Home with our sweet little lady...

Elliot Joy
Friday February 11, 2011
9:50am
7lbs 10oz.
19 1/4 in.

We are all SO in love with her ;)

A bit of an update...

Warning:
If you'd rather not enjoy some fun labor details feel free to skip over this post :)
I just wanted to document this *lovely* time and also update friends/family who have been wondering what's going on, since I don't really have the energy to be on the phone....

---------

I am grumpy.
Super grumpy.

I have been having cramping, contractions and back pain on and off since Saturday morning.
Then yesterday they got worse.
My contractions were 2 mins apart.

So off we went to the hospital.

Now, my last two labors have been the same. Days and days of early labor where I have crazy consistent contractions but just can't seem to make it past 3 cms. However {after being induced} and I get into the "active labor" I go really fast. With our last little one I went from 4 cms to her being born in less than an hour. So this all makes me nervous for waiting it out too long at home for fear that we may not make it to the hospital in time....

Anyhoo.

We get to the hospital {remember after days of contractions} and I am....drumroll please......
1cm.
Fail.

They decide we should walk around for an hour.
So we do.
Up and down hospital stairs. Down the long hallways. Stopping to breath through the pain, and then starting up again.
Good times.

Here I am in between contractions. Chris and I had a good laugh at how stylish I looked. Don't my boots just complete the outfit? Ha!

After an hour of walking I had progressed to 2-3 cm.
Not a huge change, but a change non the less. I'll take it.

They decide to send us out walking again for another hour.
So we do.
Up and down hospital stairs. Down long hallways.
By this time we have a pretty nice root mapped out.
I stop every two minutes with stubborn contractions.
I try not to attract attention, but I'm sure I was great entertainment for visitors, staff and patients :)

After an hour they check me and.... wait for it.....no change.
Ugh.
Really? Really? REALLY???

The doc on call says that if I was 38 weeks (which I am tomorrow) she would break my water, but didn't want to risk doing anything too early in case my dates were off and she wanted to be sure baby would be healthy. She decided to send us home with strict instructions that if the contractions changed in intensity to come right back.

So.
Here we are.
Still contracting every two minutes or so.
Thankfully the intensity goes down a bit when I am resting, and I was able to get back to sleep last night after being woken up by a few through the night. They seem to be really bad when I am up and walking around and less painful when I am sitting/laying down.

See why I'm grumpy?
And exhausted.
And not sure where to go from here....
My contractions haven't gotten any more intense from yesterday so I'd rather not go back to the hospital and be told "Ahh wonderful, you're still 2-3 cms" :(
But I'm not sure how much more I can take....

I do have a doctor's apt. scheduled for tomorrow, so I'm hoping to either go into full blown labor today or have her be able to tell me where to go from here tomorrow.

And there you have it.

I will say that despite all this I am beside myself excited to meet this little one.
We really can't wait for our newest little joy to arrive!
And I'd be totally on board if that would happen today.
Please and thank you.

Nest Much?!

You know you are close to giving birth if you have:

* a completely de-cluttered and re-organized front hall closet
* a microwave that received {and desperately needed} a serious scrub down
* the top of the fridge- dusted!
* bathroom drawers cleaned and re-organized
* back hallway/laundry room cleaned and re-organized
* baby clothes washed and put away
* car seat washed and ready to be installed
* fridge and freezer cleaned out and scrubbed down
* purse re-organized and cleaned out
* food pantry de-cluttered and re-organized
* bags of toys and bags of clothes ready to be given away
* junk drawer overhauled
* hospital bag {almost} all packed

Whew. I think we're just about ready now....
;)

God knew who I'd need

My mother-in-love is such a gift to me.
Truly.
God knew who I'd need.
He knew I needed a mama.
He spoiled me with her.
Completely spoiled me....

Thursday night I caught the flu.
That yucky, horrible, nasty flu that's been going around.
The one that I thought I escaped last month when the rest of my family got it.
Groan.
Not so much.

After being up sick all night hearing the alarm Friday morning made me cringe. All I wanted to do was crawl under my covers and never come out again.
I could barely lift me head from my pillow, forget about even walking down the stairs to watch the kiddos.
I seriously had barely enough energy to blink ;(

Since Chris had meetings all day.... my sweet mama-in-love was able to get the day off work just to take care of me and my littles.

She sent me to bed and kept the girls quiet while I slept all morning.
She picked our son up from school and gave the kids lunch.

