Thursday, November 30, 2006
House Remodel
Well as always Jared and I were working on finishign up the house remodeling. About 2 weeks before thanksgiving Jared got the upstairs completed to a point where we were finally able to move back into our upstairs. Just moving all our stuff around from basement to upstairs and regaining use of our whole house was quiet an ordeal. Then it was time to start on the final leg of our journey, the kitchen! By this point we were both so sick of working on the house we wanted to just move out or burn it down but on the other hand we were so close to being done after so many years of working on it. I was honestly having a stress fit over the fact that it wasnt done and I was worried it would not be done in time for the baby, I even threatened to hire a contractor -- to which Jared countered to hire a mover, just for himself! So we started tearing apart the kitchen about a week before thanksgiving and worked on it every night. Jared was so tired because he was very busy at work and then he woudl come home and night and work on the house, at one point we just had to take a day off. Since the meds were keeping my contractions at bay I was also able to help but what I am able to help with is very limited. It was our goal to fix and redo the walls, refinish the cabinets, paint/wallpaper everything, put in a new floor. While this doesn't sound like much, at least I thought it was pretty minor compared to other jobs he has done it was ALOT of work. So we had our kitchen torn apart and I was so strssed she woudl come while it was still that way but we thankfully had the 4 day holiday weekend and finished all the major work up. Like the rest of the house there are still small things that need done here or there but for the most part it is DONE! All the work we have left on the house are small items that can be done in an hour here or there or at most on a day on the weekend. I am so thrilled we have accomplished so much and I finally feel at peace like we have a really nice home to 'come home to' with our new baby.
Ready & Waiting
Thursday November 30th, 2006
Well I went off the medicine to stop contractions Sunday night November 26th. The doctor said if after going off the medicine I did not have the baby within a couple days there was a good chance that I was someone who just had alot of 'practice contractions' known as braxton hicks that weren't actually doing anything but if I had the baby within a couple days then it is probably the medicine that kept me from going into preterm labor. I have tried to prepare everythign to have the baby the minute I went of the medicine just incase but I have thought that I will probably end up going way longer than anyone expected after taking me off the medicine. For me anything medically that can be strange, abnormal, or go wrong will! Not that carrying her longer is going wrong, not at all, I hope to carry her to full term and I hope she stays put as long as possible. We are now 37 weeks 2 days so she is no longer considered a premie if she were born today but 38 weeks is considered full term. My sister had first at 37 weeks 2 days and the second at exactly 37 weeks.
Today is the first day I wondered if I was going to go into labor. In the morning I was having alot of contractions that were much stronger than usual and instead of only being up high were also traveling low and they would start regardless of if I was on my feet or not. It stayed that way for about 4 hours coming approximately every 15 minutes but then they began to taper off. I have been hoping for her not to come early but since I thought maybe she was coming today I was actually a bit disapointed when they stopped as I was getting excited to meet this little one we have waited so long for.
Well I went off the medicine to stop contractions Sunday night November 26th. The doctor said if after going off the medicine I did not have the baby within a couple days there was a good chance that I was someone who just had alot of 'practice contractions' known as braxton hicks that weren't actually doing anything but if I had the baby within a couple days then it is probably the medicine that kept me from going into preterm labor. I have tried to prepare everythign to have the baby the minute I went of the medicine just incase but I have thought that I will probably end up going way longer than anyone expected after taking me off the medicine. For me anything medically that can be strange, abnormal, or go wrong will! Not that carrying her longer is going wrong, not at all, I hope to carry her to full term and I hope she stays put as long as possible. We are now 37 weeks 2 days so she is no longer considered a premie if she were born today but 38 weeks is considered full term. My sister had first at 37 weeks 2 days and the second at exactly 37 weeks.
Today is the first day I wondered if I was going to go into labor. In the morning I was having alot of contractions that were much stronger than usual and instead of only being up high were also traveling low and they would start regardless of if I was on my feet or not. It stayed that way for about 4 hours coming approximately every 15 minutes but then they began to taper off. I have been hoping for her not to come early but since I thought maybe she was coming today I was actually a bit disapointed when they stopped as I was getting excited to meet this little one we have waited so long for.
