39 week update!

I had an appointment yesterday, the day started off interesting enough…with contractions, just the regular contractions I’ve been having. Anywho, I didn’t have the patience to deal with it at work, so I called in. Around 10:00 the contractions got really strong, my appointment was at 1, and I decided these were strong enough that I probably shouldn’t drive myself to the appointment, so I called my sister to see if she could take me, cuz she’s sometimes in the West Des Moines area around lunch time…luckily she was able to take me, I was still having contractions by the time we go to the doctor. I get examined, and I’ve progressed…not as much as I wanted to hear…but still it’s progress. I’m almost 2cm dialated and I’ve thinned out a lot more, not sure what that means exactly..I was 50% effaced and I’ve thinned more, she just didn’t specify an actual percentage. She also guessed that he is 8.5 pounds, to which my heart literally sunk and everyday that passes it scares me more, lol. Granted she could be off..but still, scary when you technically still have 2 weeks to go before they’d induce labor. She said the contractions I was having could be on to something and suggested I do some walking and asked what the pain was on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the most pain I’ve ever been in, I said a 3-4..she said once they’re a 6-7 and 10 min apart, get to the hospital. Of course, once you anticipate labor to approach, contractions basically stop…that’s just how it works. My sister and I went to the mall walked for an hour or 2, I was still having contractions, but they seemed to die down once we stopped walking. Then later in the evening I had dinner with my in-laws to celebrate my b’day..I was having contractions but they were more on a 2-3 pain level…I was pretty sure labor was far in site again, so I went to bed around 11. At 1:50 in the AM I wake up to another level 3ish contraction, rude awakening I’d say! I continued to have 2 more within the half hour and it made me restless, so around 2:20 I get up and start walking laps in our living room. From 2-4 I was wide awake, around 4 I finally dozed off on the couch in the living room, from 4-6 I woke up off and on between contractions…basically I didn’t get any sleep. I called into work again today, they were about 7 min. apart when I woke up, but still not strong enough. I was getting very very frustrated and on the verge of a breakdown, I called the doctor to see what I should do…for some reason hoping he’d give me the magical answer of “get to the hospital we’ll just induce you” knowing that was unlikely and really not the best solution. Needless to say the doctor was a total jerk, he said get to the hospital and I said that I wasn’t sure they were strong enough and I didn’t want to get sent home, he said “I can’t tell you what your cervix is doing over the phone” real nice, I’m thinking. Well of course I get off the phone, anticipate the contractions to get stronger so we can go to the hospital…but nothing. I decide to take a bath and then the contractions basically went away completely. Since I already had the day off, I went to get a pedicure and then did some laps at the mall again.

I’m still here, still pregnant. Contractions are back to a pain level of 1-2. Labor doesn’t seem to be close in site…but maybe I’ll get what I wished and that is to NOT have the baby on my b’day, lol. So now I’m hoping for Sunday or Monday. Either way I have until Wed (my due date) when I’ll have my next appointment, and inducement may be discussed and definitely considered in fear of having a 10 pound baby.

Doctor update – 38 weeks

Just got back from my 38 week checkup. Doctor appointments are weekly now, my next one is scheduled for 8/20 when I’ll be 39 weeks. They didn’t do much today, tested my urine, checked my blood pressure, listened to the baby’s heartbeat, meausured my uterus and checked my cervix. Urine was good, Blood pressure was normal, baby’s heartrate was good (140 bpm), uterus is on schedule and amount of fluid is normal. I’m still 1.5cm dialated and 50% effaced, so no progress since the last time I was checked. She immediately noticed how low he was and recognized that I was probably feeling a ton of pressure. She said once I go into labor she doesn’t think it will take to long for things to get going, which is good for me…but bad if we can’t get to the hospital right away…shouldn’t be too much of a problem the hospital is about 12 minutes from West Des Moines, which is where I spend all my time. I also asked if they induce labor and what point that is that they do, and she said that they won’t let me go past 41 weeks, which basically means we’ll have our baby before September 3rd. But she also mentioned, she doesn’t think I’ll make it that far because he’s so low, a few strong contractions and I’ll be good to go.

