In Labor!

I'm at the hospital in labor! Andrew and I drove through the 16 inches of snow to make our appointment at 7:30pm for me to be induced. They checked us in, got us set up in a labor and delivery room, and used some tablets at 8pm to start thinning my cervix. I received a second dose around midnight, and around 2:30am, I woke up with contractions!

The contractions were immediately severe, and they were only 45 seconds apart. I went to the bathroom to pee, and I had two by the time I finished. I went back to my hospital bed, trying to decide if I was supposed to wait for a while or not. After a couple more that were even more painful, I decided I couldn't handle them on my own. I woke up Andrew. Andrew got the nurse, and she reviewed the contraction monitor. My contractions were so close together, I barely got a break from one when the next would start. She told me that can be one of the side effects from the tablets.



She started an IV (eeeieii!) to try to space out the contractions. She gave it 15 minutes, but the contractions got even worse. I literally was shaking with pain because there was no break from them. She checked my cervix, and I was dilated to 4cm. She called the anesthesiologist, and he made it to my room within 10 minutes. Those 10 minutes felt like forever since I had at least that many contractions. I started to cry. When he arrived, he asked me if my contractions started out that severe, and I said, "Pretty much."

The nurse injected me with a pain medication to help for the epidural. It immediately made me dizzy and sleepy, and I could no longer keep my eyes open. Getting the epidural didn't hurt at all, and it helped almost immediately. I kept telling the anesthesiologist, "Thank you so much."

Labor's been super easy ever since. I'm now dilated almost 7cm, and all I've been doing is napping and relaxing. Of course, it's not easy being hooked up to so many things. I have the IV because I'm not allowed to eat or drink. I have the epidural in my back, and a cathader as well. On my stomach, I have a fetal monitor and a contraction monitor. On my left hand, I have a pulse reader, and on my right arm, I have a blood pressure cuff. Also, even though the baby's pulse is fine (in the 120s), it's lower than it was, so she gave me an oxygen mask to wear. As she put it, "The baby's getting tired from the medication, too."

My doctor is going to arrive in about an hour to break my water. From there, I'm hoping things will speed along, and hopefully, I'll have a baby soon!



I'm getting a little nervous again, but definitely more excited than anything. I'm wishing my mom was here, though, to tell me everything's going well and will be fine. She took the day off today, so hopefully she'll be here soon to help. Delivery will just be me and Andrew, of course. I think we'll take a couple of hours to ourselves to marvel at our little wonder, but then we'll see our visitors and show off our bundle of joy. Just a few more hours!

Baby Update

October 27, and still no baby. I went in for an appointment yesterday, and there was still no change. I'm 1.5cm dilated, and 60% effaced.

After the appointment, I had a few "practice" contractions. I call them practice because I've had them before, a few weeks ago. They don't hurt, and they don't last long. Still, it was nice feeling *something* going on with my body.

Today at work, I had a terribly painful event that might have been a contraction, but the tightening occurred in my back. It was quite intense. I'm hoping labor does not feel like that, but, alas, I'm thinking it will.

I'm hoping something regular starts occurring soon. I was planning on going to work tomorrow to take my mind off of everything going on, but now there's a foot of snow forecast, so I'm reconsidering. Maternity leave might officially start for me tomorrow!

Meanwhile, I'm getting a little tired emotionally. I'm getting pretty sick of people rubbing me and asking me how I feel. Is that bad? I go through moments where I don't want any visitors at the hospital. I just want to do my own thing! Maybe these mood swings indicate change...

Are You Coming Soon, Baby?

I went for my 39 week appointment today (Baby is due on Monday!), and I still haven't showed any new changes that indicate he'd be coming soon. Pooh! So the doctor set up an appointment for me to come in on Monday, where we'll then set up an evening to start inducing. She said she'd recommend Monday evening, Tuesday evening or Wednesday evening, but she said definitely no later than Thursday evening, which means he'll definitely be here by next Friday! Within a week and a half, our lives are going to be changing big time!
I guess it's certain, then, that we're having an October baby. Hurray!

10 Days Until Baby!

Our little guy is due in 10 days! I'm starting to suspect he'll make a late appearance. On October 1, before Julie's wedding, we went to the doctor to get her approval for me to drive to Omaha. Of course, she said yes! Turns out I wasn't dilated at all. A week later, I went back to the doctor, and I was surprised to hear I'd dilated a centimeter and a half. That was easy! I wasn't effaced at all, however.

Two days ago, on the 14th, I went back to the doctor again. I hadn't dilated any more than the week prior, but now I'm completely effaced. Does this mean I'll start dilating this week? I sure hope so! I'm hoping Baby can make it without having to be induced.

My doctor let me know it's not healthy to let the baby stay in too far past his due date. The longer he's in the womb, the larger he gets, and the more likely I'll have a C-section. Also, the longer he's in the womb past his due date, the more likely it is he'll pass his first stool... and if he inhales that, it can lead to a lot of breathing complications.

