I don’t even know where to begin explaining my absolute disappointment in my body right now.  I have Multiple Sclerosis and it’s been 5-6 years since I was diagnosed.  I was lucky enough to go on a very aggressive drug. Tysabri, right away and only have one bad relapse.  Well during my pregnancy you wouldn’ t have even guessed I had this disease.  Apparently there is a hormone present that makes it all just vanish for the duration of the pregnancy!  It was a beautiful thing for sure.

Well talking with my neurologist during my pregnancy he said that I could possibly get 8 weeks postpartum of protection from this hormone as well.  Boy was he way off … I got 2 weeks.  I got 2 weeks of no symptoms after Michael was born.  At 2 weeks symptoms came back to where I noticed them but I could still manage.  At 3 weeks the symptoms came back where my family was concerned with me being home alone with my baby. So in the 4th week I made my neurologist appointment.

That day I pumped a bottle on my drive down to the appointment since I would have to do a 24 hour pump and dump because I would be getting a MRI and an infusion of Solumedrol (steroids).  We were there FOREVER!  My Mother drove the baby and I down and watched the baby while I was in my appointment, getting my infusion and getting my MRI.  Thank goodness she loves him!

My results came in and sure enough there are new and active lesions (scar tissue) in my brain.  It just blows my mind how quick it can happen really!  So I will go in for 2-3 more steroid infusions this week and perhaps an oral taper.  Hopefully no oral taper though because you can’t breast feed on them.

Which brings me to my biggest disappointment to this whole thing!  I have to go back on a drug for my MS which means I can’t breast feed anymore.  That is coupled with not going back on my Tysabri because it isn’t documented as ‘safe’ for women trying to conceive and the doctor doesn’t quite feel comfortable if we try to conceive again.  Probably because I got pregnant on it with this baby!  Whoops

He did say that Copaxone is a class B drug for pregnancy so that is the one he is leaning towards to try out.  I am still unsure if he will let me continue breast feeding on it just because there isn’t enough documented cases so the end results are very unsure.  What a drag in more ways than one because this is a shot I have to give myself instead of an infusion!  Boo.. but he is worth it right?!

Michael did Google Copaxone and breast feeding for me and according to some pharmaceutical book the molecules are too big to pass through breast milk.  Even with that I am just fully sure if I feel comfortable putting with the chance that he will be in contact with a immuno suppressant drug.  Oh the joys of motherhood I guess!

So I will continue to be MIA on here until further notice…

Disclaimer: once again I am warning anyone that isn’t into all of the details that this post could be more details than You would like to read about.

So Saturday and Sunday before the day of birth I slept the majority of the day.  I felt like I was gearing up for a journey that’s for sure.  Not to mention I had been having contractions all weekend so I was pretty miserable.

Monday evening I tracked my contractions for one hour and they were pretty regular so I took a shower, Michael finished packing the bag, we put the car seat in the car and I called the hospital.  Of course the on call doctor said wait it out because the pain wasn’t strong enough to drive in.  OK so I try to get some sleep.

I was woken up at 2am with more of a painful contraction pattern.  Since I didn’t want to get sent home or call again with her telling me to wait I didn’t start tracking them until 4am.  The on call did say if they started to feel like a charlie horse to call back.  Well these had moved into my back and were wrapping around so I texted my mom and woke Michael up.

We got to triage about 630 am.  I was still 80% and 3 cm so I was pretty frustrated because they wanted to send me home…AGAIN.  I guess July is a big month for students so I had to go through everything twice… Barf.  The triage student nurse couldnt find my cervix during the checks so she was in there digging around a lot before the dr went in.

Since my cervix hadnt changed in the 30 minutes of monitoring they gave me the option of walking for 3 hours or going home.  Uhh.. Lets walk!  I did call my obgyn at 9 am to check in since I had an appointment at 11:45 that morning.

After about 1.5 hours of walking they said I was still at 80% but now 3.5 cm.  So they said they would admit me and start some pitocin to get the contractions a little more regular since they were 3 minutes apart.  Thank goodness I wasnt getting sent home again because each visit was $400 and just depressing.

It was so cute because Michael couldn’t decide if he should cry, feel relief or feel happy.  He went through such a state of emotions in a very short amount of time that he ended up just laughing a ton and he was so giddy it was cute.

