And then there were three

Isn't that newborn face just adorable?  This was taken just a few hours after she was born, when my surgery grogginess wore out.  About that...

Our birthing story:

My parents and sister came in the night before since we had such an early start.  They didn't have a choice, they had to be here.

We live about an hour away from the hospital we were delivering at (we relocated from Lexington to Louisville but didn't want to change doctors mid-pregnancy), so our morning started at 4:30 am.  I got up, showered, made sure all of the last minute items were packed (with the help of DS), and had my sister snap a day-of pregnancy photo so I could remember how pregnant I was (and boy was I huge).  

Mom, DS, and I left the house at 5:30 am and left dad and K (my sister) home to feed the dogs and come up closer to delivery time.

We got to the hospital at about 6:30 am and started prep immediately.  Baby G would be here around 8:45.  Surgery prep was boring, just a lot of questions and IV starts.  Mom and DS were with me the entire time.

Around 8:15 they brought DS his blue pantsuit to wear and he put it on immediately.  His shoe covers didn't fit and he ripped one.  He was so nervous!  

8:30 and it's showtime.  They take me back first (I had to walk to the room in my gown and socks), DS will come back after I'm on the table and ready to go.  

I sit on the side of the table, he marks my back with a pen for the nerve block, and I lose myself in emotions.  I start crying...no...sobbing.  I apologize through my tears, but I am overwhelmed that I'm about to have a baby by c-section.  I didn't even get to try to have her naturally and it's starting to hit me.  I'm about to have a baby by c-section.  The nurse grabbed a hold of me in a bear hug and the anesthesiologist put something in my IV.  I remember slumping forward into the nurses arms then the next thing I knew, my nurses manipulated my lower body onto the table, laid me back, and draped a huge sheet right above my chest, vertically, so I can't see what's going on.  

My doctor came in everyone started bustling around.

Mind you, this was all happening in a fog, thanks to the wonderful "loosey' drugs the doctor gave me.  

*******On a side note, the anesthesiologist was the nicest man ever and if I knew exactly who he is, I would bake him the best cupcakes I've ever made!*******

They asked if I could feel my toes and nope, they were gone.  My doctor explained some things to me, like how I would feel tugging and pulling, and once she was out they would keep working on me for about 30 more minutes.

I remember DS coming in and sitting by my head.  I remember him brushing my face with his hands.  I remember the doctor saying she was almost out and I told DS to get up and look.  He watched the birth of our daughter.  I remember her first cry.  

Once she was out, DS didn't know if he should leave my side.  I remember telling him to go be with our baby.  He went and looked at her and came back to me and told me how big she was.  I remember feeling like my chest was caving in.  I remember asking him to make sure she had all girl parts.  "She's a girl, right?  No boy parts?"  Don't ask me why, but this was of utmost importance to me.  I remember him getting to cut the cord.  He came back to me and I was gasping for air.  I remember whispering to him that I couldn't breathe and I remember him telling the anesthesiologist.  My O2 stats were good, but I was having an anxiety attack.  They had also just removed a 10 pound 9 ounce, 21.5 inch baby from my body and my organs were having a free-for-all with all the new-found space.

My wonderful anesthesiologist put something in my IV again and I was out.  I woke up in recovery and DS came in shortly after.  Then they brought in baby G and I got to hold her for the first time.

I have to be honest here.  I was so tired I didn't feel the immediate bond that many women say they feel.  I did feel in awe and disbelief that this little baby was mine.  I didn't get to stare at her for long before the nurses were telling me to go ahead and breastfeed.  

At our hospital, mothers get about an hour of "kangaroo time" where you can breastfeed, hold, and bond with your baby.  DS was with us the whole time and it was wonderful.  After about an hour they took her away and it was time to head to our new home upstairs.

I was in and out of drug induced dozing as the nurses wheeled me upstairs, and remember telling the nurses that "if I could feel my legs I would help you out".  They just laughed as they hoisted me to my new bed.  

I was a mom and the birthing portion was over.

Now for recovery.........

The last leg of pregnancy

This sums up the end of my pregnancy.  

I used this self-portrait in a post several years ago thinking that I was large.  Boy, was that a misconception.  I'm sure some women don't feel this way, but oh my lawd I was huge.

I am, of course, blogging this almost two months after little G was born.  The last leg of my pregnancy was a whirlwind and as a new mom, I didn't have time for blogging.

