40w6d and still counting!

This is another post I started and didn't finish.  I am going to still post it here so that I can remember and also in case it can help anyone else.  I wrote this 4 days before Ruth was born.  Today is 2/15/14!

I am still here waiting for baby to come!  I can't remember what I posted about last, but I will do a quick review of the past few weeks just so I can remember later.

• I tested positive for Group B Strep, then I tested negative.  Yep.  Before I was tested the first time, I had taken garlic and probiotics orally, but I didn't know you aren't supposed to have them together or they don't work as well.  So, after I tested positive (and cried a lot about my big dream of having a needle-free delivery being ruined), I started doing a bruised clove of garlic, wrapped in a thin layer of loosely woven gauze and a vaginal probiotic (which is soooo expensive) every night for about 6 nights.  I was so relieved to be negative.
• They also retested my A1C and found it to be perfectly normal, thank you very much.  So, I no longer have to test my blood sugar four times a day.
• We have pretty much everything we need to have a newborn.  We really need to clean off the changing table though...
• I am waiting to order our prefolds until after the baby is born so that I get all of my 30 day trial in case I hate the brand I choose.  I need to choose a brand.
• We have had 4 showers in total - one given by my sister and cousin, one by my hubby's sister and mom, and one by my closest girlfriends at church that I knew about, and one surprise shower at work.  We have been very blessed by people's generosity.  We received all of our large items plus many if the small ones.  When I went to use our registry completion coupon, I only had to use the gift cards we'd gotten plus $26 cash, which we had also received as gifts!  We are so so thankful!
• On Thurs, June 13, 2 days before my due date, we went to a local Italian restaurant and had eggplant Parmesan.  Here in Atlanta, there is an Italian restaurant called Scalini's that everyone says has eggplant Parmesan that will send you into labor.  The restaurant we went to is actually owned by Scalin's.  Obviously it failed us...
• At my midwife appointment 2 Mondays ago, they felt of the baby and said it seemed like it was probably about 7 lbs.  The Monday before that, I asked her to check my cervix since I was already undressed for the GBS retest and I was 1.5cm, 50% effaced, -1 station.
• At my midwife appointment on this past Monday, I had her check me again and I was 3 cm dilated, 70% effaced, still a -1 station.  I bled a good bit during and after that check.  I hadn't eaten in several hours and it was hot in the room, so I almost passed out when she started talking about how she would recommend stripping my membranes this coming Monday if I still hadn't had the baby.  She suggested I go home and use my breast pump for 15 min on, 15 min off and see if that would kick-start labor.  It didn't.
• I tried again on Tues and I had what I though were contractions lasting about 5-10 minutes, so they suggested walking around until they stopped or kicked n on their own without the pump.  They called me later and told me to try starting slower, 5 min on, 10 min off. My husband and I went for a walk that night.  Still nothing going on.  Wednesday - same nothingness. We walked around the park (1.7 mi).
• Yesterday, Thursday, I took the day off from trying to induce labor. I sewed some cloth baby wipes and burp cloths.
• It is 5:18 Friday morning and I am up writing this post because I woke up at 2:30 to go to the bathroom and have not been able to fall back to sleep.  
• If you haven't guessed, I decided to stop working after I almost passed out at the doctor's office on Monday.  My boss waited until the week before my due date to bring in a temp for me to train.  How miserable is it to try to train someone to do your job in one week's time the week before your due date?
• We have tried other ways to naturally kickstart labor - pineapple, spicy foods, sex, more walking, bouncing in the birthing ball and other birthing ball exercises...you name it, we have tried it.
• I am still torn about getting my membranes stripped.  It is an intervention.  It could break my bag of waters before I am in active labor and cause me to have to be induced medically.  She did say that it would probably only take a few drops of pitocin and I could still have my water birth if so and if I was in active labor within 24 hours of my bag if waters breaking.

Still so tiny...

So, I started writing this post in November, couldn't figure out how to get pictures on the post from my iPad, and stopped.  I know it is outdated, but I don't want to forget the details I have typed in here.  So, I am posting it now, 2/15/14!  Also, I will hopefully be doing another post soon, with a finished birth story.

It has been way longer than I wanted it to be since I posted last (again)!

