Photos by Kaarin

Kaarin and Keri came over the other day and Kaarin took some really good pictures. Here are some of my favorites.

Peter Hiccupping

Peter had a little jaundice developing after a couple days, as his Bilirubin level was a little high. The therapy for this is to have him lay on a light-emitting bed for as long as possible. He was done after a couple of days and now all is well. Here is a video that Stephen took of Peter laying on the light bed while he had the hiccups:

My birth story

On Friday the 18th I went into the midwives’ office for an ultrasound and a non-stress test. I was 41 weeks that day. My amniotic fluid level was a little low, but other than that everything looked great. The midwife tried to check my cervix, but it was still too far back to reach. We talked about the various methods of induction in case any problems arose or I went past 42 weeks. I left the office very disappointed.

Later that day I inadvertently did a bunch of things that are said to bring on labor. We went for walk in the Kubota Gardens, my mom rubbed my feet, I ate spicy BBQ, and some other things too. My contractions started at about 11PM and were from the get go pretty intense and about 5 minutes apart. It wasn’t at all what I expected early labor to be like. In fact I thought I just had a very bad stomach ache. Because it was just at the start of the night I tried things to slow or stop the process. I tried a bath, I ate, I paced the house, and nothing seemed to be helping. My Dad was awake with a horrible tooth ache so at least my misery had some company.

Sometime around 2 or 3AM I called the midwife on duty to check in on situation. She told me it was likely I had a long way to go and recommended a warm shower and to stay in bed as long as possible. It was very difficult to sleep because the contractions were so close together, but I managed to get about 2 or 3 five minute segments of sleep before having to get up and move around. Around 7AM I decided that I needed some more support. I called my doula Jennifer, but told her not to come yet as I was still able to talk through my contractions and I woke up Stephen to help me cope a bit better.

Not long after I called the midwife again because I thought I might have been bleeding more than normal. My contractions were coming pretty close together, but weren’t very consistent so I feared I still had a long way to go. The midwife said I should just come in and get checked out just to be safe. We got a few last things together, I took a quick bath, and then Stephen, my dad, and I headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital at 10AM and met our midwife at triage. I was half expecting to be sent home after hearing similar stories from so many people. I could not believe when they told me I was 7 centimeters dilated and 90% effaced. They admitted me promptly and Stephen called my mom and Jennifer and told them to get there quick.

We got to the room and I immediately got in the jacuzzi tub. It helped a lot, but the contractions were moving from very intense to out of control painful and it took every fiber of my being (and Stephen and Jennifer) to remain relaxed. I hadn’t thought I would want my mom in the room for the birth, but it ended up that her added support was indispensable. After a couple of hours I started to have an uncontrollable urge to push. They checked my cervix again and after a few more contractions my water broke. I moved to the squat bar on the bed and started the ungodly painful process of trying to push the baby out.

Jennifer took pictures of the birth and the expression on my face is disturbing. After the longest thirty minutes of my life Peter was born. He came out with his fist to his head and my mom thought he had a huge head tumor. They put him right on my chest and we all thought he was the sweetest baby ever.

They left him on my chest and I started to nurse him while we finished the birthing process which included 45 minutes of painful stitching to repair tearing caused by Peter’s elbow. After that we had some visitors and then I got into the routine of nursing and Stephen got busy changing diapers and swaddling all night long. We were so happy with our amazing midwife, doula, nurses, and all the other hospital staff. It was an awesome experience and we are so happy to have our new little boy.

One of my funnier facial expressions:

40 Weeks and counting!

There's really not much to report, but as I passed the 40 week mark I figured it would be good to post. I had an appointment with the midwives yesterday morning and they scheduled me for an ultrasound next Friday along with my first of many non-stress tests that I will have to do if I don't have the kid by then. The ultrasound is to make sure that there is enough fluid for the baby to move around in and the non-stress test is 20 minutes of baby heart monitoring to make sure he's doing alright in there. They said I looked way to adorable to be having a kid anytime soon and to come back when my back started to ache and I was waddling. I bet they say that to all the pregnant girls.

