Labor So Far...

We were given a room at 10:30pm.
I changed into my gown and chit chatted with Zack and my parents.
I filled out paperwork and answered questions.
My parents went home.
I got the Cervadil to help my cervix and was given an Ambien.
We slept at 1:30am.

We woke at 6:30am.
Contractions got a little stronger.
The nurse we love came in at 7:15 to let us know she was leaving for the day.
The second nurse who is not as personable or as gentle came in and took out the Cervadil.
I had dilated to three cm and the baby is all the way head down.

Nurse two administers the enema and calls for the epidural.
A year of my life ends up in the toilet.
I realized I'm bleeding and Zack calls the nurse.
She comes and says that that is a very good thing.
I get in the shower to wash up with Zack's help.
He notices I'm losing my mucus plug.
I dry off, get in the bed with more contractions.
I blog in...
between...
contractions...

Surprise... Surprise

I had my 38 week appointment today, and Zack was able to go with me.

Come to find out... my belly was measuring small, so the CNP sent me in for an ultrasound. The ultrasound lady told us that her estimate of the baby's weight was about 7-8 pounds. We got to see the head and the belly, and we were amazed at how the baby had grown. The baby had grown so much that we were not able to see his/her entire body on the ultrasound.

Anyway... We go back to the exam room in order to have my cervix checked. I find out that I am 1cm dialated and 50% effaced. *means nothing to me*

We also find out that there is less fluid around the baby than they are comfortable with. The CNP told us that they like for the numbers to be between 9 and 11, and our fluid number was at 6.3.

We then find out that the doctor has elected to induce us tonight for the baby's health. The CNP stated that she had sent our info to the hospital and told us what time to expect to hear from the charge nurse. She also mentioned that the Labor and Delivery would probably be extremely busy because a lot of people have unnecessary inductions in order to have their baby's at the end of the year (and for other reasons), but we would be put on high priority and placed in a room tonight.

So here we are... waiting to hear back from the hospital about an open room.

My husband has packed nearly everything in the house so that he "won't get bored"... i think its just nervous energy.

I, on the other hand, am playing it cool... blogging...
and flipping through papers...
and shuffling through lesson plans...
and wondering where my socks are...
and running back and forth to the bathroom...
and wondering if my house is clean enough...
and wanting to fold the clothes in the dryer...

well, maybe I'm a little nervous too.

All Things Relative

I was just going to the belly pics we have, and I realized that my stomach at the beginning of my pregnancy was no so bad... but thats definitely relative to the belly I have now.


The first pic was taken in May and this was taken last week.

Patience is a Virtue

Here I am...

Waiting...

Nesting...

and waiting...

I've never been able to pride myself on my patience. In fact, it's something I pray for on a regular basis, and now that I'm waiting for labor to begin, I've become a tad more impatient.

For the last two days, the baby has created a lot of pressure in my hips. My husband even put out of my own bed (which I haven't slept in for several months now) and told to go to "my recliner" while we were watching (and becoming addicted to) the television show 24. There was absolutely no way for me to get comfortable. If I turned this way, there was pressure, and if I sat up there was more pressure. Every time I moved, Zack thought I was gonna go into labor, so he kicked me out of the bed and sent me to my chair... which, of course, was more comfortable.

There is so much pressure that I'm anticipating going into labor some day soon. The doctors continue to tell me that first time moms usually go all the way to their due dates, but I'm remaining optimistic. I'm gonna go walking at the gym tomorrow in hopes that it will prompt our little one to get a move on.

I'm so interested in seeing this little person and counting his or her little toes and fingers. I can't wait!!! I'm actually pumped about the process and not (at least right now) concerned about the pain that is sure to come. I sooooo can't wait!!!!!

Maybe he or she will come tonight!!!

Get Low

I'm at the point in my pregnancy when I go to the doctor every week... FUN!!! Actually, its not that bad because I enjoy the staff at my doctor's office.

Today, I met with MT, a very personable and energetic nurse practitioner. We spoke about the holidays- what she was going to cook and what I was not cooking.

The baby moved around the entire time, and we marveled at my belly as it moved all around... a butt here and an outstretched leg there. Watching the baby move NEVER gets boring! It even took MT about two minutes to catch up with the baby's position so that she could monitor the heartbeat. After catching the heartbeat, we spoke about my recent problems, and she wrote a prescription :-)

After the appointment, I went home, and the baby kept moving. He/she is positioning his/her little body lower in my stomach. This movement literally makes my hips feel like they're opening up, and there are times when I can barely walk. Its not painful... just pressure.

I walk around my house like a 90 year old woman.

But on the super bright side... We'll have a baby in less than 3 weeks!!!!!

Plan Procrastinator

It is currently 5:25am and the last day of the semester. It is also my last day before beginning my maternity leave. I decided some time before Thanksgiving that I would not return after the break so that I would not be so preoccupied with having a baby and so that my sub could spend those (potentially) seven days between the first teacher planning day and my expected due date getting acclimated to her new three month position. I will not return to work until March 31, two days before Spring Break.

My sub plans are super detailed. Unfortunately, however, I have only fully completed (detailed notes, printouts, etc) up to mid-February.

So... As I look at the clock on my phone which reads 5:32am, I know I should be getting ready so that I can leave the house by 6:00 because I want to pick up candycanes for my kids and type letters to their parents and set my away message for my email and clean my junky desk and make sure everything is organized AND eat a bowl of cereal because I'm starving and write a few more thank you cards for co-workers and...and...and the list goes on.