At 11:17 am they started the pitocin up and I waited for my mom to get there.  My nurse was pretty rough around the edges but knew what she was doing.  I don’t know if I want a mean nurse like her again or one a little more maternal next time.

By 1 pm I was 4 cm and they broke my water.  This was another student situation too.  This guy had big hands too!  He stuck his fingers into my vagina and I hollered `holy cow you have massive fingers!`.  Not only did he put his fingers up there to check my cervix he had to get the water breaking thing in there too.  He was unsuccessful at breaking my water so the real dr had to go behind him and do it.  When they broke my water they told me that the baby had pooped already so I was pretty happy it wasnt going to be sitting in there until the actual due date.

They asked if i wanted my epidural since I was 4 cm and I wasn’t in pain yet so I declined.  I only made it 30 minutes though!  The pain was pretty intense and the epidural was a lifesaver.

The nurse kept telling my mom, Krista and Michael to be quiet and me to get some rest but rest is easier said than done.  By the time they went to get something to drink I was having this intense pressure in my pelvic area that was bringing me to tears.  I was so confused because I thought you weren’t supposed to feel anything!

So the three of them left and so did the nurse and I was left to silently cry in my bed alone.  When everyone finally came back I asked the nurse if I should be feeling this pressure and she said it sounded like I needed to be checked again.  Sure enough I had moved quickly and was 8 cm at 3 pm so they started setting up for the delivery.

By 4 pm the pushing had started.  Of course there were all sorts of students in the room and it felt like I was a science experiment.  We first tried the whole people holding my legs up while I pushed but after about 1.5 hours of that I was exhausted and they switched to a birthing bar.  I was so annoyed with the student holding my right leg because she wasn’t paying attention to when it was time to push.

The birthing bar was so much easier to push with too!  The nurse could see how tired i was and pulled out an oxygen mask for in between pushes to give me more energy.  Do i think it worked?  Who knows.  What they do with this bar is tie a sheet around the bar and your feet on each side of the bar.  During each contraction you pull up on the sheet and push.  Let me tell you your upper body sure gets a workout, my neck and upper body were killing me!

I couldn’t help but scream a couple of times during the pushing because it was pretty uncomfortable but im sure you can imagine so.  The baby’s head was coming out and got past the band but thats about as far as it would go.  They tried me rotating after each contraction to try and get the baby to be coaxed out that way and that failed miserably.  I could feel the epidural wearing off by this point so i was pretty much in pain.  When that didnt work they tried sticking their finger up my butt to move the baby’s head up a little and that was more painful than the actual head!  I screamed at them ‘what in the world are you doing!?’.

After ripping they FINALLY cut me and I still ended up with third degree tears.  I remember pushing during a contraction feeling a sharp pain of them cutting and then the baby finally came out.

This whole time my eyes were closed really.  It took too much energy to do anything but push really and I wasnt too keen on seeing what was actually going on because I was pretty overwhelmed with how it felt.  They pulled out the baby and held him up in the air and said ‘what is it dad?’ because we were having a surprise baby.  And the room was quiet because we were all waiting for Michael to say something.  He must have been very overwhelmed at this moment!  He finally said it was a boy and they plopped him down on my chest.

I was still so tired and opened my eyes just once while he was on my chest.  I know I wasted that moment but holy cow!  That baby was sooo heavy on my chest too!  They let Michael cut the cord and he even got to keep the scissors!  Little mike was born at 6:19 pm on Tuesday.

My hospital didn’t allow pictures of the labor (which I was fine with) or cleaning up the baby right after.  They also didn’t do the foot prints so we will have to get those later.  While they were cleaning him up they started stitching me up and it was taking forever.  While they were stitching the placenta came and I screamed because that hurts when you are tore up down there!

I told Michael many times that I was to hold the baby first after it was cleaned up but the nurses didn’t listen well. They gave him the baby after he said no and he realized I had opened my eyes and brought him over to me. This little guy came out with a round head and not cone shaped!  Oh my poor vagina!  He had a 30 cm head too.

You only stay in that room for 1 hour after the birth so we invited his parents to come and meet the baby really quick so they could learn what the sex was.  I wouldn’t let Michael tell them in the waiting room because I wanted to see their reaction too.  I had put together a list of phone numbers and my mom and Krista made some calls to other family members.