I got the opportunity to work part time from home for my job that I just left.  I took it because we have had some unexpected bills come up. Um, working from home with a baby is hard, especially when that baby still can't sleep without being held by daddy or nursed by mama.

I got the go-ahead to share name and pictures!  Meet Miss Ruth Abigail. She is named after two wise and incredibly courageous women from the Bible.  It seems I can't figure out how to post pics from my iPad, so those will have to wait.  Here they are.  The first is from the hospital and then one from each month since.

I feel so blessed in motherhood, but also completely challenged!  As it turns out, Ruth was not getting enough to eat. She won't latch deeply enough and she won't do the exercises to help her learn.  I am in a vicious circle of she won't take enough so I don't make enough. I also don't have many chances to pump because she screams and cries when you put her down a lot still.  I have been supplementing formula and whatever breastmilk I can pump.  Over the 4th month of her life, she gained about 6 oz total.  Last week, when I was supplementing, she gained 7 oz.  It breaks my heart to think I have been making my baby go hungry out of ignorance for 4 months.  This has also caused other issues, it seems:  her cues are all mixed up and she still can't stay asleep if you put her down sound asleep.  She just tells me she is hungry no matter what she needs - food, comfort, sleep, or play.  It seems to be getting some better, but it's hard to tell. Last week, in the morning, I put her in her car seat while asleep out of necessity (once I had nature calling loudly and once I needed to help my husband give the cat a pill).

I am really taking this formula thing hard. I also have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis and that might also be contributing to my ole supply.  I cry almost every day. Ruth sometimes refuses to nurse at all because the bottle is so much easier.  I worry that she will have weight troubles because of this.  I know her cues are messed up but what about that protective reflex they have at birth that keeps them from overeating is somehow messed up because she was always hungry before.  The pediatrician says to just keep feeding her until she pushes it away.  I just don't know.  There is just so much disappointment and guilt over having to give our baby formula.  I am just praying for peace from The Lord.

This new plan of supplementing plus the fact that Ruth has a stuffy nose has caused us to get even less sleep than we would normally get. I am still trying to figure out a schedule, actually.  We also need a bedtime routine.  I can't tell if my husband doesn't understand the importance of one or if he is just still too overwhelmed by the amount of things we need to do around the house to buy into getting one.  Without him on board, it's hard for me to get into one.  I feel like that is a bad thing...

Ruth is quite advanced for her 4.25 months, despite the fact that she only weighs 9 lbs 14 oz.  She has been laughing for more than two months, chats away in her own baby language, plays with toys, bats at stuff over head, feeds herself from a bottle and can use a sippy cup a little too efficiently so we had to stop so she wouldn't drown herself, rolled from belly to back at 3 months and from back to belly this past weekend.  She reaches for me when I walk into the room and smiles big!  Such a sweetie!  Her feet are so great and she chews on her toes every chance she gets. She really can't when wearing cloth diapers.  This week she has started putting her lips together and blowing, like you would to play a trumpet.  She is trying very hard to sit up.

12 Weeks of Crazy and Wonderful

I am trying to get a post written to tell my birth story. My sweet little girl wakes up when you put her down and can't fall asleep unless nursing or at least being held, shushed, and jiggled. We are bug fans of Happiest Baby On The Block!  I am typing one- handed right now, holding a nursing/sleeping baby.

I need to ask my husband if it is okay to share her name and pictures, so until then, I will call her Miss R.

Miss R eats a lot, but she is not gaining weight at the rate the doctor's want. My lactation consultant thinks she is getting plenty. I go back a week from Monday to get her next round of shots and to have a weight check. So, hopefully she will have gained a good bit but I feel doubtful. Why can't my body do what it needs to do?

I decided to leave my job and stay home with Miss R so I am on my husband's insurance since Sept 1. I still don't have my card, so I have to wait to make an appt with an endocrinologist. I wonder if my thyroid is the problem.

I have just started eliminating dairy from my diet to see if maybe a sensitivity to dairy is causing her to not absorb all her nutrients and gain so slowly. She has the right amount of wet and dirty diapers.

I am hoping not to have to supplement.

I am so in love with this little girl. She is so sweet. She is ahead developmentally, so she's a lot of fun right now.