Roid Rage

When you think about getting pregnant, no one ever tells you about all the horrendous symptoms. They focus exclusively on the part where you have a gorgeous baby in your arms... The end result.

I can't really complain about my symptoms of pregnancy or the fact that no one warned me about them because I believe that many of the few symptoms I experience are due to my body shape like the pain the surrounded my entire torso as my baby turned around from head down to head up and vice versa. However, there are some symptoms that are common to all women that no one really warned me about like leg cramps in the middle of the night.

Well, I will tell you. The greatest and most fiercest (in my opinion) of these secret symptoms are hemorrhoids.

Mine (yes, I will claim and own them) began as little painless, harmless visitors. I literally had them for a week and couldn't even tell. I went about my normal, happy, "I could run a mile" pregnancy, and then it all changed.

We went to our 9 month doctors visit, and I mentioned these little things to my doctor for the simple vanity of it all. I told him that they didn't bother me but that I didn't want them there. I explained how I've been more regular since becoming pregnant and he gave me a thumbs up and a nod. When I was done talking, he looked at me very matter-of-fact and stated, "Well, there is nothing you can do about them, and they'll get worse as your pregnancy progresses and with birth." I assumed he was talking about the way they looked.

*sigh*

That evening I come home and it was as though the doctor had given my Roids the thumbs up to act a fool!!! In rolled he swelling and the PAIN. Now, please remember that I can't sleep on my stomach, and sleeping on my sides can get really uncomfortable. Moving in any way, form, or fashion brings on the feeling that Jason has taken a hatchet to my backside. They are so significant that I have decided to name them; they shall be called Brutus... As in the same Brutus who was a friend to Caesar but later betrayed him.

I feel totally betrayed because no one even warned me! I've had women make ambiguous statements like, "Make sure you keep those ice packs the give you at the hospital." Those women didn't mention that those ice packs could be used to soothe the beast that is Brutus!

Oh well... It is what it is, and I'll have to deal. I'm sure I'll be like all the other moms and get complete, selective amnesia when I've got this little baby in my arms. Thank goodness for this blog to help me remember that Brutus was so awful that I stayed up for an hour in the middle of the night just to write about it.

10 months...

Most people who haven't been pregnant don't realize that a full term pregnancy (from missed period to expected due date) is 40 weeks. I always thought pregnancy was 9 months... And it is... But it's nine completed months which brings you to ten months.

I remember a month ago when my "know-it-all" husband and I were in the La-Z-Boy store selecting the recliner my parents so sweetly arranged to buy for me (please note that I have the absolute best parents in the entire world) because I was sleeping on the sofa. Actually, I wasn't sleeping on the sofa; I was breathing through Braxton Hicks contractions, nursing round ligament pains, and running back and forth to the bathroom with the bubble guts, and I was getting about two hours of catnaps in between all that.

Anyway, we were at the store and Laura, the appointed sales associate, asked how far along I was in my pregnancy. I told her that I had just begun my eighth month. At that moment, my husband who should write a book about all he knows reminded me that I was only seven months. I turned to him then turned back to Laura and said, "Well, I'm actually 32 weeks." Then I turned back to my husband and said, "and 32 weeks divided by 4 weeks in a month is what? Yes, eight months. I know how pregnant I am." In the car, he informed me that pregnancy only lasts nine months and that we still had two months to go so that I couldn't be eight months.

Long story short, I was finally able to convince him that a full term pregnancy lasted 10 months. And he was totally sold on the idea after hearing Kim on Housewives of Atlanta, who declared that she had been to school to be a nurse, state that a full pregnancy lasted 10 months... How bout that!

Well, now, my husband who is now well informed on the length of pregnancy knows that we have started our ninth month and that our (recently, extremely active) baby will be considered full term next Wednesday. The nursery is done, the baby clothes are all washed, we have taken the hospital tour, both cars have been equipped with the car seat bases, we go to the doctor for the vaginal exam tomorrow to heck for dilation and effacement, and the hospital bag is packed. Now, we're just siting back waiting for our little babe to start his or her trip home.

I tell you... Nine months fly by!!! I can't believe it's almost time!

NO. WIRE. HANGERS!!!!!

So, I have been meaning to organize our closet since Zack keeps saying that I lose his stuff, don't know how to put stuff up, puts his jeans in the wrong place... blah blah blah....

Firstly, there is not nor has there ever been any kind of organization to his clothes... but that is beside the point.

When we got married and I moved all my clothes to his apartment, he was literally appalled that I kept my clothes on the store hangers... which meant that ALL my clothes were on plastic hangers. Some of the clothes were even on the wire hangers I got from taking my clothes to the cleaners. His reaction to my hangers was similar to that of Joan Crawford in Mommy Dearest.


After a few months went by, he demanded that I get rid of all the plastic and wire hangers and change over my hangers to wooden hangers because they look neater in the closet. I pushed back due to the cost of having to switch over to wooden hangers, but after having seen them in the closet for so long, I totally agree that they really clean up a closet.

Well, in my recent nesting frenzy, I decided to organize Zack's part of our closet, so I purchased more wooden hangers so that I could hang his jeans and sweatpants. While straightening his shirts and rehanging things, guess what I found.....

Yes!!!! A wire hanger!!!!! In his stuff!!!!!

Needless to say, I have taken it out and thrown it away because wire hangers have NO PLACE in this house!