Lisa's Space... how original

I can't believe it's already the conclusion to the pregnancy.  It just seems like yesterday that I got the positive test result from the PG test.  Life these days is so surreal.  It's absolutely amazing and there's no better feeling in the world than having a child.  You hear babies crying and you try to console them and there's nothing you can do.  When you're the parent, just holding your baby soothes them and you couldn't ask for anything more.  Well this is the final chapter in this adventure and I must say that I don't know all of the details.  When it happened, I looked at the clock to remember, but when you actually look back, you really don't remember everything you went through.  You hear that all the time that mothers forget what labor was like and now I see how.  So below is estimates of times, but you get the gist of it.

On Tuesday, May 22nd we found out that we were going to be induced on Sunday due to IUGR and my high blood pressure.  We at least had some time to prepare ourselves and get as much done as we needed to.  I moved my last day of work to Wednesday and Sean took off Friday to help get stuff done.  He did drive me crazy because he kept telling me to rest and that I shouldn't be doing anything, but he just sat there in the chair on his laptop.  Then when I got up to do something since he wasn't, he would tell me to sit down but kept checking his work email.  You see the never ending cycle.  I called the hospital on Saturday to find out what time I needed to go in on Sunday.  They said 7:00 am but to call ahead of time to ensure this was still accurate because if a lot of women went into labor the night before, they would have to push it out.  So I woke up and called them to find out that's what happened.  She told me to hang tight and that she would hopefully get me in that day but otherwise we would need to reschedule.  She would have someone call me after 11 am.  So we sat and waited and I crocheted like crazy to try to get this blanket I have been working on done.  (Of course, I never finished and it's still sitting there undone).  I finally called the hospital at 1 pm since I never heard anything and they told me to be there at 3:15 pm.  This was it!

Sean and I then do last minute items and leave the house at 3:09 pm.  Yeah, we're always late to everything..  even our own induction.  We arrive at the hospital around 3:35 pm and check in at the desk.  I waited in the lobby while Sean parked the car.  A nurse, Alma, came out and got me and we went to my room, Blue 2168.  It was very crazy to see that this was my room and I would be delivering in it.  Sean finally came and Alma showed Sean around so he knew where the kitchen and things were.  I then got in a gown and had to get my blood pressure, temperate, IV, etc all done.  We waited for the doctor to come and check my cervix and break my water.  Cervix at this time was 2 cm.  That happened around 4:35 pm and wasn't that fun.  It's not bad to break the water, but since it was in an awkward spot, she kept messing around for a while which didn't feel that great.  The nurse then started me on Pitocin at 4:45 pm at 4 (not sure what the measurement was) and was going to increase it by 4 until we got to the right spot.  12 ended up being the magical number since my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart.  Know that when I say contraction, I mean a very mild cramp and sometimes I didn't feel it at all. 

Sean and I just sat there and watched Raising Helen on tv.  We ended up getting a new nurse, Kerstin, around 7 pm because it was slow and Alma's daughter was in town.  She encouraged us to change positions often, so I sat in a rocking chair and walked up and down the hall.  No real pain at all.  The most annoying thing in the whole process was when the nurse kept asking me on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most excruciating pain you can imagine, what are you at?  I have no idea!  I have never been through labor before so I don't know what this feels like.  I kept trying to refer to menstrual type cramps since I had those before, but who knows.  I got tired of hearing that question.  We brought a Netflix movie, The Illusionist, to watch which was kind of dumb.  The nurse upped my Pitocin to see if I could get real contractions, but it made them be 1.5 minutes apart which isn't good for the baby.  I remember that occurred between 9:15 and 9:30 so she turned it back down.  Nothing was done differently, but somehow the contractions did get worse over the next hour.  She asked if I wanted to try the birthing ball which I thought was a good idea.  I enjoyed sitting on it but when a contraction came, she wanted me to either bounce or sway from side to side.  Most women enjoy this movement, but it did not feel good for me so I had to stop.  I then switched over to a rocking chair.  Again, she wanted me to rock when the contractions came, but that made it hurt worse.  I want to say the time was 10:45 pm (could be completely wrong) but I said that I was starting to feel sick and luckily she gave me something within 5 seconds because I started vomiting.  She tried to take it away to empty it but I wouldn't let her.  I ended up doing it 4 times but it was all close together so it wasn't bad.  I hadn't eaten since 2 pm so it was just clear liquids.  She said this was a good sign that things were picking up.  I then went back to bed because that was the only spot that I felt comfortable.  No clue on ordering here, but I remember having to go to the bathroom often due to all of the fluids.  Since my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, you knew that I would have one sometime from getting there, being there, and coming back.  Was not fun.  I then started to have potentially back labor because it would just kill me.  The nurse was very good with pushing up on my hips from behind to help with some of the pain.  Sean wasn't exactly sure what he was doing because he pushed up for a second and then just let go.  I had him monitor the equipment and tell me when the contractions were going down because it was getting mighty painful.  I also had the shakes very very bad.  It was the most unusual thing and I was going to look that up to see what causes that.  It was kind of scary but the nurse wasn't concerned.  Finally the pain was so unbearable that I said I wanted the epidural.  Probably around 12:15 am.