We are so so thankful for her!

She's Here!!!

Our daughter arrived on June 25 at 1:47pm! She weighed 7lb 3oz and was 20.5 in long.  I still cannot believe it.  She is absolutely beautiful. I will give our story another day when I have my laptop. I was in labor just short of 13 hours and I pushed for almost 3 of those.

I actually had a really long post in the works about pregnancy updates when I was 6 days late (I went 10 days pays my due date).  But, apparently Blogger doesn't love my iPad.  So, I never got on my laptop and fixed it.

But, her story deserves to be told. I will tell it. Soon!

Gifts at the Hospital

So, I tend to not make friends with medical people.  I somehow manage to offend them, actually.  I am thinking about doing something to win us a little favor with them.  I have seen where some people make a tray of cookies or muffins ahead of time and freeze it then grab it from the freezer before they head to the hospital.  I saw on one thread where a lady make individual gift bags for those people.  Like, granola bars, cookies, etc...

I had also been thinking about having favors for whoever comes to the hospital or to visit us in the first few days.

Any ideas?  It's hard to plan ahead b/c we don't know what we're having.  Maybe I can get my sister or dad to pick up cupcakes or a birthday cake in the right color on the way and we can share those with visitors...

Just wondering what everyone else did.

Catch Up

Wow, it's been a lot longer since I posted last than I intended it to be.  I have been extremely busy and had some things happen that I was very upset about and I didn't think it would make me feel better to put it down, so I held back.  I have a feeling this post will take me several sittings, so I am going with bullets.

 - I failed my one hour, then failed my three hour glucose tests.  I was extremely upset and blaming my sedentary lifestyle and the fact that I love pizza and icecream.  Then, unlike a lot of the websites, the diabetes education people said that marathon runners get gestational diabetes and there is pretty much nothing you can do to keep from having it.
-I knew that people with GD had to follow a strict diet.  I did NOT know that they had to prick their finger 4 times a day to check their blood sugar.  How is this going to work for the girl who passes out with needles?  I am actually handling it alright.  And, the diet isn't that bad. I am eating more food now than ever before.
-We aren't convinced I actually have GD.  I passed out at my second blood draw (the one hour) and I passed the first two tests with extremely good numbers and the second two I was kind of over.  Did you know that a stressful event can mess with the chemicals in your body and affect your blood glucose levels for up to 24 hours?  So, my midwife drew another blood test call an A1C which takes the 6-week average of your levels.  Mine was exactly in the middle of the normal range.  But, because it is a 6-week average, the OB in the office was hesitant to say I don't need to test my blood sugar after meals.  So, we will draw it again in a couple of weeks and see if it is still normal.  If it is normal, I can stop testing and I can not be labeled as having GD.  That would be nice.
-I had my first shower!  It was lots of fun!  It was a couples shower thrown by my sister and cousin and we played lots of games and a lot of my friends from college came as well as some family from my side of the family.  We had a taco bar and cupcakes.  It was great!  The games were sippy cup bowling, guess the number of jelly beans in the jar, and guess the measure of mom-to-be's belly.  My sister ordered t-shirts for my  husband and me, all the people organizing the shower, and as prizes for the games.  They were super cute! 
-TMI ALERT!!!  I am still having issues with constipation.  I am annoyed.  I finally have gotten regular (pardon the pun) in taking Colace.  I have taken it every time I take my other vitamins (morning and evening) since Sunday.  I have finally started going.  I am thankful for my bodily functions to be working again!
-I had another shower this Saturday - it was one that my SIL and MIL threw for me at my MIL's house.  It was my husband's side of the family and some friends from our neighborhood as well as some friends I used to work with. We played some cute games and had a lot of fun!  The games were matching the animal with the gestational period and then she had a card table full of candy and a worksheet with a bunch of pregnancy/baby terms and you had to match the candy to the term. 
-My SIL is gave us her baby bed, which she used with both of her children. We got it this weekend when I had my shower.  We have a small book case from Ikea and a changing table that has drawers and a cabinet.  I believe we will also need a chest of drawers. We are getting everything second hand off Craigslist, when we can.  Finding a chest of drawers is proving harder than we thought.
-We got a rocking chair that was my grandmother's that she gave to my mom when my sister was born reupholstered.  It looks great.  I'll have to post some before and after pics.  I am very pleased that I can use this little family heirloom.  I love this rocking chair because it is the perfect size for me.  My feet touch the floor, so I don't feel like I need an ottoman.  My husband's parents bought us a glider for in the nursery w/ a gliding ottoman, now we have the rocking chair in the bedroom.  We are set.

