the go button.

...and on we go

People's predictions are getting shot down left and right. I know I've told everybody that contrariness runs in my family and Holly is already dishing it out like a pro. You'll have to keep on your toes with this one. :) But she can't drop any lower without ending up in my lap at this point. I have an OB appointment today at 4 pm...so stay tuned.

Due Date Today

I don't think it'll happen today people...but the day's not over so I guess it still could. I'm not as loopy as I was yesterday but it's still there. As of yesterday I'm starting to have a stabbing pain in my right knee. I don't know what that's about, maybe it's related to my sciatica or pinched nerve but it kind of sucks. It surprises me every time it does it and I make panicky ouchie sounds, then everyone thinks I'm having labor pains, but it's just my knee. I'm getting light-headed and nauseous more often now too. I really can't get too anxious right now because I seem to be headed into being delirious. It's probably more pleasant than being anxious. Actually when I think about it, that's something I might get from my family. I can think of a couple people who laugh like crazy while coping with painful injuries. It's better than screaming. :)

The calm before the storm - tomorrow's the due date

Well if you haven't checked out Keri's link by now you should because Sable is here and she's got pictures to prove it. :) Cute as a button! We saw them Friday evening, they're doing fine, just tired. I have to admit, going to the hospital to see Keri made it more of a reality for myself.

The guys at David's work threw us a baby shower on Friday (what a bunch of sweet guys). So I'll get the next batch of thank you cards out as soon as I can. Thanks to the Sure Marine guys and extended families.

We had our most recent doctor's appointment on Friday, so my doctor checked me out to see if I'm starting to dilate yet. I guess I'm a rare case because it isn't common for a first pregnancy to be completely thinned out and only dilated fingertip to 1 cm. Usually you would dilate more before thinning. But it isn't bad and it lets me know that I am moving along even if I can't tell. She could feel the top of the Holly's head. However, over the past couple of days I've been feeling more and more uncomfortable. And today is the most tired I've ever felt in my entire life. My brain is really foggy and I feel like it's just not possible to think or wake up. I wonder if this space-cadet state is a self-defense mechanism to make me docile before I eventually go into labor. hmmm......

Low Rider

Man...it's so incredibly hard to roll over and get out of bed now. I feel like I'm going to pull a muscle in my stomach. I have to inch worm out of bed to get up to go to the bathroom, trying really hard not to have an 'accident'. Holly feels soooo much heavier than she did two days ago, she's probably dropped lower. I haven't had any contractions yet. I am managing to get a little sleep throughout all this nightly funtime. The nights seem to be longer to me than they used to.

P.S. Keri has gone into triage this morning, there could possibly be a little Sable before the day's out. :)

Prego observations

Holly feels heavier today for some reason. I am a little sore from weeding last night, but I'm glad I was able to get outside. I'm sporting some cankles today too...nice. :) Tonight I'll put my feet up and rest. Maybe sit on my rocking chair on the deck, it's such a beautiful day. A warm bath sounds good too.

39 Weeks - Same old thing

Yep...all those people who bet money on the weekend lost. I really don't think it'll happen today either. I'm not feeling anything new from last week...just Braxton Hicks contractions, indigestion, sleeplessness, hip pain and generally tired. But I've BEEN that way for a while now. I can feel that she's squiggling around in there, but she's running out of room. I think we've got everything done, but I feel like I'm forgetting something. Did our classes, finished the nursery, bags are packed...now it's the waiting game. I haven't really been nesting yet, I'm too tired. David and I were out for an hour in the yard on Saturday since it was so nice out so we got some of the weeds out, but there's tons left to do. It kind of bothers me that I can't get out there and do it. I'll just have to pick at it I guess. :)

This and That

So the predictions have begun...a couple people think the baby will come early, I'm pretty huge. It'll be interesting to see if anyone was right. My doctor is not expecting an early delivery although it is possible.

Some people have been asking me if there's anything else we need, so I added a couple more items to our registry. I tried to put stuff on there that's in stores. We pretty much have immediate needs taken care of. But there's always stuff down the road...like a highchair and a playpen...we will get to those in a couple months. I didn't register for more clothes, you can pretty much get what you want, although the more fun it is the more likely I'll put it in rotation. I will say we have enough newborn and 0-3 months sizes, so anything 6 months and up would be more helpful. We don't have much toy stuff yet either. Maybe a couple more burp cloths and receiving blankets would be good too.

I'll have our hospital bags packed by tonight, we'll just keep them in the trunk of the car that way whenever and wherever we're at, we'll be ready to go. David's getting the carseat inspection done today too.

Yesterday's Doctor's Appointment

All is well...everything normal. Nothing really new to report, my belly just gets bigger. I felt my leg slip out of joint last night, I wasn't even doing anything, I just got up from sitting on the couch and I felt it go. David and I tried to get it back into place but I think I'm too big for that to work. I do sit on my yoga ball now as opposed to chairs that are too tall for me to sit on while I'm at the table, that seems to help. But I can still feel the sciatica working against me. It hasn't made me start limping yet like in January, I'll just have to watch it. Silly nerves...always got to bring on the drama. :)