Oh, the epidural..  my new best friend.  My doctor said that I needed to be 4 cm to get it so the nurses needed to check to see what I was at.  They couldn't feel the cervix so they kept mashing around and the contractions came and made it worse.  Talk about pain!  Then another nurse tried because the other one couldn't tell.  She as well had no idea what it was but they were guessing it wasn't 4 cm yet.  Since I was dying, they called Dr. Tsuang to see if she would let me have it anyways and luckily she agreed.  I remember before I went to the hospital I was going to check to ensure the anesthesiologist knew what he was doing and had been doing it for a while.  I tell you, at that time I would have taken anyone that walked into that room even if they said they had never put one in before.  Unfortunately she had to give me enough fluids before I got it, so we had to up some dosage and wait to call him until that was complete.  That was the hard part of waiting.  It was about 10-15 minutes before that was done.  Then she paged him and he called back within 2 minutes.  She said he would be here in 5 minutes.  A knock on the door 3 minutes later and she says 'that must be him.'  It was another nurse so that was a huge let down.  But he was there within 5 minutes and he was my angel, Dr. Kim.  He was trying to explain to me what was going to happen but when contractions came, I didn't hear anything around me so I had no idea what anyone was saying.  I couldn't do my slow breathing anymore but kept saying 'ouch' throughout the whole contraction.  He gave me a numbing shot so I wouldn't feel the epidural..  didn't really feel that shot either.  Then a contraction came so he had to wait to do the epidural.  He then took the time to give me another numbing shot.  When it was over, he had me arch my back and put the needle and tube in.  I tell you what, I didn't feel a thing when he put it in.  He asked me if that was better or worse than what I imagined and I told him so much better.  This was 12:45 am and he said it would take 10-15 minutes to kick in and by 1 pm I wouldn't be feeling anything.  I had 3-4 more horrible contractions but he was right.  Around 12:55 they saw one coming on the monitor and asked me about it and I said I couldn't feel a thing.  Ahhhh..  it felt like heaven.  I told Sean I was so happy to have it and he said no he was and we kept going back and forth on who was happier.  :)  I don't see how women do this natural because there is no way I could have done it.  Cheryl, you're my hero!  At 1:30 am they checked my cervix and I was at 7 cm!  3 more to go!  Sean took a nap and I tried but with them taking my temperature every 30 minutes and the blood pressure thing going off every 10 minutes, it was hard.  Of course the nurse said that she heard snoring and since Sean always says that I snore, I guess I did dose off.  At 3:30 am they said I was ready to begin pushing! 

I want to say that they saw a little bit of the baby's head when I was pushing initially.  They brought in a mirror later so I could see.  I pushed on every contraction which was every 4 minutes.  Never felt any contractions so I just watched the monitor to see when one was beginning.  The baby's heartrate would go down periodically so I had to breathe in an oxygen mask.  Eventually I did feel some mild cramping so I pushed a button to up the dosage to my epidural.  Dr. Kim came back in to check on me and he said that while I was waiting to dilate the goal was to make me comfortable.  Now that it's pushing time, the goal is to get the baby out first and feel comfortable second.  So he said I should feel some pain, but I never felt anything too bad.  After about 2 hours of pushing the doctor said the baby's head is turned at an angled and she would like to use a vacuum to help guide it out.  She said she could only do this 4 times.  The phone thing rings and we all look around because the doctor and nurses were in the room so we didn't know who else it would be.  Sure enough it was my mom calling to check on me.  Yeah she calls just as the baby is about to come out.  The nurse told her I would call back later.  :)  We tried once with the vacuum and I remember Sean was counting so slow that I stopped and said 'Count faster!'  The second time was very close so everyone got ready for the baby to come out.  I felt quite a bit of pressure which did hurt so I knew the end was near.  I told Sean to get the video camera ready because I wanted to see it later.  (Not that I want anyone else to see it.  :)  The last push again I felt some pain..  hard to explain because it was more pressure pain than anything else.  And out the baby came at 5:58 am!  I said 'What is it?' and no one answered so I asked again 'what is it?' and Sean said it's a girl!  I started to cry, no idea why but I guess all of the hormones and the anticipation of waiting to find out the gender.  Sean was laughing (only reason I know is because we have it on film).  Sean cut the cord and they put the baby on my chest.  She was covered with all of the white stuff but was so cute.  She did have a big red cone head from the vacuum but that's gone away now.  :)  The doctor later told me that her heartrate was dropping from the last couple of pushes so I'm glad she was able to make it out on her own.  Our little Ava Rose weighed in at 4 lbs 14 oz and was 18 inches long.  We are very blessed to have our little angel.  She does have her own blog which she will try to update periodically.  You can visit it at http://avaolson.spaces.live.com. 