As the day went on I started getting more and more contractions and ended up going into the hospital that afternoon.
Don't worry, everything's fine now, I was just really dehydrated {since I couldn't keep any fluids down. yup. sorry for the visual;)} so they needed to give me a bag of IV fluids and then they monitored babe's heart rate, which became normal again after having the IV.
While Chris and I were at the hospital I knew I didn't need to worry at all about the kids.
I knew they were being well taken care of.

When we got home the kids were in bed,
and the house was spotless....
And friends, when I say spotless I mean the couches were moved and vacuumed underneath.
The laundry was done.
The walls were scrubbed down.
The floors were sparkling.
Even our cupboards were cleaned out....
And this morning my in-loves even showed up with groceries.

See what I mean about being spoiled?
My house is spotless.
My fridge and cupboards are stocked.
My heart is full.
Thank you Jesus for my mama.
I am so humbled by how she loves me.

crazy hormones...

I was driving this morning and this song came on the radio.
I cried bawled through the whole thing....

Usually I try to be good...

but sometimes,
sometimes,
I just go with the cravings....

p.s- to make the cheesy toast
{because I know you all are dying to know!}
simply spread cheese whiz over bread, sprinkle with seasoning salt and
pop in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese melts and starts to brown.
Mmmmm!
Chris thinks I'm disgusting for liking this but I don't care.
The baby wants it.

I cracked.....

Anticipation

Thank you everyone for your sweet comments and prayers. We are crazy excited for this little one to join our family. Baby is due at the end of February, so we have just under 6 months to go :)

I am feeling great....now that I am happily living in second trimester bliss. As for my first trimester? One word- yuck. I was SO exhausted and SO nauseous all the time that I wasn't sure we'd survive. But survive we did and now I can honestly say I feel wonderful.

Although I am feeling great now, in the back of my mind I am thinking about the possibility of bedrest. I was on bedrest with our youngest for 9 weeks before she was born 3 week early. My doctor says that it could go either way this time- I could have a normal complication free pregnancy or it could be worse and I may need to go on bedrest even earlier. Eeek.
We are praying for the complication free version of that diagnoses :)

I am now 14 weeks along. The big debate right now is whether or not we should find out the gender of our little one. With our son, Chris found out while I chose to keep it a surprise. (I know, I know crazy right?! but he was really good at keeping it a secret!) and with the girls we both found out. I am really torn with this one. I'm excited to find out, but on the other hand we think we are done having babies after this one and I think I'd like to experience the surprise one more time....What about you? Did you find out what you were having with your children?

The kids are really excited to have a new baby brother or sister. Our son was set on having a brother. He said it was only fair because he already has two sisters. Logical- right? Then Chris and his dad (in the hopes to open our little guy's mind to the possibility of a sister) told him that if he had a brother he'd have to share his lego and xbox. He quickly changed his mind to wanting a sister, and now does NOT want a brother. Oops. That totally backfired.

Our three year old is set on a sister. There is no changing her mind. She has already named her "Ally" and won't hear of the possibility that the baby could be a boy.

And our 2 year old thinks we're having a boy. Mommy has a boy in her tummy and she has a girl in hers :)
Ha!

Boy or girl, I know this little one will fit into our family perfectly. And I can hardly wait to meet him/her!

Count 'em....

One...

Two...

Three...

FOUR!!!

Yippeeeeeeeeee!
We are beyond excited to finally share the news that we are having another little munchkin!
:)

No room at the inn......

I am ready for labor. I never thought I'd actually look forward to the whole process. However after spending over 14 hours in the labor and delivery triage contracting every minute and a half, with no change from 2cm, I am ready to be induced!

Problem.....there are no beds! I was sent home today with the promise of a scheduled induction on Monday. The hospital will call me sometime Monday when a bed is available and I will go in to be induced. Woohoo! I can't wait to meet our newest princess:)

What will the rest of the weekend look like? Hopefully the contractions will settle and I can lay low until I hear from the hospital. Right now I'm feeling little pain, I was given a shot of morphine and gravol and it seems to have taken the edge off.......

I think Chris said it best when he made mention of Mary and Joseph......I have new found respect for them when they were told that there was no room at the inn ........

Six days and counting...

I officially have 6 days left on strict bedrest!