37 Week Ultrasound
Wednesday November 29th, 2006
We had an ultrasound yesterday, they do them further along if you have gestational diabetes to check on the size of the baby. She looked really great! She is very much on the small side, not sure where she gets that from as neither Jared nor I are small and while I have kept the gestational diabetes under control with my diet it should have made her fatter if anything. We were 37weeks1day yesterday and she was measuring 35weeks2day and weighing in at 5lbs8oz. Average for 37 weeks would be 6-7lbs. They said that at this far along the ultrasounds are not really accurate as they can be +/- 2 weeks in their estimate so she is still within normal range and the weight even said that it can be +/- 13 oz which is almost a pound. Our friends just had a baby boy 9lbs2oz and Jared thought that baby was small so he sounded worried when I told him the size of our little one. I just hope he isn't afraid of how small she is if she does end up being tiny. HOpefully I can keep her put for another week or so to allow her to put on some more weight, they said they are gaining about 1/2 a pound a week at this point! The best part of the ultrasound today was that she was putting on a show, she was blinking, opening her eyes and moving them around like she was looking for something and sticking her tongue out really far and licking her lips and swallowing a lot. She also did a huge smile a couple times (the ultrasound people were ones that noticed so it is not just a proud hopeful mom thing, they rewound the video and showed me as I hadn’t caught it, ok maybe it just 'looked' like a smile but still)-- even they were surprised by what we were seeing. They said it doesn’t happen too often you get to see all that so they stayed on her face for over 5 minutes just watching, it was WONDERFUL and you could tell they both loved babies because they were ooing and ahing and laughing with me! It was the best and I had tears in my eyes, it was the first time I felt like I was watching a little person instead of some bleary grainy images of what would someday be our daughter.
We had an ultrasound yesterday, they do them further along if you have gestational diabetes to check on the size of the baby. She looked really great! She is very much on the small side, not sure where she gets that from as neither Jared nor I are small and while I have kept the gestational diabetes under control with my diet it should have made her fatter if anything. We were 37weeks1day yesterday and she was measuring 35weeks2day and weighing in at 5lbs8oz. Average for 37 weeks would be 6-7lbs. They said that at this far along the ultrasounds are not really accurate as they can be +/- 2 weeks in their estimate so she is still within normal range and the weight even said that it can be +/- 13 oz which is almost a pound. Our friends just had a baby boy 9lbs2oz and Jared thought that baby was small so he sounded worried when I told him the size of our little one. I just hope he isn't afraid of how small she is if she does end up being tiny. HOpefully I can keep her put for another week or so to allow her to put on some more weight, they said they are gaining about 1/2 a pound a week at this point! The best part of the ultrasound today was that she was putting on a show, she was blinking, opening her eyes and moving them around like she was looking for something and sticking her tongue out really far and licking her lips and swallowing a lot. She also did a huge smile a couple times (the ultrasound people were ones that noticed so it is not just a proud hopeful mom thing, they rewound the video and showed me as I hadn’t caught it, ok maybe it just 'looked' like a smile but still)-- even they were surprised by what we were seeing. They said it doesn’t happen too often you get to see all that so they stayed on her face for over 5 minutes just watching, it was WONDERFUL and you could tell they both loved babies because they were ooing and ahing and laughing with me! It was the best and I had tears in my eyes, it was the first time I felt like I was watching a little person instead of some bleary grainy images of what would someday be our daughter.
3 Month Catch Up Pregnancy Post
WOW!
A long time has passed and I have not kept up on journaling! For the most part the pregnancy has progressed nicely albeit a few bumps in the road.
August
Alot has happened since August. August finished without incident and all was going well.
September
In September we began taking our parental readiness classes at our local hospital, we took classes on: breastfeeding, baby basics, prenatal/labor readiness class, ask the doctor, and Jared took Dad boot camp. They were all very good and helpful in getting you into a mind set to think about things and prepare yourself. We had a nice labor day weekend and went to a party at our friends house. 3rd Trimester started September 23rd and I started getting weekly massages and chiropractic adjustments which proved to be wonderful at moderating all the added aches and strains of pregnancy.
October
October proved to be a bit tougher of a month as my lungs began acting up and I ended up on IV antibiotics. Considering how tired/draining IV's normally are and adding pregnancy to that it was not possible for me to work during that time so I was off of work for almost 3 weeks. Normally when I miss work I worry about it alot and return back to work asap, generally too soon and end up worn out. Considering I was taking care of my daughter too I did the opposite and took the doctors orders gladly and used the time to rest up and work on some projects and reading I had been wanting to do.
Upon returning to work within 2 days I began having alot of contractions whenever I was on my feet, this had been happening at home too but since I was ill and less active it did not ever get to the point it did while I was working. My 4th day of work I called the doctor and went in for a non stress test (NST) where they measure the babies activity and my uterine contractions, while she was doing fine I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart. The doctor administered a tocolytic medicine called procardia under my tongue that works to stop the contractions & it did work. They then allowed me to return to work on the medicine and we hoped all would be well. Unfortunately the medicine made me ill I had to have Jared drive me home from work and by the time I took the second dose that night I was extremely ill knew I couldnt take it again. Jared called the doctor who prescribed a different medicine that did the same thing for me which worked and did not cause the side effects. After one day of rest to ensure the medicine was working and I was over a head cold I had aquired I returned to work. Unfortunately, I was still having more contractions than they wanted when I was working (more than 6 an hour) but not too bad. They sent me home from work 2 different days and I was getting a bit impatient with the whole process so my doctors did a fetal fibro nectin (FFN) test. This test is able to anticipate if you are giong to go into labor within 2 weeks - if it is negative there is less than 1% chance you will go into labor within 2 weeks, if it is positive it is a 50/50 chance--luckily mine was negative so armed with that information and the fact that I was not dilated they allowed me to return to work. I learned that there are some women who have a more 'active' uterus than others and will contract all the time prior to delivery and it will never cause labor, it is as if the uterus is just practicing and never leaves the stage of braxton hicks (BH) contractions and that it is possible that is what is going on with me, they still leave you on the meds to stop contractions, I am taking terbutaline, just to make it more comfortable for you and ensure the contractions don't escalate to labor.