I am very excited that my parents have decided to come up on Monday instead of waiting for labor to start. Hopefully I won't make them wait too long to meet their new grandchild. I still feel like there is a lot to do around the house and I am hoping that my Mom will swoop in and reorganize the nursery into a way that makes more sense. Also I've become terrible at eating so having someone to feed me would be awesome. Especially now that I am out of the soup that I have been eating almost every night for dinner out of food apathy. I am not sure how it is possible to be hungry all the time, but too unmotivated to make a real meal.

Today I went out in search of the perfect storage bin for the shelves of the changing table. I found them, but it involved going to home depot, then to target, then back to home depot to get the cash back they forgot to give me, then to another target because the first one only had 2 of the 4 bins I needed. I also decide that I need to go to the farmers market to get some veggies and an ice cream bar. Then I realized that Gracie had been home alone for quite some time so I figured I should swing by the house pick her up and go to a dog park on the way to target number two. Who knew that a few Rubbermaid containers could consume almost a full day. That being said I made some good progress on the nursery. All the clothes and accessories are clean and put away in bins, drawers, and boxes. There are very few things left that are not baby related in the room. All of which are too heavy for me to lift in my current state.

Tomorrow I am going to finish up in the nursery with Stephen's help and then get some much need yard work done.

I have yet to pack the hospital bag, but have been slowly making a pile of stuff that I want to bring on the kitchen table. That counts for something, right?

At the urging of some friends Stephen and I took a few bare belly photos. I was told I would regret it if I didn't (not so sure about that). The problem is we bought a really crappy camera to replace the one that was stolen so the pictures did not turn out very good. We bought another camera online that will hopefully get here before the baby and we may try again, but here is one of the few pictures that turned out half way decent.


That's it for now!

39 1/2 Weeks

Wow! Where has the time gone? It really seems like just yesterday I found out we were going to be parents in 9 months. I am still not 100% sure that I am ready for that type of responsibility, but I was raised by some pretty great parents, so finger crossed that good parenting is genetic. I already know that Stephen will be a fabulous father once he gets over the initial shock of the child to poop ratio.
This could be the last prego pic of me because, as I keep reminding myself, I could go into labor at any moment. I am, however, pretty sure that I'll be late. I fully intend to not rush the process. He'll come out when he's ready and there is no need to rush. We'll see how I feel in a week or two though.

What's new?

I came out negative on the Group B Strep test which is really exciting. Now I can stay home as long as I want!

We found a pediatrician. One of our friends highly recommended her and while we had some other recommendations we wanted to checkout she was right in line with our views on medicine, she's very easy to talk to, her office is adorable, and most importantly we are running out of time. She gave us a very cool book of basic newborn care in a format that is easy to look up answers to questions.

We sold some old, unused sporting equipment and made $170.00. We used the money for a date night and it was a very nice way to spend the last quiet evening out together for a while.

I can't believe it is possible, but the heartburn is getting worse. I also have a cough that will not go away and it is making the heartburn worse. That or the heartburn is making the cough worse. Either way it is no fun.

That being said I really feel great for being practically 40 weeks. I walked a 5k on Sunday and it was so easy I walked to get breakfast and back adding another mile. I did come home a take a nap though.

We had the car seat lady come and bestow lots of safety information upon us. She showed us how to install the car seat properly. I am sad to say that I am one of the 90% of people who did it incorrectly. She also gave us some gardening tips.

I have had no signs whatsoever of labor. I would settle for one sure braxton hicks contraction. I would just like to know my body is thinking about having a baby in the next couple weeks.

I guess that's it for now. I will most likely update after my next appointment on Friday unless the baby comes before then. Until then I am hoping to God that my nesting instinct kicks in because I am so unmotivated to get anything done.

Still left to do:

Pack hospital bag
Clean house
Set up nursery
Finish painting kitchen