Fever!

This weekend was packed.  Avery got to spend time with her bestie.  Saturday we went bowling, out to eat with his family, and then to an arcade.  She brought along his Valentine gift with a homemade card.  God bless the gal, she's bold - she straight up asked him to marry her and said if not, you're my boyfriend.  Today (Sunday) we went to a local fundraiser event called Sweet Sunday and sugared up.(after cathecism and church).

She was off all day, but went down hill fast later in the afternoon.  Before I knew it she was cold and was asking to go to bed at 6:30pm.  By the time I tucked her in she had a 99.5 reading at her ear and a 98.6 at her forehead.  She doesn't get sick often, I'm not used to seeing her like that.

I guess I need to look up the procedure for school if she wakes up not where she needs to be.

The feeling is mutual.

Last night during prayers Avery included Luke in her family list. She quickly followed it up with "I love him". I guess given my last post it only took her a little while to realize the feeling was mutual.

We also had Avery's dentist appointment yesterday. Fortunately her buddy Luke told her about his recent trip and she was psyched to go. We had a very good report and they indicated her teeth were very clean. Yay!

Final note -- the threes are hitting pretty hard. Avery's desire to do what she wants is pretty darn frustrating. Mostly I am sure because she's been so easy to this point.

The big show

Spoiler alert:  I am back dating this post to the date and time all of this started to happen.  You can probably guess how it ended.

So the doctor had arrived by the time we got to pushing.  I remember that they wanted me to try to push before I was fully dilated.  At that point, they suggested some pitocin to finish my cervix out that last half centimeter or whatever.  I had a hep lock in as my intention was to go no drugs (you'll note I have NOT mentioned pain medication to this point.  I'm going to bring it up again because I'm hella proud) - so it was pretty easy to get that on.  After the pitocin did it's job it was show time.

I'm told I pushed for about an hour and a half.  Fact is, I don't understand how ANYONE with pain medication or feeling blocking medication could ever possibly push a child out.  You have to be so aware of what you feel working, and even when you can feel it working it is very hard to get right back into that same feeling with the next round.  It also helped to have the doctor placing fingers to give me an area to focus on.  At some point they put oxygen on me and it gave me a moment of clarity in the midst of the mental avoidance of the pain where it hit me and I remember asking if they were worried about the baby.

That last little bit did indeed hurt like crazy.  But then she was here, in this world.  They placed her on me for a rather short period of time as she was grunting rather than crying and they wanted me to get a moment but they also wanted to take care of her.  It seems like while she didn't poo before my water broke, she did somewhere between when it did and when she arrived so they had some concern there, although that wasn't necessarily the breathing thing.

It wasn't long at all before my placenta was out... I'll do the follow up comments here as it seems relevant:  they later assessed the placenta and saw no cause for my bleeding in the week leading up (as in it was not deteriorating or starting to separate from my uterus, so it wasn't causing her to not get enough oxygen and create any other issues there).

After a little while with Daddy watching over her on the sidelines they took her away to the level 2 nursery.  Return reports said that blood worked showed some of the white blood cells were elevated, so they started an IV, at which means she needed to stay in the level 2 nursery until that was removed.  It also means she was receiving fluids, so she wouldn't be getting early early milk - a big disappointment to me.  She remained there with both the IV and oxygen for the first twenty four hours.  As the blood levels started to normalize we started bringing her pumped colostrum they were able to slowly bring the level of IV fluids down.

Once we were to a safe level she was returned to our room at 2am - 23 hours after her birth.  They then were testing blood sugars, which seemed to be too low and lower each time a test was taken after each meal.  So we had another slight worry on our minds.  If it had gone any lower she would have needed to head back to the level 2 nursery.  Fortunately, a secondary type of test showed things were okay and suddenly the in room test was starting to give better readings (thank the Lord).

All of this did still mean that she was not going to get released with me the next day (Saturday).  Fortunately, the hospital gets it - and they allowed us to stay another night after I was discharged to room in with her.  We also got lucky and the L&D department didn't get over run so we got to stay in the larger room the whole time.  It was nice to have meals coming from the cafeteria and attentive care and guidance from the whole staff (nurses, peds, lactation consultant, and even the clean up and meal delivery folks) - truly, I appreciate what they did for us.

Other things that surprised me:
- You spend hours with a conscious exhale going on to breathe away the pain.  Then you get to pushing and their expectations of you to hold your breath for 10 seconds x 3 feels like an absolute eternity.
- This shouldn't really surprise me, but - Good golly, having an oxygen mask, doing all of that breathing with your mouth open, and allowing a few screams (oh yes I did) out sure dries out your throat.  I ended up asking them for losenges.
- Again, no pain drugs.  I did it!  This is the one thing I wanted so much as I do feel that one intervention leads to another.  I had my doubts (and voiced them) even before we left the house with the doula.
- After the head came it felt like a limb, another limb, another limb, another limb... also came.  Did I just give birth to an octopus?

To make the formal announcement:
Avery Violet joined us on Thursday, August 24 at 3:05am.  She was 7 lbs, 15 1/2 oz, and 19".  My good girl listened and waited to not be a Leo!