So what happened during my last few weeks of pregnancy?

I continued to have braxton hicks every day on and off.

My legs and feet swelled to elephant-man proportions.

Walking was a true labor...no, not walking...waddling.

I went into pre-term labor at 34 weeks, but it wasn't very severe and it was able to be stopped with some injections that burned like you've never felt and made me shake for an hour.  No early baby, so it was worth it.

I started to dilate and efface early and was told by the doctor to "take it easy and lay down a lot".  If I went into labor again, they weren't going to stop it.  Hard to take it easy and lay down when I worked 10 hour days with a two hour commute everyday, so at 37 weeks, I officially went on "bed-rest".

The last two weeks were spent worrying if baby G would try to come on her own.  At our last ultrasound at 36 weeks, she was estimated at 10 pounds exactly.  At our next doctor appointment at 38 weeks we had a big discussion.  Our physician doesn't like to vaginally deliver babies over 10 pounds unless the mother is very adamant.  I tried to be adamant that I wanted to do it "the right way".  She informed me of all of the risks both for me, and for baby G, and it just wasn't worth it.   I had to push all ideas of "the right way" out of my head...this baby was coming via cesarean.  

We scheduled our c-section for 39 weeks 1 day, let our family know, and tried to enjoy our last few days before baby G arrived.

The struggle is real

Every little thing is a struggle in your third trimester.  For those women who say they have a wonderful pregnancy and everything is bliss...what alien species do you come from?  

I thought I would love pregnancy because I've always wanted to be a mother.  That just isn't the case.  I love the little miracle growing inside of me, but the actual pregnancy part...if I could skip it I would.  The pro's do not outweigh the con's.

Pro's

-I don't care how fat I look in clothes.  Oh, I look fat in this shirt?  Too bad, there's a baby in me.

-I use "I'm pregnant" to DS as an excuse for everything and it's become a little joke between us.

-Knowing that I'm growing a little piece of both of us is monumentally exciting.

-There is a baby growing inside of me who is going to change our world forever.

Con's

-I'm exhausted and I'm exhausted thinking about how much more exhausted I'm going to get.
-Sleeping is uncomfortable and hot and I'm constantly getting up for the bathroom.  I miss comfortable snuggly sleeping.

-I'm an emotional mess.  My emotions were normal until the third trimester.

-I have heartburn every.single.day.  I take Zantac twice a day now and still have to eat antacids.

-Eating so many antacids helps antagonize the constipation...which leads to....

-Abdominal cramping of the intestines in addition to all the other cramping.

-Braxton hicks have started happening really every day now.  They are not the same painful ones I was having in my 20's weeks, but they are uncomfortable nonetheless.

-I can't get off the couch without wallowing around a bit and scooting to the edge and pushing myself up.

-Back pain is consistently a thing now, the whole back: neck to hips.  It aches as I type.

-I have hip pain pretty much every day since pregnancy has caused hip dysplasia.  Sometimes walking is especially fun.

-Round ligament pain is quite uncomfortable and sporadically painful.

-My wrists, ankles, lower legs, feet, and hands are swollen every day.  I look like the elephant man.

-I lose my breath just thinking about exertion.

-I struggle with putting on my socks and pants.

-Shaving, grooming, trimming toenails.  Who knew they'd be so dang difficult to do.

I know there is more, but I'm tired again.  Like ready to cry I've never been so exhausted tired.  

I'm hoping all of this is preparing my body for after she is here.  I am 33 weeks today.  Soon she will be here and the real fun will begin.  :) 

Baby Updates

I wanted to post some additional baby updates, in addition to her ahead-of-schedule weight (see my last post for the latest on that).  Although, to add to her weight bit, she does not have anything wrong with her weight wise...according to the doctor, her BMI was absolutely normal, she is simply just big.  Her little femurs are already 2.5 inches long, so she is just growing fast.

Baby G is very, very active.  She constantly kicks, punches, rolls, headbutts and whatever else babies can do at this stage.  Not only can I feel her, but I can see her moving from the outside and her movements are strong enough that I can let anyone feel her move...but I don't, just DS.  

I have a thing about letting people touch my belly.  Don't do it and you won't get bitch-me.  I let my mom feel my belly, but Baby G is a bit of a diva and clams up whenever I'm trying to share her.  I tell DS to touch my belly whenever she is being exceptionally busy and she usually calms right down after a few rebellious kicks.  It's like she doesn't want to perform for anyone but me.