Woohoo!! The countdown is on! Now that I can measure it in days instead of weeks I am beyond excited! I still have to take it easy for a couple weeks after that, but at least I am able to get up and do more around the house, go for short walks and even head out to the store for short trips. I am definitely ready to FINALLY be able to do some much desired nesting:)

Update....

Yikes! I have not written anything for over month and a half now!
What a month it's been!!

Since I last wrote on Feb 10th alot has happened. I was able to maintain the "taking it easy diagnoses" for just a couple of weeks. After that I started having contractions and after 3 trips to the hospital, 3 more ultrasounds and an overnight stay on the post-partum ward I am officially back on strict bedrest.

I am frustrated, stressed and more than a little overwhelmed at this point. I have now been on bedrest for 3 weeks and am being told that I will need to remain on bedrest for another 5 weeks. What's the diagnoses? Irritable Uterus.
Irritable Uterus?!
I've decided that "Irritable" is the medical term that they attach to whatever is wrong with you when they can't figure out why exactly you have the symptoms you have. "Irritable Uterus, Irritable Bowel.....I must say our family is more that a little irritated!"

Basically the doctors are saying I'm having contractions that at this point are not putting my body into actual labor. It is possible that I may continue to have contractions until my due date and possibly even go over that date, or these contractions can put me into the real thing. That is the reason why they have me on bedrest, so as to hopefully avoid going into labor before 34 weeks. (I'm now 29 weeks- 5 more weeks to go....)

Whew! So having said all that, I'm coping. Today is one of the harder days. I'm hating the fact that I can't pick up my one year old. I'm hating the fact that I can't play games with my four year old. I long for the days when I can actually get dressed and head out to..... hmmm .....let's just say that a trip to Walmart would be the highlight of my week!! :-)

I'm leaning on God for his strength because right now I have zero of my own!

Taking it easy

This past week has been a bit of a challenge. The results of the ultrasound show that I have a low-lying placenta. This means that I need to take it easy for the next while. My doctor has taken me off strict bedrest, but wants me to basically do nothing for the next little bit to ensure that I don't start bleeding again.

I am so thankful that Chris owns his own business and has the flexibility to stay home. I'm also relieved that nothing is wrong with baby. I have an appointment with my doctor next week, which will hopefully bring me some reassurance as to why I'm still having all this cramping and feeling so much pressure.....

Baby, Baby

Oh Baby!

I have been put on strict bedrest. This means I am allowed to get out of bed to use the washroom and shower only! Yikes. It's been a struggle, and it's only been 2 days!

I started spotting on Monday afternoon and I've been having quite a bit of cramping and feeing a lot of pressure like baby has already dropped! I went to see the doctor yesterday, who ordered me to stay in bed. I had an ultrasound today, and am waiting to hear from the doctor the results. I'm trying to stay positive......although if I'm being completely honest I am more than a little scared and stressed.....

Baby Love

Yesterday we had our 18 week ultrasound.


Everything is looking good!


We also found out that this little one growing inside is a.......

GIRL!!!!

I'm so excited! I can't wait to meet our little princess:)

soooo sleepy.....

I am sooooooo tired.....and very much anticipating the return of energy that I hope will come with my second trimester! I am now 10 weeks pregnant and am praying for the energy I need to get through the next couple weeks:)

Zzzzzzzz

Today my sister came over and took both kids out for the afternoon. I was able to have a wonderful, relaxing and uninterrupted nap. Ahhhhhh.......I don't even feel guilty that my house is a disaster and that we had pancakes and eggs for dinner tonight, because I was able to have a long and glorious nap! Thank-you Auntie Tammy!!!!

New discovery....

Chinese Food + Pregnancy = Not a fun night......VERY YUCKY!

In need of Sleep!

The past few days have been hard....I am just about 6 weeks into my third pregnancy and am feeling as though I have been hit by a train.

I am completely exhausted, and definitely felling the yucky "morning sickness."
Although in my case they should call it "nighttime sickness"- it always seems to hit the worst when I am trying to sleep!! This could be part of the reason why I am sooooo tried! I seriously don't know if I'm coming or going half the time.

It's crazy how soon you forget what it's like to be bit by that first trimester bug. I mean, our daughter is only six months old - I really did just go through this last year:)
At any rate I'm just praying that God will give me the strength, and the patience (something I am in short supply of lately) to get through this!!

**On a very HAPPY note, our little angel is back to sleeping 11 hour nights!! Yiiiiippppeee!!! I am so thankful our doctor encouraged us to try that method! It really does work:)**