During the delivery I guess I got a fever and they told me that we would both have to go on antibiotics and would be staying 48 hours too.  The baby needed to be monitored for 48 hours to make sure his cultures came back negative so we could go home.  They couldn’t find a vein in him so they ended up putting an iv in his head.  Then that iv stopped working so they had to split up his medicine in two shots and just gave it to him that way.  His poor hands, feet, head and arms were all bruised up.  :’(

The first night was so incredibly hard because they had 24 hour in room care for the baby.  That sounds like a nice thing but let me tell you how hard it is!  I had 4 hours of sleep the night before and then went through a rough delivery and he cried all night long so I didn’t sleep yet again. I remember telling the baby I now see why some people shake their babies.  (no I don’t shake my baby or abuse him in anyway)

The first night is also hard because you cant move much because of your stitches.  But I love how easy it is for the dads to sleep!  So jealous.

From the delivery until almost 2 days after I had the worst shakes ever!  I couldn’t believe how long they lasted and were worse when I got out of bed.  I could barely hold anything in my hand at all.  My mom was so worried but it finally went away.

The first time we tried to breast feed he latched on beautifully!  I was one happy mom because I was so worried about that.  My milk had even come in before we left the hospital.

The nurse was so helpful with Michael too.  I called her and asked if she would show Michael how to change a diaper and swaddle the baby and she did.  He was great and changed all of the diapers while we were in the hospital since getting up out of bed was pretty tough.

They did his circumcision the second day we were in the hospital and he slept that whole day.  Then he was up the whole day after!  We were warned but still not prepared.

While we were staying in the hospital the revolving door started at about 6 am.  They came in and checked my uterus which hurts.  There were doctors, parenting groups, sales people for nursing supplies, photographers, nurses, depression groups etc.  It was so very annoying.

Then on Thursday we were discharged and got home around 4 pm to start the next journey of parenthood.  Its now about 2 weeks since he was born and I still cringe at the thought of the labor.  I close my eyes sometimes and relive it all over again.  Can you say forever traumatized?

And when you get home you are still bleeding obviously. One night last week I passed a giant blood clot and it hurt sooo bad!  I think it hurt because it was about 3 inches in diameter and I have stitches.  I guess its normal though so I just took another Motrin and rested.  Michael said it looked like I opened a can of cranberries in my pants!  He says the silliest things.

So I had every intention of composing something while in labor but labor progressed very very quickly for me.. I wish I could say the same thing for the whole pushing part though!  I will give you all of the nitty gritty details when we are discharged from the hospital and I sleep more than an hour a day!  It’s been a very long couple of days for the Schuplin family!

For now I leave you with this:

• Born 7/19/11
• 6:19 PM
• 8 pounds 13 ounces
• 20.5 inches long
• 30 inch head
• It’s a boy- Michael George Schuplin III
• Labor was 4 hours and pushed for 2.5 hours

There is much more to come though and I promise you will get the nitty gritty details because that’s how I operate

I had another appointment today and things are still progressing!

Statistics:

• Gained 5 more pounds bringing my total to 31 pounds gained.
• 110/80 BP
• No protein in urine
• 151 heart rate for baby
• Still dilated to 3 cm
• Now effaced 80% vs 50%

The doctor said I am doing great as he checked my cervix.   My goal was to be at least 75% effaced and I hit that with 80% so I was a very happy lady.  While he was checking my cervix he did strip my membrane again.

Since I don’t have Pre eclampsia I am chalking up this outrageous weight gain to the really bad swelling I have going on.  Working out in the yard in the heat in conjunction with drinking enough water to keep from getting dehydrated is giving me a big water retention.  That’s how I am justifying the scale’s numbers in my head right now!  :)

If you have been pregnant before you can understand how hard the last few weeks can be.  Once you hit 37 weeks and are told you are full term you want that baby out ASAP!  I am naturally a very impatient person but the more uncomfortable I get the worse it gets for me.

If you Google natural ways to induce labor you will find all sorts of ideas and no one really knows if they actually work.  I am sure they don’t but don’t judge a girl for trying!  So on that note I have a pretty funny story.

I have really started to swell in my ankles and Michael knows how uncomfortable I am in general.  So I asked him to  do some accupressure in a few spots after dinner the other night.  I pulled up a video and helped talk him through finding the correct points.

As the video progressed she said something about moving to the next spot to help induce labor and he then realized what he was doing!  I died laughing and I wish I would have been recording it because it was just priceless.  He continued after I finished my laughing fit because if he didn’t I would have just did it myself.