November
It was during all of this per-term labor scare that my boss and I discovered that the 2 weeks of vacation I had saved and planned to role over to next year to extend my maternity leave was not allowed to be saved and I woudl have to use it. As a result of this I only had 4 more days of work until I had to take my vacation in order to use it up before my maternity leave started so that is exactly what I did. So thus I ended up off work for 3 weeks due to illness then I worked for 2 weeks, 3 of which I was sent home early for due to contractions, and then I started my 2 weeks of vacation--rough life! So my vacation started on November 10th and my maternity leave started on November 28th. All total you normally get 3 weeks paid time off for maternity leave before your due date and I added the 2 weeks to that, too bad I probably will not make it to my due date to take advantage of those 3 weeks. I have used all the 2 week of vacation now and used the time to get things in order around the house, finish the nursery, and just overal work on all those lingering "to do's" that always seem to be there since I doubt there will be any time in the near future for any of that!
A long time has passed and I have not kept up on journaling! For the most part the pregnancy has progressed nicely albeit a few bumps in the road.
August
Alot has happened since August. August finished without incident and all was going well.
September
In September we began taking our parental readiness classes at our local hospital, we took classes on: breastfeeding, baby basics, prenatal/labor readiness class, ask the doctor, and Jared took Dad boot camp. They were all very good and helpful in getting you into a mind set to think about things and prepare yourself. We had a nice labor day weekend and went to a party at our friends house. 3rd Trimester started September 23rd and I started getting weekly massages and chiropractic adjustments which proved to be wonderful at moderating all the added aches and strains of pregnancy.
October
October proved to be a bit tougher of a month as my lungs began acting up and I ended up on IV antibiotics. Considering how tired/draining IV's normally are and adding pregnancy to that it was not possible for me to work during that time so I was off of work for almost 3 weeks. Normally when I miss work I worry about it alot and return back to work asap, generally too soon and end up worn out. Considering I was taking care of my daughter too I did the opposite and took the doctors orders gladly and used the time to rest up and work on some projects and reading I had been wanting to do.
Upon returning to work within 2 days I began having alot of contractions whenever I was on my feet, this had been happening at home too but since I was ill and less active it did not ever get to the point it did while I was working. My 4th day of work I called the doctor and went in for a non stress test (NST) where they measure the babies activity and my uterine contractions, while she was doing fine I was having contractions about 5 minutes apart. The doctor administered a tocolytic medicine called procardia under my tongue that works to stop the contractions & it did work. They then allowed me to return to work on the medicine and we hoped all would be well. Unfortunately the medicine made me ill I had to have Jared drive me home from work and by the time I took the second dose that night I was extremely ill knew I couldnt take it again. Jared called the doctor who prescribed a different medicine that did the same thing for me which worked and did not cause the side effects. After one day of rest to ensure the medicine was working and I was over a head cold I had aquired I returned to work. Unfortunately, I was still having more contractions than they wanted when I was working (more than 6 an hour) but not too bad. They sent me home from work 2 different days and I was getting a bit impatient with the whole process so my doctors did a fetal fibro nectin (FFN) test. This test is able to anticipate if you are giong to go into labor within 2 weeks - if it is negative there is less than 1% chance you will go into labor within 2 weeks, if it is positive it is a 50/50 chance--luckily mine was negative so armed with that information and the fact that I was not dilated they allowed me to return to work. I learned that there are some women who have a more 'active' uterus than others and will contract all the time prior to delivery and it will never cause labor, it is as if the uterus is just practicing and never leaves the stage of braxton hicks (BH) contractions and that it is possible that is what is going on with me, they still leave you on the meds to stop contractions, I am taking terbutaline, just to make it more comfortable for you and ensure the contractions don't escalate to labor.
November
It was during all of this per-term labor scare that my boss and I discovered that the 2 weeks of vacation I had saved and planned to role over to next year to extend my maternity leave was not allowed to be saved and I woudl have to use it. As a result of this I only had 4 more days of work until I had to take my vacation in order to use it up before my maternity leave started so that is exactly what I did. So thus I ended up off work for 3 weeks due to illness then I worked for 2 weeks, 3 of which I was sent home early for due to contractions, and then I started my 2 weeks of vacation--rough life! So my vacation started on November 10th and my maternity leave started on November 28th. All total you normally get 3 weeks paid time off for maternity leave before your due date and I added the 2 weeks to that, too bad I probably will not make it to my due date to take advantage of those 3 weeks. I have used all the 2 week of vacation now and used the time to get things in order around the house, finish the nursery, and just overal work on all those lingering "to do's" that always seem to be there since I doubt there will be any time in the near future for any of that!
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