Rocking Chair "Before"

Rocking Chair "After"

-I am reading The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding.  I also borrowed Dr. Sears' The Breastfeeding Book from a friend at church.  I am determined to breastfeed and hoping that I don't have some of the challenges I see a lot of people having who have gone through infertility, and some people that have not.
-So, I have not really had a lot of weight gain anywhere except my belly during this pregnancy.  However, since I started eating so much food for thie GD diet, I have gained weight in my face.  It is scary.  I need to start getting up and walking around the office more.
-I am still fighting the fear of not taking this baby home.  The baby seems perfect.  I am measuring perfect, the baby is punching, tickling, kicking, hiccupping - all the normal stuff.  But, I have heard so many times that one day someone was at the doctor and the baby was perfect and the next day, the baby had died.  I am just in constant prayer that the Lord will lift this anxiety from me.  I hope that these thoughs do not inhibit my going into labor in any way.

Here are some belly pics.  Just for reference, I will include the first one I took to post on FB at 17 weeks and the ones I took on Saturday before my shower.  I took a fun "overhead" shot today at work and I thought it was funny, so I am including that too.

17 weeks

33 weeks

33 weeks

33 weeks "overhead view"

26 Weeks and Counting

Hi Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well.  I am just moving right along with this pregnancy.  The baby is just kicking away.  I had another appointment with my midwife about 3 weeks ago and have another one this Friday, which will include my glucose screening.  At the last appointment, she measured my belly for the first time.  I was right at 24 weeks and measured 26 cm.  She said that they give you a leeway of 2 cm either way before they start to feel concerned.  I wonder how I will measure up this time.  The baby did just have a serious growth spurt.  I had a cold one week where I had a fever for about 12 hours and wasn't feeling like eating a lot, so I lost about a pound that week.  Then, when I weighted myself the next week, I had gained 3 pounds!  Yikes!  I weighed myself this morning and I haven't gained any since that last time where I'd gained 3 pounds.  My total weight gain so far is about 17 pounds.

I am still enjoying being pregnant!  I have started to feel a bit tired sometimes and I am still having round ligament pains.  They seem to be multiplying.  Almost every time I stand up after sitting for any amount of time (like maybe 30 min or more), I have pains under my belly on each side.  If I stand up for too long, my right side near/under my rib hurts.  I originally thought something had gotten jammed up in there, but now I think there is something stretching from the weight of my belly.  It goes away if I sit down usually.  But, sometimes if I can't sit down, it will spread to the same location on my back.  I have had pain around my belly button off and on, but today I really wasn't sure I would be able to stand up all the way it hurt so bad just above my belly button.  I am not sure if it hurt that bad or if it was just a scary feeling like I was going to pull something.  I am mainly listing these so I don't forget.  They aren't terrible and they aren't constant.

I have had some swelling in my ankles, feet, and hands.  I had some a few weeks ago in both ankles and feet and it went away mostly except some in my left ankle and foot - but not much.  Suddenly this week it is back with a vengeance and my fingers are a bit swollen.  Ick.  One benefit is the ease of shaving when your ankle bones are sticking out, though.  I am definitely going to ask about it.  I took pictures.  I mean, they say you shouldn't worry unless it's excessive.  Well, how much is excessive?  And, if one leg is swollen but not the other, you may have a blood clot.  I read that this morning on google.  Great.  Thankfully, my face is not swelling. 

I will have to post some belly pics when I can get some loaded on my computer.  I haven't really widened out any that I can tell.  My belly is all in the front.  It is kind of amazing how large it looks. 

I love watching my belly jump around as the baby kicks.  A lot of times, the left side of my belly is bigger than the right side.  I am guessing the baby hangs out over there more.

I'll update again soon, hopefully, with a report from my midwife visit, glucose screening, and some pics!

Take care!