Leading up to the big show

Spoiler alert:  I am back dating this post to the date and time all of this started to happen.  You can probably guess how it ended.

Around 2am the pain began.  I couldn't get comfortable on either side as the cramps started.  I kind of knew it my heart it was the start of labor - like I said in a previous post, I was looking for signs - but I had no clue how much so.  While I couldn't sleep I sent a few messages on to my guy that made it sound like I felt something was definitely going on.

By 4am I turned to my back and managed to get comfortable and fell asleep.  I was up with my alarm and at my work desk.  All morning I could feel things going on but I was waiting it out to get confirmation at my noon doctor's appointment.  My guy went into work briefly and then came this way to join me at the doctor's appointment (at his suggestion).  I kind of thought I'd get to the doctor and she'd say congrats you're now 2cm.  Imagine my surprise to learn I was at 4cm!  She asked if I wanted to head to L&D as she was willing to send me and she thought for sure we'd see her on that day.  This was definitely happening!  We opted to go home and labor there as long as possible - and to get the girls to camp.

We were to have a meeting at my place w/ the doula this evening, so I guess she was coming either way.  Later in the afternoon things were getting rather unpleasant and by the time she arrived I was already waffling if we should just meet her at the hospital or what.  I'm not sure how long the doula was here, but for a little while before we headed out - and the rest of the times get muddled in my head - but we got to the hospital just as the sun was setting (which I googled was at 8:09).

Upon arrival I was 7cm.  I gotta admit there are lots of bits and pieces missing.  I remember getting out of the car and into the wheelchair and the ride to triage.  I don't recall getting my clothes off in triage or moving to the room just down the hall where I labored.  There are plenty of pieces of the labor - mostly waves of pain that I do recall.  I think I spent most of it - or at least until Dr P got there with my eyes closed just trying to get through.

I remember the nurse coming in to check me again so the doctor could decide if she needed to get in there.  I do remember my guy commenting that it was 11pm. Not sure when Doc arrived.  But I know we didn't start pushing until what is technically 8/24.

Waiting to see photos and puffing up more

Saturday morning was an early one as promised.  I was out the door just before 8:30am to get to the park on time.  It was already starting to get warmer out there, so I'm glad it was early in the day.

I knew my feet were swollen, but I clearly didn't realize how much.  The boots I took with for one of the outfits would NOT go on - no way, no how.  At least the slip ons I had with me matched.  Later in the afternoon I went to put those same slip ons back on my feet to run for the mail and they wouldn't go the whole way on.  My feet are definitely more swollen than they were the first time they puffed up.  Still sticking to the feet/ankle and slightly up into my calves (as of last night) - nothing in my hands or face, so I'm not worried, just a bit uncomfortable.  A soak in the tub before bed last evening definitely helped a bit.

The park was quite nice.  The photographer was eager to get the shots we wanted.  I just hope I don't look goofy in stuff, we'll see.  We did a few along a walking bridge, and by a covered bridge, and by a more open field.  I'm sure we'll get a few good ones - even if there are some bad ones of me in there.

Appointment Scheduling wah.

My appointment went normally yesterday.  The wee one remains in the 150 range on heartbeat - doing well!  The doctor wasn't worried about the swelling (as noted, I know it's normal) or the pain I had the other night.

I do have my first complaint about this office though... now that I have to go every two weeks it is harder to get scheduled.  This time there wasn't a single appointment for 2 or 3 weeks out here in this office.  So I am scheduled to drive the whole way to the hospital location in 2 1/2 weeks *sigh*  at least they have evening hours so I won't miss as much work, but what an irritation.  She was able to then go ahead and book the next two appointments in advance to make sure I was on their schedule, so that's good at least.  Let me tell you how crazy it feels that the third appointment is August 2.  August.  My due date month.  Yikes.

I took the time to go lay down and cuddle with my guy last night as was starting to feel very necessary.  It was nice to just lay close, or at least as close as the belly would allow.  He was also so kind as to rub my feet and calves for a while, which was delightful.

Nursery Progress

Last night we got things moving along.  The crib is put together and the new light fixture is up.  I need to pick up some light bulbs to really see how it looks, but I'm happy so far.  We also received the decal for the wall, giving me an idea of what color paint I need to buy, so the shopping list is growing.

Anatomy Scan Ultrasound

One day can offer so much to update on!  Yesterday we had both the anatomy scan ultrasound and a regular monthly appointment at the obgyn.  I'll start by saying that the tech commented that "everything was normal", but only after she had answered a question I had by saying she "wasn't allowed to give results", so for whatever that's worth.  I'm hopeful that I will get a call from the obgyn as well when they have/review all of the information to confirm the same.

I'll also throw these right here:

The tech did her work and then took a break to have me empty my bladder and move around to try and get kiddo to be a little more cooperative so she could get a few more images she needed.  At one point the tech commented about how calm she is.  I take that as a good thing - I'm keeping my stress down, yay me!  Everything we saw looked good (two arms, two legs, feet w/ toes, hands w/ fingers etc).