So now it’s still just the waiting game, my gut tells me there is at least another week…which I’m completely ok with as long as he’s not a HUGE baby! Judging by birth weight of Josh and I, I don’t think he’ll be quite 9 pounds even if he makes it to 40 weeks, I guess around 8 or 8.5 pounds if we go all the way to 40 weeks.

So much to tell!

I apologize, I have not been doing very well at keeping this updated, which is crazy considering how bored I am and how impatient I’m getting! So today is August 10th, we are just about 38 weeks pregnant. If Baby Boy decides to come now, he will be a healthy baby and everything is fully developed…at this point he’s just getting fatter, and of course cuter. Since the last blog, I have to tell you..we’ve had an interesting 3 weeks. Everything with the pregnancy was same-o same-o until July 19th, I had relatives in town visiting, we spent the day out at the lake, it was hot…but not super hot. I managed to drink around 60 ounces of water while we were there, I applied sunblock and by 5:00 I was still as red as a lobster. My cousin has an almost 3 year old that had a cast on his leg due to an accident the week before, he managed to get sand in the cast while we were at the lake and we had to make a trip to the emergency room to get his cast removed and a new one put back on, on the way there…I began having mild contractions 5 minutes apart, about an hour and a half later I was still having them and they were getting a little stronger and closer together, with me only being 33 1/2 weeks at the time..I was concerned. Luckily I was already at the hospital that we chose to deliver at so I waddled to the maternity ward and they wanted to have me admitted, I called Josh…told him to get there. 3 hours later we were sent home, the contractions were 2 min apart but not strong enough, they gave me a shot to stop them and hooked up and IV to give me fluids and sent me home.

2 weeks later, I had contractions throughout the 2 weeks, some strong, but mostly mild. In the evening on Thursday July 31st I began having strong contractions while cooking dinner, I had them for a little while before I realized maybe we needed to start tracking them, we began timing them and for an hour they were about an average of 6 minutes apart, we decided to go to bed and see if they’d go away…we knew if they kept me awake…it would be time to go to the hospital. I woke up throughout the night off and on with another contraction, and by 6 in the morning on 8/1 they were strong and close together, I was also having some strong cramping and backaches in between the contractions. By 8:00 we called in to work, notified the parents that we were going to the hospital to get checked out. Yet another false alarm, contractions were 3-6 minutes apart…but again not strong enough to progress into active labor, I got another shot to stop the contractions and I was sent home.

Here we are 8/10, I still have contractions on occasion but no false alarms, nothing that we’ve even felt needed to be timed. I should also point out that the first false alarm I was checked and I was 1cm dialated and 50% effaced, the second visit to the hospital I was about 1.5cm and still 50% effaced. I have an appointment this Tuesday 8/12, we’ll see if I’ve progressed..I’m hoping for at least 2cm.

Also on top of the false alarms, my cousin who visited last month notified us that 2 of her kids were diagnosed with whooping cough and that we need to be aware so we can watch out for symptoms. I called my doctor told him I haven’t shown any symptoms but is there anything we can do to prevent getting it after we’ve been exposed. The answer was No there is no prevention, and if you do get it unfortunetaly there isn’t anything you can take since you’re pregnant. A week later Josh began getting a stuffy nose a sore throat and within a couple days he started coughing, by the time 9 days had passed and he still had the cough we decided we better get to the clinic, we went yesterday morning…he does have whooping cough and was given an antibiotic to make him non-contagious. The antibiotic will take 5 days to be effective, so we’re praying I don’t have the baby until after Wednesday. I have yet to show any symptoms, I’m going to talk to my doctor at the next appointment and suggest that maybe I get on the antibiotic as soon as I have the baby just to be sure. It will probably effect the breastfeeding process, but I figure I can pump and dump to keep my milk in…and the baby may be on formula for the first week, but eventually we can still continue the breast feeding process. Whooping cough is not so bad in older children and adults, but it can be fatal to infants and the elderly so it is rather scary to think of the possibility of a newborn getting it…but with prayers and being careful I’m sure everything will be fine.

I apologize this is so long, I’m playing catch up. I will try and keep you all updated when anything occurs…which is hopefully soon. In the meantime I’m trying to think of things to do to occupy my time at home to keep me distracted!