Due-Date

Apparently I'm supposed to have a baby today.


Apparently, my body decided two weeks ago was a much better option.

Happy Due-Date and Two Weeks, Little Frog!!

Some First Thoughts

It's been one week and four days since Molly was born. I am still very shocked that she's actually here. But at the same time, falling into a routine with her (as much as you can have one with a newborn, of course), and otherwise can't really imagine my life without her. It's hard to believe that two weeks ago, I was sitting at home on bedrest, worried about my doctor's appointment on that Friday, wondering if she was going to be coming or not.

The first week home feels a bit of a blur because we had people over, and Hubby was home for the entire week. So it felt more like a vacation than anything else. With a new family member. Hubby went back to work Monday, and my Twin came to stay until Wednesday.

So officially, today is my first day really home alone with Molly. And it's been a rather lazy relaxing one. We slept in till 10:30, she fell asleep long enough in her bouncer to let me get the dishes done and make myself something to eat. Then we've been relaxing on the couch, watching movies and her napping/eating.

I'm loving the time off work, and also being a mom. I really didn't expect to be this overwhelmed with love for someone. It's a new experience to have that feeling the second she was born and just to feel it growing over the little time it's been, let alone how much it will grow over the years.

Molly makes teh cutest faces and yawns. Wiggles adorably. Everything. She is so perfect. I can hardly believe it.

And speaking of, she's waking up, so time for me to go.

Not quite the Easter I was expecting Or Molly's Arrival

I am currently sitting at home, staring at Molly laying in Aaron's arms, and trying to make sense of this past weekend. 


So, as we left off, I went in on Friday morning for my appointment. The nurse came in, smiling, and checked my pressure. It was 158/100, then 151/110, then 160/112. She went out to tell the doctor. He came in, checked my cervix (ouch), and I was dilated at all. He told me though that we were going to the hospital and having this baby this weekend, because it wasn't safe to keep her in there with my high blood pressure. I called Hubby, he came racing from work, and away we went to L&D to officially get admitted this time!

(Last pregnant picture!) 


Because I wasn't dilated, they put me on cervidel (sp?) to try to get my cervix to start ripening (ouch). It really meant lying in bed for 12 hours, watching TV, eating, chatting with nurses and Hubby, waiting to see if it worked or not. Also, I wasn't really allowed to get up and move around too much because they wanted to keep my pressure low. As the day went on, I kept feeling contractions getting stronger and more painful. At 11pm, the nurse came to remove it and check. Still wasn't. So she went to call my doctor to see what he wanted. Had yet another one done! The nurse also gave me some painmeds because I wasn't able to sleep from the cramping. 


This painmed made me super loopy and high. Also dizzy. Apparently I told Hubby that this was why I shouldn't be given viagra. Lol. I meant Vicodin. Hubby laughed a lot. 


Those drugs knocked me out till about....7AM or so on Saturday. At 1pm, the nurse came to check and I was barely 1cm dilated. She called my doctor, and he came in to check himself. He managed to get his finger in and break my water bag to get things going. That really hurt. And then the real fun began! Here comes pitocen. He wanted to speed things up, so my dosage got upped every 20 minutes to try to get my contractions 1-2 minutes apart, lasting a minute. The problem being that my contractions were super irregular so they kept having to fiddle with the dosages and such. Eight hours later, I was literally convulsing hanging onto Hubby's arm through the contractions. They were spiking up into the 75% range, and lasting 60-70 seconds each, every 2 minutes. I basically was having one giant contraction and then several little ones, with no real break in between. The nurse came in, looked at me in the middle of one, came over and said "Do you want your epidural?" I nodded. So at 9:30 I got my epidural which enabled me to pass Stu till about 4AM where I woke up in more pain, but different. I had reached 4cm and the pressure of Molly's head bearing down kept me awake. I tried to doze but didn't really happen. 


When the nurses checked me, I had gone from 4cm up to 7cm. And we all hoped when they came back, I'd be up to 10cm. 8AM, they checked on me, I was 10cm, and able to start pushing. The nurses told me it might be a while cause I was a firsttime mom and such. I was like "No way in hell I'm letting this take more than 3 hours. This baby is getting born now." EDIT: An hour and a half later, out came Molly! 