I go back to the doctor on Wednesday. If I'm not showing signs that the baby will be here any day, I set up an appointment for my due date (approximately), and we start discussing plans and options from there. I can't believe how close we are!

Our New Toilet

The top photo is our new toilet, and the bottom is the old one.

Andrew and I have a new toilet! Haha, it's funny what's all exciting when you're a home owner. Really, though, it's quite the improvement. The last toilet ran all the time, used gallons of water to flush, and was really (really) gross. I don't think the last owners were fans of cleaning their toilets, to be honest.

We removed the last toilet, and the last floor, and the last baseboards, and the last sink & cabinet. We also removed the toilet paper holder because it was crazy-crooked.

Since then, we've gotten the new floors in; we put in the new, thicker baseboards; and, today, my dad installed our new toilet. It's so exciting! Once we get the piece we need, we'll put in the sink, add the mirror and towel ring, hang a few photos, and call it good!

Baby Shower!

Jean and Colleen threw me a baby shower today! It was for all our work friends. I was excited to go, but I had even more fun than I expected. Everyone was so funny and so generous. They spoiled me and the baby! ;-)

They held it at Jean's house, which is so beautiful. The food was great, and the conversation was hilarious. I really had a great time. I'll post pictures soon!

New Floors!

The flooring is offically done in the dining room, kitchen and living room! Once we get our bathroom pipes moved on Tuesday, we'll finish the flooring in there, too. It looks so much nicer in here, and it feels great to be rid of all the stinky (literally) blue carpet.

It's Something Out of Alien... or Spaceballs

My poor stomach. It started as a good thing. At 4am this morning, I woke up to a (most likely) foot stretching out sideways in my abdomen. The little guy really got his stretch on! I wasn't able to go back to sleep, so I laid there feeling the baby move and stretch. He's getting so strong (and long)! I'm not sure if it could have caused my stomach distress or not, but he was pretty active today, and my stomach's been quite sour.

I went to the doctor's on Wednesday where I saw Dr. Oster. She felt my tummy and said she'd estimate the baby at 3.5 pounds. She said I'm measuring a week and a half large (which is down from 2 weeks large at my last few appointments). I take that to be good news... hopefully, I'll be able to deliver this mega-baby!

I also signed Andrew and me up for an infant care class to learn how to bathe and diaper the baby (It's three hours long! Hopefully, we'll learn a lot). Andrew's mom, Colleen, got us a book that our house inspector recommended called The Happiest Baby on the Block. I like it a lot, and I think I'm learning a lot from it. Is it enough to figure out what the hell we're doing when the baby gets here? Probably not, but I like to hope so!

Tomorrow, I reach the 33 week mark. Seven more weeks to go! I'm starting to get very excited. I find myself wondering what he'll look like, and I'm excited to finally hold the baby that's been in my belly all these months. Soon!

You're Protesting What?

I'm amazed at how many parents are protesting the broadcast from President Obama to our schools. On the radio, people were calling in and saying there should be permission slips to parents so they can opt their children out.

In our public school system when I was growing up, we frequently had speakers. I remember listening to Miss America in 5th or 6th grade talk against drugs, and I remember hearing the fire chief discuss fire safety. Speakers were in and out all the time, and they never caused a commotion.

President Obama is speaking to our kids about staying in school and the importance of a good education. How is this topic controversial?

I read an article today where they interviewed a man who said it scares him that there's a direct communication line between the President of the United States and students. Why is that scary?

It's true that I'm politically quite liberal. Still, when I was in school, I would have been thrilled to have the chance to hear any president speak, whether I agreed with him politically or not. As it stands, however, the president is not speaking on controversial issues that have partisan divisions. He's simply speaking about the importance of an education. Isn't it an incredible opportunity for our students?

I brought the subject up to some of my coworkers today. I told them how weird it seemed that so many people are up in arms over this stay-in-school broadcast. The drug rep who provided lunch said she didn't approve of the move because the President was going to have celebrities on the broadcast who are pro-UNICEF. I didn't argue with her, really, but all I could think was, "Who can be against UNICEF? Do you not want to prove food and health care to poor children around the world?" Instead, I said, "There's no speaker that everyone will agree with, but I think it's a wonderful opportunity for students to get to hear directly from our nation's leader."

It's so bizarre what some people take issue with.

Welcome, Henry!

Henry is here! I'm a few days late on the post, as he was born on August 26. He's the son of Amanda, one of my most favorite cousins, so he'll be our boy's second cousin. They'll be so close in age! I can't wait to meet him. As long as everything goes as planned, I'll be able to meet the little fella in Omaha in October when I'm there for Julie's wedding! :)

Check out those chubby cheeks! I'm thinking it's a family trait because my cousin Missy's little baby boy has the cutest set of cheeks on him, too.