It's really impossible to tell when you have a bladder infection when you're already using the bathroom 4x more than usual.  I went through a bout about three weeks ago where I was just feeling like crap, my blood pressure was all over the place, my upper belly was hurting...I was just a mess.  So I went to the doctor because people had me scared over preeclampsia and found out I had a really bad bladder infection.  It had gotten so bad it had inflamed my uterus.  I had no symptoms and no idea.  I am glad I was scared, because otherwise it could have gotten worse and who knows what would have happened.

I'm learning not to take risks.  I drove to and from work last week in a really, really bad snow storm and got yelled at by DS, my mother, and everyone else who cares about my well-being.  I have two to think of now, not just myself and it was foolish.  I called in the next day because I didn't want to risk driving in it again.  

We bought a firearm for the first time this past weekend.  It is a pump-action shotgun, just for house protection.  We also bought "house protection" bullets and "fire range" bullets because apparently they are different for a shotgun.  We also bought protective ear muffs for him since he didn't want to wear my pink ones.  We have to order his goggles online since he is a glasses wearer and it's hard to find ones that fit around them in store.  Baby G will know what guns are and how to be safe around them and never ever touch them unless she is with DS or myself.  I was raised with guns (military family) and we were always safe and aware, so she will be too.

Gigantor Baby

We are currently 28 weeks along.

We don't think Baby G has gotten the memo.  She is already 3.75 pounds, which is what she should weigh at 32 weeks.

She is currently three weeks ahead of schedule.  We were told to expect her in April now.  

The doctor was curious to see if gestational diabetes was playing a part in her extraordinary growth, but I passed my glucose test with flying colors!

I really won't eat all the things, but it was funny.  As I mentioned in a previous blog, I am just not able to eat very much quantity-wise.  Or meat-wise.  Which is why I tested slightly anemic...nothing a little vitamin can't fix.

So why is Baby G so gigantic?  Could be because I was approximately 11 pounds at birth and DS was just over 10.  Lovely genetics.  We were planning for a big baby, but now that it's actually happening...geeze!  They will continue to monitor her growth...we have another ultrasound in 5 weeks.  

DS said that he feels her being so big means that she is healthy and I suppose that is true.  She is getting what she needs and seems super happy.

Fun song times

Have you ever heard a song 40 times and never listened to the lyrics?  I feel like that happens to me a lot.  I actually listened to a song I have heard over and over again and heard a little lyrical jewel.

I'm so hot, make a dragon wanna' retire.

Isn't that just the best lyric you've ever heard?  Thank you, Bruno Mars.  

Oi! Enough with the fake contractions.

Now I say fake contractions, but they feel real.  Oh, so painfully real.  

I had my first set of Braxton Hicks just last week at 23 weeks and two days.  I wrote down everything that happened so that I could give my doctor details...and now I have them for this post.  Here's how my day went:

-I woke up Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. with hip pain and lower back pain.  It was mild, but I usually don't wake up with pain (it progresses throughout the day) so I was a little uneasy.  

-At about 7:10 a.m. I took two aspirin free Excedrin, which was ok'd through my MD for pain and headaches.

-Got to work around 7:30 a.m. and walked to the other side of the building to hear about a co-worker's daughter who is 10 weeks ahead of me.  She had gone into pre-term labor the night before that was thankfully able to be stopped with no complications.  I walked back down to my office and the pressure in my back started increasing.

-At 8:15 I was in serious pain sitting at my desk.  Nausea, heavier breathing, sweating, painful tightness on either side of my belly button, a burning pressure in my lower back.  Crashing into my body in waves.  I was in bad shape.  Thankfully, I work in a hospital and asked a nurse in my office (who had worked labor and delivery for years) her opinion on what she thought was going on...Braxton Hicks. 

---Let me make a note at this point, that before she said it was Braxton Hicks I kind of thought it may be in my head since hearing about my co-workers daughter.  But when I doubled over in pain at my desk, I kind of figured it was actually something going on that was just a coincidence.