We got situated into the recovery room. Family and friends came to visit. Monday and Tuesday were long days, because we just desperately wanted to get home. Finally on Tuesday, we were discharged. 

This was not the Easter I expected, but it was amazing. Molly is such a gorgeous amazing little baby (Yes yes, I'm biased), and such a cuddler already! She loves being held by us and just relaxing. I keep staring at her, wondering how on earth that little miracle came out of me. We are settling at home really nicely. It's amazing how right this feels. 


So that is my story for now. Quite the long one. Did not expect to be in the hospital for 4 and a half days, but Molly was worth it. We are so in love with this little girl. Cannot wait to see how amazing our life continues to get with her. 

Interesting Week

Ok then. I should probably update this.

So, this week has been incredibly interesting. First off, Monday, I woke up having minor contractions. Nothing too painful but definitely regular. 10-15 minutes apart, lasting about 45-60 seconds. These didn't let up like my normal Braxton Hicks I'd been feeling (usually I could move around, shift positions, and they'd ease up. These were not.) They started getting a little painful towards the middle/end of the day. So I called my doctor. He asked if I was leaking fluid and I told him I wasn't sure, maybe a little? 

So off go I to my first trip to L&D to get monitored and checked for fluid leaking etc. I wasn't. Everything looked great.  So they sent me home. The nice one was that we got to see where we're going, meet some of the nurses, and otherwise be able to get a grasp of how things will happen.

Monday night, tried to sleep. Tossed and turned like normal.

Tuesday, I was feeling really exhausted. People told me I looked really pale and beat. The contractions were still happening at the same frequency but becoming mostly painful, instead of just sometimes painful. Made it through work, got home, crashed early. 

Wednesday, got up, went to work. Then went to my normal routine doctor's appointment over lunch. By this time, still having contractions. I waited for about an hour or so, then got called in. I was chatting with the nurse like normal and she was taking my blood pressure. And her face went from smiling to really serious and worried. I asked her if it was high and she said "158 over 100". Yah, that would count as high. She put things away and told me she'd come back in a few minutes to try again. I usually have highish blood pressure in the normal range (hovers around 138-140/80). This was incredibly higher though. She came back five-ten minutes later, took it again, and it was 150/110. Now I'm worried. Doctor comes in, chit-chatting, and then looks at my chart doing the regular "Your weight looks good, urine looks good--oh wow, your blood pressure is high. We need to send you to L&D again to get checked out for Pre-eclampsia". 

I asked him some questions, he listened to Molly's heartbeat, and then away I went to collect Hubby from work to go sit in L&D for 4 hours. We got there, I got all hooked up like I was supposed to. Of course, the minute I get there, blood pressure is back down. Got 4 vials of blood drawn, had a catheter (Joy ><) done, and otherwise was laying around on a bed listening to Molly's heartbeat and my blood pressure being taken.

The nurse, who was the same one from Monday night, really sweet gal, came back in and told us that since we were here, Doctor was having radiology come get me to have an ultrasound to see Molly's growth/age etc. We had a really great ultrasound tech! And got our next surprise of the day, when she asked me how far along I was and I told her (37 weeks). She got this shocked look and went, "There's no way you're 37 weeks. Baby's measuring 40 weeks and 8lbs already." Apparently, Molly is big enough that the ultrasound tech could barely get the readings that Doctor wanted cause she couldn't see everything. I know they're just averages and can be off by a couple of pounds, but still!

Fun fact of the day: Molly has a FULL head of hair! I knew it! 

So after that, got brought back up to L&D. After another hour of monitoring, got told to go home and be on bedrest until my appointment Friday. We headed homewards, I called my boss to let him know, then called my temp so she knew to come in Thursday. Relaxed for most of the evening as much as I could, had my bloody show that night (TMI), and had contractions all evening. 

Thursday, I woke up, said bye to Hubby, scheduled my appointment, and slept in. Then I got up, made some food, got a big glass of water, and migrated to the couch where I pretty much stayed for most of the day, relaxing, keeping my feet up, and catching up on movies. I napped a little, and was otherwise very bored. Contractions are about the same frequency wise, but are getting more painful. Molly is even lower than she was before. Things seem to be progressing! 

I'll find out more tomorrow at my doctor's appointment. Call it instinct or mother's intuition or whatever, but I highly doubt Molly is going to be staying in there for another 2 weeks. I'd be surprised if I make it through the weekend. We shall see though.