I clearly didn’t go into labor from these pressure points so perhaps this has to be a longer than 10 minute rub per spot.  So I will continue to eat my pineapple, bounce on my ball and rub my pressure points.  It doesn’t matter what I say Michael is officially anti sex since I lost my mucus plug.  Maybe I should just use a turkey baster

I have had Braxton Hicks contractions since about midnight last night, Tuesday night, which puts me at about 9 hours of them now.  I sure am hoping that this could be something because it is reminding me a lot of that last Sunday when the contractions weren’t regular enough.  Only time will tell but this belly has been a rock all day long!

So as I write this I am eating another pound of pineapple and rolling around on my ball

Stay tuned!

Disclaimer: This post might be graphic or TMI for someone who has yet to be pregnant or is very modest.  Please just skip this reading if that happens to be you.  The purpose of my posting about so many of the details is so that others don’t have to harass all their friends with questions like I do.  On with the story!

A brief cliff notes of the details of my day leading up to the plug:

1. 3 loads of laundry
2. Tried to put together the bassinet and failed
3. Ran dishwasher and put away dishes
4. Bouncing on my ball
5. Mowed the lawn
6. Walked around Sears and tried out mattresses

So I get up about 3 or 4 times a night to pee right now and I always try to turn on the hall light or at least take my phone with me so I can check for anything during these potty breaks.  I have had a giant increase in discharge during the third trimester and if you Google that you get either: you are leaking amniotic fluid or you should expect an increase of discharge.  But they never tell you how much is a ‘normal’ increase in discharge.

So I asked one of my girlfriends what she thought and she told me that if I was really worried about possibly leaking amniotic fluid that I should wear a pad and see how quickly I go through them since that is what the labor and delivery nurses will ask you if you call.  Sure enough I wasn’t leaking fluid and there are a lot of women out there who would just go to the hospital to double check but I am not one of those.

With the discharge I also wondered if this just part of my mucus plug falling out slowly or is it discharge?  Hey, this is my first rodeo so I have no idea what to expect!  So last night during my 12:30 am potty break I go to wipe and sure enough this mucus clump comes out too!  Let me tell you that it is like a jelly fish and it is pretty clear as to what it is!  So if there are any other first time ladies out there you will know when it happens!

But the mucus plug didn’t just come out in one potty break.  Little pieces came out the day before and twice after the big clump.  I didn’t want to totally gross everyone out with the picture of it but I can direct you to Google images if you are really curious.  And no mine didn’t come with ‘the bloody show’ like some women.

I bounced on my ball this morning until my back got uncomfortable and I have no idea if I have a slow leak now if this most recent plug piece just included more discharge.  I will monitor that this afternoon.  I have a baby shower I have to attend at 3pm so I do need to get myself together but I feel slightly nausea as I type this.

I am hoping that I am like many women who lose their plug and go into labor fairly quickly afterwards.  But I have also read that it is common to not go into labor for weeks afterwards.  then there are some women who don’t loose their plug at all!  Oh all of the variables!

Slacker = Me. 

I am still a slacker in the being ‘prepared’ for the baby but I am improving.  I have at least opened up the car seat and read the instructions on installing it but it isn’t installed yet.  I have the diaper bag and the baby things together for the hospital but my bag is only half packed.  Michael has a change of clothes in the bag but I don’t.  BUT I do have the list of things I need to put into the bag on the floor next to it so if anyone has to pick up my slack they aren’t totally lost.

37 weeks 2 days & getting low!

So yesterday I went in for my weekly check up and I was 37 weeks and 4 days along.  I knew that the doctor would be checking my cervix and I had my fingers crossed so tightly in hopes of some good news as far as progress goes.  I really just wanted to hear ‘progress’ type things to keep me sane!

Statistics:

• 7 pounds gained = 28 pounds total
• Perfect BP and urine
• 158 heart rate for the baby
• Head is still down
• Measuring at 38 inches
• 3 cm dilated
• 50% effaced
• Cervix is ready for labor!

I was absolutely shocked to learned that I had gained SEVEN POUNDS in two weeks!!!!  Oh my goodness!  I was doing fabulous and was still at a pound or two a week until yesterday.  So I have now gained 28 pounds and I am sad to think that I am not going to stay under my 30 pound goal.  This baby sure is getting chunky!