I will say I'm disappointed with the videos we got.  There are about 16 3-second clips on the DVD.  Sure there are a few little moments caught that are pretty cool, like when she was opening her mouth right before she then put her hand to her mouth like she was going to suck a thumb (but then it looked like she instead stuck a finger up her nose).  I guess I just expected something a little longer.

At the regular appointment a little later the heartbeat was still in a good range and no issues there (no blood draw either - yay!)  My weight is creeping up now, I will need to be a little more careful w/ my junk intake if I want to stay under the number I had in my head by the end, but I'm still in a healthy range.

We did stop at a consignment sale twice in the past week at which we managed to score a like-new boppy pillow w/ cover and a very clean pack n play w/ a changing 'tray' and mobile - both at a fraction of the new price.  There is so much STUFF for kiddo already it's crazy.  How can something so small have so much stuff that takes up so much space?!

I just couldn't wait

I couldn't not tell him.  I told him that same day when he came over.  I am still not ready to put the gender result here since we didn't tell his family yet or the closer than random internet viewers circle (facebook).

Of course, now that I can shop in non-neutral colors I am not finding much I adore.  That's probably for the best, I don't need to go spending a ton of money or buying a bunch of stuff.

All is well!

There is nothing better than the call that tells you everything came back negative on your MaterniT21 test.  This is a healthy (chromosomal-wise) baby!  Yes, I'm crying.  I have an answer on gender too - but I'm not ready to post that here.  I admit, I am thinking about not telling my guy until he finds out at the next ultrasound so he can experience that same level of surprise as I am but I don't think I can keep it quiet.  Not certain yet.

A positively long time since I posted

It has been a long time since I posted here.  About a month after my last post I went on vacation with some friends.  One big thing happened as a result of that trip - one friend is no longer a friend, we started dating.  Picture the television whispy mist as two and a half years have now flown by.

I should catch you up on other things relevant to this blog that have transpired since then.  I was having some pains and abnormal bleeding.  With a few checks I learned I have a couple fibroids, nothing abnormal for my age.  More time passed, I was back on the pill for a while what with the new relationship and all, but went back off to try and get my body to regulate a little as I continued to bleed in the middle of the month while on the pill.

I've gone back and forth between the ob/gyn and my regular doctor, as the ob/gyn office sounds eager to help one minute and then blows me off with a "well I'll see you next year" the next minute.  My regular doctor ordered tests similar to those I most recently reported as having indicated bad mojo for how long I have and how many viable eggs I have.  Guess what, they never told me those tests need to be run at a certain point in the cycle - so this time things came back looking fine.  So my mind was at ease about the whole situation - all the while I am still not getting any younger.

A few months back I had the conversation about kids with my guy and indicated my concerns that I am almost out of time.  Much to my surprise we dispensed with the use of protection.  I wouldn't say I was actively trying because I wasn't tracking anything other than making a note on the calendar as to when I was bleeding - which was still more often than not, twice a month.

I know from my experience 5 years ago that I'd be a good candidate for a toilet baby.  I'm sure you're horrified reading that statement, but it's true.  I didn't realize I was pregnant when I had my miscarriage in Feb 2012.  I had some minor awareness that something was different, but I thought it was a cyst on my ovary or something.

I found myself a week ago commenting to a friend about pain when I rolled a little in bed to get the remote from the nightstand and how it wasn't a cramp and the pain went away instantly, just a quick jab.  Her comment "sounds like round ligament pain" and she commented about taking a test when she realized I was a couple days late for my period (I had not bled midmonth either - that was the second month that looked like it was going to be a full 28 day cycle).  I thought this was ridiculous because nothing had "happened since my last period".

Still, it got in my head.  I have tests at home, so on Friday I took one and boom.  So I did a second.  Still yes.  Mind blown, this can't be what it looked like I turned to the Internet.  Warning:  you know the internet will scare the crap out of you, so why do we do it?  After I was done I was even less in belief because I didn't have ANY of the classic 'symptoms'.  The one test told me I was 30% pregnant based on my answers *laugh*.  Instead I thought it could be issues with my kidneys, or possibly a growth on my ovaries or bladder (which should have been noted during the transvaginal ultrasound a year prior for fibroids), or simply my age.  Did you know that periomenopausal women can toss false positive tests because hcg starts to get produced at lower levels?  Me either.

I had just been in for typical yearly bloodwork - like JUST there - so I waited it out to see those results first.  When the blood workup came back looking good (no indication of infections etc) I asked the nurse to contact my doctor to request a blood test for a quantitative hcg.  I went that evening and my doctor was calling the next morning.  My number was 200,000.  Defn not "my age".

Since we're not really sure how far I am given my period in December after anything physical last happened we're approaching a little slower.  We'll do a second blood test on Monday to see if the numbers are still going up and then prb an ultrasound.  She didn't want to rush to that because of the fear it would be too early and you wouldn't find a heartbeat when there really would be one to find - soon!

I'm fighting to not let this get too real just in case.  But wow.  For now, one day at a time - and that includes finding a way to tell him I think I may be when we're together this weekend.

I can say that maybe it's mental, but in the past week I've definitely taken on the sleepy as all get out and wanting to eat everything in the world stereotypical behaviors.