Emily's new role!

Emily took on a new role this week....the role of big sister...and after watching her, I am pretty sure she was made for it! Her little sister, Payton Charlotte, was born on Wednesday, May 25 (more details over here-www.asiblingforem.blogspot.com). Emily came to visit Weds. night and during the day Thursday. She loves to hold her little sister, and cover her with blankets, but her most favorite thing is to try and give her the binkie. Anytime Payton moves, or makes a noise, Emily is immediately hunting for the binkie to make it all better for her.
While they were here yesterday the hosptial photographer came to take pictures. They put baby in a basket naked and just cover them with a white sheet. Well, Emily was just insistant that Payton was going to be cold and tried repeatedly to cover her again and again. It was cute, but I am sure slightly frustrating for the poor photgrapher.
Emily also helped gma change a diaper yesterday. She was quite the helper, getting out the diaper and wipes, and of course, trying to give Payton her binkie when she cried.
She very much does not like Payton crying, and wants to make it all better for her. It will be interesting to see how this plays out when we get home. Hopefully things will continue to go as well as they did at the hospital and Emily and Payton can grow into bestest of friends.

Here is a pic from the prof. photographer. Chuck added the words with all of his photo editing savyness.

Pictures!!

The rest of the story....

Things got busy after my last post yesterday, and I didn't have a chance to do anymore updates so here is the rest of the story.

11 a.m. Starting to get uncomfortable, the nurse offers up the whirlpool tub. I never had the option of this with Emily, so I figured I would give it a go. I hang out in there for about 45 min. while Chuck goes to get lunch and decide it's probably about time to put in my request for an epidural before things get really uncomfortable.

12 p.m. I get out of the whirlpool tub and the nurses check me before anesthesia comes. I'm up to a 7 and "baby is right there". This was very exciting since it was after dinner time before I made it this far with Emily. Anesthesia comes in shortly thereafter, and the contractions are definitely starting to get unbearable. He gets all set up, gets it in and relief. Almost...for some reason there was a pocket on my right hip that didn't take and I'm pretty sure every ounce of pain radiated to that spot. Fortunately I was able to move around enough that we managed to get the drug to take there after about an hour.

1ish (I don't remember exact times anymore) The nurses come in and ask if I am feeling any pressure or urge to push. Nope...nothing at all. Baby's heart rate is decelling with each contraction so they are pretty sure I'm getting close. They check me again and I was completely dialated but still no urge to push. They decide to let me labor down for a while to see if the urge comes, and put a call in to Jen the midwife to let her know we are ready.
Jen comes over and we start pushing about 1:45ish. Of course at this point contractions slow down, so we probably spent more time waiting in between contractions than actually pushing.
The last two contractions we were very close to delivering, I had done my 3 pushes and the midwife encourages me to get one more in before the contraction ends....so I start to push again and the nurse says something (sadly I don't remember what) that makes me laugh. So then they decide that I will just laugh the baby out. Next contraction that is pretty much how it went...easy peasy...love the epidural :)

2:27 (or 2:28 depending on which nurse you ask) Ninja became Payton Charlotte.
Weight 7lbs 14 oz.
Height 21 inches
Full Head of black hair

I will put pics up later when I can get the good ones from Chuck's camera.

Baby day!

It's baby day :)
I'm going to try and keep a running record of baby day...more for me...and someday for Ninja to look back on. But feel free to follow along!

4:45 a.m. woke up to take a shower and finish getting ready

5:00 a.m. got out of the shower and realized the thunderstorm had woken Emily up and she was cuddling with Chuck on the couch. I was sad that she was up so early, knowing what that means for her day...but secretely a little happy that I would get to see her before I left.

5:45 a.m. Left the house to head to the hospital.

6:10 a.m. Arrived at the hospital and started the check in process. The nurse said they were short staffed until the 7 a.m. shift arrived and they were missing a paper from my dr. so it might be a little while before they get things going.

7:15 a.m. Lab comes in to draw lots of vials of blood. Shortly thereafter nurse Jess comes in to get things going. Starts the IV for fluids and then her and the other nurse do internals to compare notes. Jess says 3, Rosalinda says 4....I like Rosalinda's thoughts better :)

8 a.m. Start pitocin at "2". Will up it every 30 minutes, until I have 5 good contractions in 10 min.