I know I wrote a post previously about my false labor ordeal (find it through this link) and I was thrilled to learn that in just about a week’s time I had dilated to 3 cm and I am now 50% effaced.  This was like music to my ears!  He said my cervix was nice and soft and he could feel the baby while he was down there.

It was the weirdest feeling when he was checking my cervix because while he was in there he asked ‘do you want me to strip your membrane?‘  say what?  Forgive my ignorance but I stopped researching about half way through because the information on the internet just causes you more grief than it does to answer your questions.  So I had him strip my membrane while he was fishing around in there.  FYI: not the most comfortable thing but manageable.

I really got a kick out of the stripping portion of my vaginal check.  Once he started stripping the child went NUTS!  It started rolling around and kicking and didn’t stop for 9 hours!  I kid you not.  The baby was running a marathon for 9 hours!!!  For anyone who has yet to experience stripping I will warn you it comes with some cramping and spotting afterwards.

When I was there this time I noticed that my Doctor’s medical assistant had gotten a little belly in her fashion scrubs!  I was hesitant to ask her if she were pregnant because if I were wrong I would never forgive myself.  Sure enough she is 26 weeks along and only at 8 pounds gained!  Good for her and of convenient to work at an obgyn!

I had woken up with incredible back pain and that continued throughout the rest of the afternoon.  I attempted to get some of my deal shopping done this afternoon and as I was walking through the stores I would get these quick and sharp shooting pains down my tush.  This was a little different because they had typically been in my thighs before that.  Anyone walking by me in the store must have thought I was a weirdo because the pain would buckle my knees and I was so thankful for the cart!

I have more yard work planned for this weekend in hopes of progressing this a little further.  One of my girlfriends is bringing me over a stability ball as well so I can bounce around on it while I am blogging and watching TV.  I’m not brave enough to try Castor Oil even though lots of women do!  I wish we could continue with the sperm but Michael said no way Jose.  He was weirded out once the baby dropped and now that I have dilated a little he is really really not turned on!

Stay tuned because the baby is on it’s way any day now!

Brought to you by: http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Men/ 

S0 after hearing back from the Obgyn on call we got in the car and traveled down to the hospital at 2:44 am.  There are pros and cons to this trip but the cons are the most memorable!

It took us 40 minutes in the middle of the night to get there and I hope that when the real thing starts it isn’t during the hours of 5am and 11pm.    We got sooo very lucky because we hit 1 stop light and there were zero cars on the road.  It still felt like forever though.  Any sort of traffic is going to put it at an hour drive and if I get rush hour… oh boy I don’t want to imagine that!

Sure enough I hadn’t sent in my paperwork so I had to fill it out once we got there.. ugh.  Standing wasn’t the most enjoyable task by any means.  Once I got into triage they hooked me up to the monitors and had me sit there for 30 minutes to monitor the contractions.  For 30 minutes we got to listen to the baby’s heartbeat which is pretty cool but that little baby was all over the board!  It has typically had a heart rate of 145-160 every time we were at out obgyn appointments.  This baby was ranging from 145-180!  I have no idea why the heart beat was so high for most of the 30 minutes but it wanted us to hear it in there!

Of course my contractions lose their excruciating pain and just come with bouts of tightness.  I swear I waited 3 hours of contractions before arriving!  So the nurse comes in to do the ultrasound and verify that the head is down and sure enough it is.  I could have told her that one because I feel the baby in my vagina when it wiggles around it’s head.  (that’s a bizarre feeling!)  She said I had a good amount of amniotic fluid and wanted to check my cervix.

I am not sure if this nurse just had really short fingers or what but she took forever to check my cervix.  She kept saying ‘oh it’s really far back there’  ’oh it’s just out of reach’.  Oh goodness lady you are ripping my vagina in half  with your hand!  haha  The whole checking the cervix thing is pretty uncomfortable but manageable.  Then the bad news… my cervix is still closed.  Seriously???  After all of these contractions I don’t get a little something to describe progress??

So the nurse tells me since my contractions are irregular and I am not dilated that she is discharging me.  What a waste of a trip.  She said to drink lots of water because it could be brought on by dehydration.  I just looked at her and told her ‘I am peeing clear there is no way I am dehydrated’.