All in all, it's very exciting to have things progressing and that Molly is almost here! 

Week 36

3 weeks and 5 days until Molly's due-date!!


Oh my gosh, it's coming up so fast. We are so excited!

Biggest news from this past week is that Molly dropped! Very noticeably. I can actually breathe again and eat without feeling like my stomach is full after 3 bites of food. It's quite amazing. I didn't really notice that I couldn't before until she actually moved. Then I took a deep breath and went "Whoa!" Hehe.

My feet are also swelling pretty badly, but I'm figuring out good ways to deal with that. The best piece of advice I got from the nurse at my doctor's appointment last week which was "Elevate your feet above your heart." So I tried that, by sleeping with two pillows under my feet. The swelling is much easier to deal with now and not as bad! I'm glad that trick worked.

Oh speaking of the doctor's appointment, everything is looking great. Molly's heartbeat was at 153 this time (wow!); I didn't gain any weight (which I was surprised--ok, shocked really--at); and I had my last lab test done (the strep B culture thing). I go in again next Wednesday, and then everyday until I go into labor. Home-stretch, we're almost there!

I'm officially Full Term now, so I can go into labor at any time safely. So far though, I haven't had any noticeable warnings of labor being imminent. I can't even really tell if I'm having Braxton Hicks contractions or not.

Fun things going on this week: My boss's wife is throwing me an office baby shower on Thursday! It was supposed to be a surprise, but they (her and her daughter) realized they should probably clear the date and such with me. I am very blessed and excited. They're throwing me a luncheon here at the office, and apparently everyone is super excited and coming. It really blesses me, because I admit, half the time, I kind of feel just like part of the office furniture. You know, always there, always doing her job, but no one really notices unless I'm gone and it disrupts their schedules. So them doing this for me is really amazing.

We had quite a fun weekend! Very long but very fun. Thursday night we went to see The Hunger Games (Yes, midnight showing, yes I'm crazy). It was really good. They changed some stuff I wish they hadn't, and left out some stuff I wish they hadn't, but overall, I think it kept very well to the book. I can't wait to see the 2nd one when it comes out!

Friday was basically just get through work and get home and pass out day. 3 hours of sleep = not the best idea.

Saturday, we had a wedding for a friend, where we met up with some other friends who have just moved to NorCal but were down for the wedding too. So we spent a good chunk of time hanging out, catching up, and otherwise just enjoying each other's company! Then later that night, we went to see John Carter with some other friends (Hubby's boss gave us tickets to go see it). It was very fun, definitely an Edgar Rice Burroughs book. I enjoyed it.

Sunday, it was pouring down rain. A LOT of rain. Which was awesome, cause we really needed it. That being said, it also meant Hubby and I didn't feel like doing much. So we went out to lunch at Olive Garden (yum!), and then hit up the $ theater to see Man on a Ledge. It was really fun! I enjoyed it. Felt like a mix of Inside Man and The Departed.

In case you couldn't tell, yes, this was kind our date-weekend without meaning it to be. Figured the next few weekends are going to be busy with prepping for Molly and just waiting for her to arrive.

Only a little over 2 weeks before I get to go on maternity leave! Hooray! We seriously cannot wait for Molly to arrive. She's so close now. We're just waiting (rather impatiently).

Oh, here's my picture for Week 36. She really really dropped!

Week 35

Doing my blog a day early today, mostly because I am going to be super busy this weekend.

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day, and in honor of that, I'm doing corned beef and cabbage! Tossing corned beef into the crockpot bright and early tomorrow morning to let it cook with the veggies allll day, doing cabbage right before dinner. No green beer, but I don't like beer anyway. We're having some friends over for dinner, so I'm going to be spending the day cooking/cleaning/organizing (hey, great excuse to also get things all set up for Molly too!).

Sunday, we have a wedding up in the SLO area. We're planning on making a day of it and having a nice fun relaxing time. In the rain. Yes, it's supposed to rain all weekend. Lucky for us, rain doesn't matter! Going to be a nice fun busy weekend. I also had the odd realization that since we'll be traveling 3 hours away, I should make sure to pack an emergency bag and the carseat. Just in case. Thankfully, I know exactly where the hospitals are up there. And yes, I did clear it with my doctor.