-As suddenly as the serious pain came on, just before 8:30, I was back to just mild back and hip pain.  I immediately picked up my phone and called my OB next door (thankfully in the same hospital I work in), and asked what the hell just happened.  I wanted my doctor to know what was going on.  I described what happened and asked a basic list of questions like if I was ok to stay at work, what should I do to help, when should I worry.  Basically, as long as I stayed off my feet as much as possible and kept my feet up when I could for the rest of the day, if they didn't continue, then I would be ok to stay at work.  IF they escalated or continued into the afternoon then I needed to come in.

Thankfully for the rest of the day I was able to have as little activity as possible and kept my feet up at my desk between patients.  So, I was only dealing with mild pain in my lower back and hips and a slight pressure that would increase with activity like walking.  Not bad at all.

I'm going to say thankfully again here.  Thankfully, they did not continue and I have not had them since.  Most sources online say that Braxton Hicks are usually pain free, but there are cases where they can occasionally escalate to a painful level.  I haven't been in to see the doctor since they didn't persist, but I haven't felt any complications so I think I'm ok.  Baby G is still moving around in there and I haven't had any spotting or serious abdominal pain.  Thankfully.

Food Fail

This past Saturday I really wanted to do something homemade.  Since we're gearing up to move, we haven't had many really good home cooked meals lately.  I saw a cooking show where they made spicy deviled eggs and slow cook "cowboy" beans with canned beans and I thought, sure, let's make baked beans on the stove and deviled eggs.

Instead of "cheating" and using canned beans, I decided to go full homemade and do real beans.  I ran to the grocery to pick up essentials between DS's truck errands (fixing a truck is an all day thing with multiple trips to and fro).  I knew I'd need a pound of navy beans, eggs and an onion.  Everything else I already had in stock at home.

Saturday night, I put the navy beans in a big bowl filled with room temp water to let them soak overnight.

Sunday around 11 the beans had been soaking at least 14 hours, so I swirled them around to check for bad beans and drained them.  There wasn't a single floating bean so I thought they must have been freshly bagged.  I looked at a few "on the stove" baked bean recipes to get the gist of cooking times, which seemed to be generally around 2-3 hours.  I started cooking.

3/4 pound bacon, chopped while partially frozen and rendered
used 2 Tbsp reserved bacon grease to saute 1 medium onion, finely chopped
added the bacon back to the onion 
add 1 12 oz can of tomato sauce
add 3 cans of water (using the tomato sauce can)
add 1 12 oz can light beer
add 4 Tbsp ketchup
add 12 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
add 3 tsp "bar-b-que" seasoning 
add 3 tsp garlic powder (we like the garlic in our house)
1/4 cup brown sugar (my 1/4 cup was heaping since I like them a little sweet)
add the beans and stir

It looked like a thick soup at first so I brought it up to boil and reduced it to a simmer.  I checked back every now and then and stirred it around.  I cooked it until the liquid began to thicken and it had reduced a lot.  It ended up cooking around 4 hours.

I also made deviled eggs toward the end, nothing fancy.  Boiled the eggs, cut up some sweet baby gherkins since I'm obsessed right now and after slicing and separating the eggs, stirred mayonnaise, mustard, the pickles, pepper and a tsp. of pickle juice (I just saw this on the  aforementioned cooking show).  Stirred it all up and....it was egg yolk soup.  

Ok, so the eggs turned out runny but tasted a.ok, so we ate them.

The beans...did not cook all the way!!!!  The flavor was awesome but we could not get over the texture.  Not hard, but way too al dente.  DS and I could not figure out how they were not cooked through since I had soaked them overnight AND cooked them for 4 hours!  I will not be making baked beans from homemade again!

*******EDIT:  I put salt in the beans before cooking, which is a GIGANTIC no-no!!!  That is probably why they were a little too hard for our taste.  Do not put salt in them and they may turn out wonderful.

Let's talk nipples!

No, not the baby bottle kind, those I haven't even started looking at yet.  Let's talk the real thing.  The double wham-o's.  The two pieces of anatomy on my body that I don't even recognize anymore.

Everyone knows pregnancy changes your body.  Some changes are small and some are really big and make you question...who's body is this???

I don't recognize my stomach.  I look a bit like a sick albino tiger.  I had some stretch marks before becoming pregnant but whoa-my-gosh, things have escalated quickly.  I apply "belly" lotion every night now but I feel as though it is in vain...some people get marked, some don't.  I've been marked.  Maybe if I had started earlier on this stuff, I'd be in better shape.  Who knows.