Everything is going very well at our house.  Recovery is a little difficult and breastfeeding definitely is but we're working at it.  Ava might have more time to update her blog over me, so you might periodically check in over there. 

Well it turns out that tomorrow we are getting induced..  I should say I'M getting induced not 'we'.  :)  I must admit that I'm nervous and freaked out.  I would love for it to have happened on its own, but that's not the case.  My blood pressure kept continuing to rise and I was showing signs of preeclampsia so it's time for the baby to come out.  I go in tomorrow at 7:15 am but they want me to call ahead to make sure there is room and not all the PG women in Seattle went into labor at that time.  They told me to eat a very light breakfast because I could potentially be seeing it later.  Yuck!

My nesting instinct has definitely set in as I want the house all picked up and spotless before the baby comes.  That is definitely not going to happen, but I can still hope for it.  I try to do it myself but Sean keeps making me sit down and rest.  What is driving me crazy is that he also is sitting and surfing the internet, so if he's not doing it, then who is?  That's why I keep getting up to try to do it because someone's got to get it done.  Luckily my parents are coming up in a week so I have a huge to do list for them of items that need to be fixed or taken care of. 

I've been working on crocheting a blanket for the baby but it doesn't look like it'll be finished before it comes.  :(  Unfortunately once the baby comes, I don't think I'll have any time to finish it.  So I've been spending all day yesterday and today working on it.   Maybe just maybe it'll be finished.  Ok, well I have no idea when I'll be visiting this blog again to give an update.  We do have WiFi at the hospital, but I don't think I'll be getting on to make an update.  lol.  Sean might though to send out the announcement email with pictures.  I'll keep you updated though.  Wish us luck tomorrow!

I went to my OB appointment today and the doctor said that since the ultrasound from the maternal fetal medical center also showed the baby being smaller than it should, she wants to go ahead and deliver it.  My blood pressure has also been borderline high and I just reached 37 weeks so the baby is full term.  Now I go back on Thursday for another ultrasound and other tests and if there are any problems from that, they'll go ahead and induce.  If not, then I go back on Sunday and induce then.  Either way this baby is coming out very shortly!

With hardly any time left, it's time to play this fun little game.  I'm not going to have you guess the due date since I think I'll be induced.  I'm also not going to have you guess the weight since I don't want to hear how my baby will only be 5 lbs.  :(  So the only fun thing left is to guess the baby's gender.  Sean and I both think it's a girl, so let's hear what your thoughts are.

We go to the OB this past Tuesday because the fundal height measurement was behind 3 weeks so they wanted to check on the baby's growth.  We did an u/s and they determined that the baby was behind but didn't know why.  According to the computer, they were estimating the baby's due date at 6/29/07 according to measurements and it weighed approximately 4 lbs 10 oz.  They then had me do a non stress test to see if they could see anything wrong with the baby's heartrate.  Sat there for 20 minutes with these 2 straps on and everything was fine.  The baby didn't move much which concerned the nurse but not the doctor.  They then sent me to the maternal-fetal medicine clinic to do further testing to ensure the baby was getting blood to its brain, etc.  She said that I might deliver early so I went home and started putting the baby's room together, packed my hospital bag and started washing baby clothes.

So we had that appointment today and I was there 2.5 hours.  We started off with a u/s and they looked and measured all the body parts.  The technician asked us if we knew the gender and we said we didn't.  She had us look away while she looked.  Sean said he heard her say 'she' after that but I must have missed it.  Then we had to wait for the doctor and I fell asleep while waiting and of course was snoring.  When the doctor came in, he also did the u/s and said fairly quickly that he knew the gender.  I heard him later saying 'he' so that didn't help us with guessing.  At the end the doctor said that the baby looks fine but is just small.  It's not putting on the fat that it's suppose to.  He said that I need to go there twice a week to get ultrasounds and the non stress test, so that's what I'm scheduled for.  He also said that he thinks I'll have the baby in 1-2 weeks!  So I do another non stress test there and it was fine.  They took my blood pressure twice and it was elevated so they were afraid I had preeclampsia.  They then drew my blood and sent it off to the lab for quick results.  He said he would call me within 1-2 hours with the results and if it was positive, I would have to deliver tonight.  TONIGHT!  I was FREAKING OUT!  There is sooooo much left to do and when you think that you have 4 weeks left and then realize you only have 4 hours left, it's pretty scary.  So we come home and try to do anything and everything you can think of.  The phone rings and luckly the doctor said that everything looked fine.  *whew*  So I go back on Monday for another u/s and nst and then Tuesday to the OB and then Thursday for u/s and nst...  I am living at Evergreen these days.