Molly is definitely getting cramped in there. She keeps moving, and I keep going "Oofff" whenever she does. She's all wiggly/stretchy/pushing out now. Apparently she's almost ready to get here or something! Which makes sense since there are only 36  days until her due-date! Which probably means less than that. Oh my goodness. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed that she's going to get here that soon, but I think most of it is just I haven't actually organized/ordered the rest of her things. I'm going to be ordering stuff next week (when our BabiesRUs coupon, 10% off ENTIRE registry items!, is activated), and spend next weekend going crazy with the baby stuff organizing. Hm...maybe I am getting that whole nesting thing.

I'm doing well. This whole time change + waking up every 2 hours isn't very nice though. I'm pretty tired, even when I do go to bed early. I'm also getting unbelievably hot, even with the fan on high and the door open for a breeze. Bear in mind, it's still getting into the low 50s at night. And I feel like it's 80* in our room. Strange thing having a built-in incubator I guess. Also in pain  at night cause I'm not moving, so when I do, it feels like everything has to stretch out/crack. Which makes moving a bit of an annoyance. Feet are also beginning to swell, off and on, depending on how cold it is outside. I'm definitely drinking LOTS of water and keep my feet up, sleeping on my side, etc to try to combat it.

I guess I'm getting to that I don't want to be pregnant anymore stage? I'm not terribly uncomfortable (that could change though), I'm just very impatient. I mean, c'mon, 36 days?? That's a month a few days. That's barely any time at all. And I'm full-term next week (24th), so she could literally come at any time  after that. I'm a bit impatient! Hubby and I both are. We want so desperately to hold her and see her. Cradle her in our arms, kiss her face, smell her hair, and just stare at her for hours on end.

I have a doctor's appointment next Wednesday, and I would imagine that starts the "come in every week" appointments. I have a few questions for him, which he is always great at answering for me. I also have my own little to-do list, most of which involves organizing Molly's stuff and getting things set up for her.

Our lives are going to change so drastically in just a few short weeks. I cannot wait!

P.s. No picture today. I'll post one probably Monday. :)

Week 34. Plus, Baby Shower

Week 34! As of today, only 5 weeks and 4 days until Molly's due-date! Oh my goodness! That's a month and a week! We are soo excited! And impatiently waiting for her! Hehe.

So I had a doctor's appointment. Everything looked great. Her heartbeat is nice and strong, my blood pressure low, and all that. Next appointment next Wed, then I think I go on the coming in every week until Molly is born appointments. Which will be a bit annoying but also exciting cause it means she's that much closer to being here.

I also am counting down the days until maternity leave! One month exactly from tomorrow! Hooray!

Ok, so the most exciting thing that happened this week/weekend was my baby shower! We had it at Hubby's aunt's restaurant (so much good food!!) at 1:30 in the afternoon. The theme was Fairytale, which his cousin thought would be nice and girly but not frilly pink girly. We all had place-cards with a princess name, and for favors were these adorable little bear-vases. Also, the centerpiece was amazing. And smells wonderful (Yes, it's at home on the dining room table!)

I had asked for no real games at the shower (I'm not the biggest fan), so instead, the ladies came up with the idea of decorating onesies for Molly! They all turned out soo adorably cute! I can't wait for her to be wearing them (Just perfect for late summer/early fall!) 

Then we ate delicious food. And then I opened gifts! Which I didn't get pictures of because, well, I was opening them! We got so many cute things for Molly, including the bouncer we wanted! We also got several fun unique gifts that are adorable. Plus lots of cute clothing, and books! She's well on her way to having her own library. 

This is Hubby's lovely cousin who helped do all the decorating and also came up with the idea for the shower! Plus, I had to show off the party hat she made for me to wear. We decided we'll have to take it to the hospital with us and get pictures of Molly in it! Even though it'll probably cover her ENTIRE head. Or maybe we'll use it as a prop in a newborn shoot. 

And here is the picture I'm using for 34 Weeks! This is a dear friend and I before leaving for the shower. (Yes, I am VERY pregnant now.) 

I had a wonderful shower with amazing loved ones. I am so very blessed right now. Hubby and I both are, with the support we have. We cannot wait for Molly to arrive in just a few short weeks! 

P.s. As soon as I get more pictures, I shall put them up! Waiting on a couple of aunts to load all of theirs :)