8:45 a.m. Pit is up to "4". Midwife just came in and broke water. Starting to feel contractions a little more painfully...but nothing horrid yet. Said I am definitely a 4. Debating how long to go on before I get the epidural...since I know what is coming, I'm guessing I'll go with it a little earlier than last time, but we'll see.

10:10 a.m. -Pit is up to "10". Contractions have definitely gone from annoying to painful, but nothing I can't handle yet. Contractions are about 3 every 10 min. They want it up to 5 before they quit upping the pitocin.

And we wait!

Final pregnancy update

I had intended to update yesterday after my drs. appt, but she gave us some fabulous news, that caused me not to have time to update. Before we get there, we have to recap Friday.
Thursday and Friday I had some changes, and some contractions and we weren't really sure what they meant, so after work I stopped in at L and D to make sure everything was ok. Nurse Betsy checked me in (another H.S. acquantance) and got me all hooked up to the monitors. H/B looked great, I was indeed having contractions, but nothing significant. They decided to do an amniosure test to make sure I wasn't leaking fluid, and while she was at it she figured she would check me again. I was 2cm and 80% effaced, so progress had been made since last time. Amniosure came back negative so I was sent home. As I was leaving she told me she would be shocked if I made it to my due date.
Sat. we went to the fitness center and I walked 2 miles on the treadmill, then we took Em to the zoo and walked some more. By the time we got home that afternoon I was wiped out...but no sign of baby.
Monday morning I had an appt with Jen the midwife. I saw Laura first and as we were chatting she asked me how I felt about induction. I told her I was all for it, but figured that was all the farther we would get. Jen came in and did an internal, said I was just about a 3 and stripped my membranes. She then said, "well I don't think I can do it tomorrow, but how does Weds. look for having a baby?". I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped to the floor! Never in a million years was I expecting that. I of course quickly agreed and she went to call the hospital. So...we are on the schedule for 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to start the lovely pitocin drip! I went in to work today to try and get things finished up, I of course didn't get it all done, but got a good chunk of it done. Tonight will be spent trying to get the house in order and cuddling with Em as her last night as an only child! Tomorrow we will be a family of 4!!

wow...long time

I could have sworn I updated after my 36w appt...but apparently I didn't so I have a lot to catch up on!

Today is 38w3d
Your Baby:
◦Is officially a little chunkin, at well over six pounds and 19 1/2 inches long.
◦Is also officially considered “full term.” In other words, he or she is STRAIGHT UP FREELOADING from here on out.
◦Is practicing making fists and fetal breathing in anticipation of life outside the womb.(www.alphamom.com)
She is the size of a watermelon...yes watermelon!

weight gain:I've been holding steady my last 3 appts at 27lb gain...and since it's safe to assume baby is growing, that must mean mommy is shrinking :)
Maternity clothes? sadly I am starting to outgrow some of them....although I have found a new love in Chuck's t-shirts!
Sleep: still not too bad, other than the fact that I go to bed at the same time as Em and wake up at least twice a night to pee.
Best moment this week: Chuck coming home from Nashville so he is now in the locale and we can have baby!
Stretch Marks: same ole, same ole
Movement: Yep, she did give us a couple of scares last week when she was being lazy, but has definitely picked up again
Food Cravings/Aversions: ice cream...ninja loves ice cream! Fortunately the girls at work humor me so I get it a lot at lunch time and chocolate milk...luckily Chuck likes to make it for me :)
Gender: girl
Belly Button in or out? not really either--it's kind of flush with my stomach at this point
What I miss: being able to move easily--it seems to be getting more and more difficult
Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy every minute, because it is going to be over before we know it!
Milestones:almost down to single digits...and I think everything is ready enough that we could bring baby home without stressing

Other updates-
At my 36w appt. my midwife had to do the group b strep test which involves a swab "down there" so since I was already naked she went ahead and did an internal check. I was 1 cm and 70% effaced at that point. We didn't do a check last week, so I am hoping for one tomorrow to see if anything is happening.

I was unable to stop working as planned---my district won't allow me to use sick days unless I have a medical excuse and my dr can't give me a medical excuse if they don't have one. My midwife has been very apologetic my last 2 appts when she tells me everything looks great. As much as I would love to stop working, I would much rather have a healthy uncomplicated pregnancy and have to keep working than stop because something is wrong.

With that being said, I would be more than happy for Ninja to make her appearance at any time so I can stop working!

Next appt. tomorrow...hopefully I will have something exciting to report!