It smells good and at least things can't get worse by using it.

We're all told "your boobs will change" and it's true, they're growing, have on and off bouts of tenderness, and are sometimes itchy.  I had large breasts to begin with so while I have noticed some overflow on my bras, I've been able to move the clasp in the back to accommodate the growing thus far.  All of those changes are "doable".  The one thing I cannot get over...my nipples.

My nipples are no longer my nipples.  They are larger, darker, always "hard", very sensitive, sometimes painful, more dimply and dry/chapped.  I haven't had any leakage yet so I have no idea why they are already dry and chapped.  My nipples are not my own.  I fear they will never be what they once were again.  

DS has been really supportive on this.  I berate my stretch marks, bigger booty, and nipples almost daily but he has been a trooper and has stuck to all of the good guy scripts.  Not once has he agreed with my self-deprecating.

I guess if I can get over this monumental body change, I can handle all of the rest...right?

Getting ready for baby

Turns out, there is quite a lot that needs to be done before baby gets here.  There are general guidelines as to what needs to be done, but really the get-ready list is catered and specific for each expecting couple.  

Here's what DS and I have to do to prepare:

-Gather addresses for announcements.  Fortunately for us, my mom is on the ball.  I called to ask her to keep a list from the shower including both of our families and we would use that plus whomever else we'd like and she said she was planning on working on announcements for us while she was staying with us when little G gets here.

-Pick out our announcements.  I think we're going to go through tinyprints.com for our announcements and pre-pick which design we like.  That way, once we have the perfect pic of her, we can upload it and have them at our doorstep within days...then mom can get to cracking on addressing and sending them out.

-Waterproof the homestead.  Not for the baby, but for me.  We have a Cali King Tempur Pedic and I shudder to think of the damage my water breaking on that bad boy would do.  I have a gift card for Bed Bath and Beyond, so we may end up with this one:  Leakproof.  

-Pick a pediatrician.  Luckily for me, I work in the hospital that I'll be delivering in, so I can get clinical opinions of where little G should go.

-Pre-wash baby clothes.  I want everything to be ready before little G gets here, so I need to pre-wash all of her clothes and blankets.  I'll wait until after the baby shower since little baby clothes don't take up much in the washing machine and we don't have a full load of tiny clothes/blankets yet.

-Buy a nursing bra.  I have a night sleeper nursing bra that would only be for night.  Not a ton of support, but keeps the boobs in general position.  I also have a great roomy sports bra that I can easily whip 'em out of.  What I don't have are nursing bras that I can wear during the day...in public.

-Attend classes.  Since I work at the hospital I'll be delivering at, you'd think I'd already be signed up for all the classes, but I'm not.  I want to do a Lamaze class just to see what it's all about and maybe a swaddling/diaper change class just to get a last practice in.  I seriously need to get on this though because those classes fill up fast.

-Think of a birth plan.  We haven't really put anything down in writing yet.  I know most birth plans fly out of the window, but DS needs to know what to do just in case there's an emergent situation and he has to make the decisions.  Plus, if we know what we want going in, it'll be easier for him to advocate for me.  I liked this template on thebump.com.

-Get a baby notebook with a folder.  Since I've already started printing things like a birth plan template, I'll need a folder to keep everything in.  

-Get a baby book.  Actually, we got one this weekend and we are so excited to start filling it in.  Also, we will be packing it in our bags for the hospital trip because it has a place for her teeny footprints.  Ask the hospital you'll be delivering at if their nursing staff will help you with this.  Usually, if you have it available, they'll go ahead and stamp while they stamp the hospital paperwork.

-Stock up on hand sanitizer.  You will need this if you plan on letting a lot of people touch your baby after delivery and once home.  Our family will all want to hold her, so everyone will need hand sanitizer.  You'll want something gentle and unscented.

-Pack 3 bags.  2-3 weeks out from due date (this will depend on your doctors plans as well), pack three bags...one for mom, one for baby, and one for dad.  DS will need to bring electronics to keep entertained if it's a boring and long labor.  He'll also need to bring snacks and camera equipment.  My sister will be taking tasteful delivery and baby photos so we will need all of the batteries, lenses, etc. ready to go.

Of course we have to get the nursery ready.  We're moving into a new house within the next few weeks so nursery time will start then!

 Anything I've forgotten???