 Clips from our vacation to Australia in October 2005.

Australia 2005

 
Video: Australia 2005

My cravings these days is anything with CHOCOLATE!  Chocolate silk pie, blizzards with chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, brownies, ice cream with chocolate syrup, you name it.  Even as I write this, I have brownies baking in the oven.  Mmmmm.  The thing is that I have to have something sweet everyday.  I'm hoping after the baby comes, I'll go back to my healthy eating, but we shall see.

Lisa, LaShawn, and Louise threw me a lovely baby shower which was a lot of fun!  I uploaded some pictures in the gallery for you to see.  We got some great items which will definitely help when the baby comes.  And I realized that once you have kids, you read more People magazines and watch E! tv.  Seemed like all of the moms knew the answers to one of the games we played involving tv characters and celebrities.

I had my 33 week appointment this last Tuesday.  I go one more time in 2 weeks and then it's weekly appointments after that!  She said in 4 weeks, I will be full term so the baby could come any day then and they wouldn't stop it.  Exciting and nerve wracking because there is so much that still needs to be done.  Sean still hasn't started on the nursery yet.  *sigh*

I'm planning on my last day of work before maternity leave being May 25th.  Of course this is tentative depending on how I feel towards the end of May, but I'm sure that will be the date.  My replacement started this last week and I can't wait for him to get up to speed and take things over.  At the same time I realize I'm a little possessive because I don't really want to completely turn over my client group.  I of course want to go out, so I guess it'll happen sooner or later.

Our last Labor & Delivery class is on Tuesday and I'm happy to be done with that.  I don't feel like I've gotten much out of it and always laugh when they make us practice the breathing exercises.  The one thing I do like is that Sean will rub my back when we do it.   :)  The videos were filmed in like the early 90s and are quite strange.  Surprisingly it didn't gross me out or anything.  I think the only thing that made me turn my head was when they were showing the epidural going in.  That's a little freaky!

*beep beep*  Well that's the oven calling me telling me it's brownie time!  Gotta run.

Sean and I couldn't stop laughing about this video.  We can't wait to mom our cars.  :)

Yes, that's me...  Cankle lady with big feet.  I've learned to accept the fact that it's only going to get worse from here.  I must admit that I am so ashamed that I won't get a professinal pedicure so instead I had Sean paint my toenails yesterday.  Sure I could have eventually reached my feet if I tried, but it's a lot more fun just putting your feet up and getting pampered.  :)

My friend Jaime told me she laughed at my last post because she thought I was being too brutally honest.  Going back and rereading it, I can definitely see her point.  Of course, this is just one scenario of all of the very attractive symptoms I've experienced thus far.  If you only knew what a pregnant woman goes through and what a husband has to experience during this time, a brand new method of birth control would be formed.  My latest symptoms (that I'm actually willing to post online) are leg cramps (ouch!), backaches, and foot aches.

But to give you a quick update on my last post, things are so much better now.  Boy, it was a nightmare there for a week or two.  I do have to thank the Lord for coming through and providing me with relief.  I prayed to Him to give me someone or something that could fix my problem and no more than 5 days later, I was better.  I went to the dermatologist and she did some bloodwork to make sure it wasn't Cholestasis (it wasn't), but she thought that I did indeed have PUPPPs.  She gave me some cream and told me to take as much Benedryl as my OB would allow.  So I doped up on drugs for a while there to just get knocked out.  Anyways, a few days later the rash and majority of the itching stopped.  Of course, itching is to be expected during your third trimester, so I just have the normal itch now.  :)  I think it was an allergic reaction to something, however there is no way to pin point exactly what it was since I changed so many items I used after it all went down.  If I had to guess, I would say it was the cocoa butter that I was using to prevent stretch marks.  So I quit using it and am welcoming those lovely marks to start appearing. 

I'm at the 31 weeks or 7 month mark right now.  Hopefully only 2 more months to go.  What's weird is that if you saw me, you wouldn't think that I'm 7 months PG right now.  Everyone keeps saying how small I look.  One lady asked me if I was even wearing maternity clothes yet.  I guess I would prefer to look small than look big but it makes me wonder where all of those pounds are going.  I won't tell you an exact number but let's just say that I have already gained OVER the recommended amount for the entire pregnancy.  My OB said that I am measuring correctly and that any weight that I'm gaining is my weight and not the baby's.  Lovely..  I better get my butt to the gym starting in July.