Poor Michael had 3 hours of sleep and we got home right as his alarm went off to get up for work.  So he started getting ready for work as soon as we got home.  He is pooped!  But he is such a trooper because he said he would go to Rite Aid and/or Walgreens and get a few time sensitive deals this week.  The cases of water are $2.39 at Walgreens until tonight so I really really wanted to pick some up!  I might be able to get him to stop and get me the Got2Be hair spray at Rite Aid but I don’t want to take advantage of his offer.

So today I spent it laying around and sleeping.  Around 2pm this afternoon things started to get less painful so hopefully I can accomplish some things tomorrow.

26 more days…. ahhhh

So I don’t think I was fully prepared for this whole Braxton Hicks thing.  I am due in 26 days now and I think I am lucky to be getting any sort of belly pains.

Yesterday we got up early and drove down to the Rochester area to get our maternity photos taken by Adam Sparkes Photography.  It was a lot of fun getting them done and it was such a beautiful day for pictures to be taken.  Adam is actually my photography teacher from a college class that I just took.

But as enjoyable as the photo shoot was, what started afterwards was a small dose of hell on earth.  Towards the end of the photo shoot it became very hard to smile because my belly was sooo tight.  By the time we were all done and one our way home, about 2pm, I was in pain!  It was incredibly uncomfortable but I just lounged around the house for the rest of the afternoon.

Who would have thought that this buggers would have lasted until about 10pm!  I was happy when things got settled down for me to go to bed.  BUT come 12:33 am I am rudely awoken by a sharp pain in my belly.  So downstairs I go so I can let Michael sleep.  About 1:50 am I barf up dinner but I have no idea if that is from being in pain??

So here I am 1.5 hours later still in pain.  I really am no good at this because I don’t know what to expect.  They say to track your contractions but does that mean the sharp shooting pain that is going across the belly to my back?  Or just the incredibly tight and uncomfortable tightness across my belly?

Or how about this… how do you really tell when one starts and one ends?  There isn’t really a lot of relief here.  From what terrible tracking I am doing I am having a shooting pain about every 2 minutes.  But how long they last is beyond me.  They start with a sharp pain and end in tightness???  Ugh why don’t they just make an alarm that say’s ‘you’re in labor!’.  Life would be much easier.

• Am I ready? Yes and no.
• Are my bags pack? No I’ve been meaning to do that.
• Do I want to drive to Royal Oak at 2am? Umm… no.

This is a situation in my opinion.  I went upstairs to talk to Michael about it and he told me to quit moving around and said I need to relax for the next two days.  Really babe?  I wish he had an idea of what this felt like.

I guess I will go call the after hours answering service because they know more than me.  So they are having the on call doctor call me back now.

As my second baby shower comes closer I am getting so excited because it looks as if I am getting my crib bedding and the matching nursery decor!!  We have had the our crib since Christmas and it is still in the box so I have been a very patient girl!  The color of the crib is very similar to the DaVinci Kalani crib from Cymax.

We decided to go with convertible cribs because that just helps us down the road with buying a new bed for the little one.  It even has the changing table attached to it so we can use it if we wish but we aren’t spending additional money to get one.  A lot of Mom’s I have talked to say that you will change your baby where ever you are and won’t walk to the changing table every time.  I can totally see this happening because the nursery is on the second floor.  Ours can be a changing table or a night stand so it’s very practical for me.

There are so many baby cribs to choose from anymore.  I was able to go to a garage sale and get my Mom a brand new- still in box collapsible crib for… $50!  It was a perfect find and something I didn’t think I would find.   I was thrilled when I went out to some garage sales because I am now finally able to take advantage of all the kid sales!

I am going to be posting pictures as soon as we start working in the nursery!  This weekend is going to be a slow weekend post wise because our shower is Saturday and then on Sunday we are starting to paint and put things together in the nursery!!  I am beyond excited!

Quick baby update before the whole induction thing:

• My BP is still perfect
• I am 33 weeks and 3 days
• The baby’s heart beat is now 136
• The baby has flipped so it is head down
• I just broke 20 pounds gained
• I am measuring 34 inches for my uterus
• No complications
• The baby moves 20 hours a day I swear

OK so I have been trying to find a new Obgyn that will take me this far in my pregnancy since we have 3 hospitals that are within 15 minutes of us and the hospital we are set up to deliver at right now is over an hour away and so are my Obgyn appointments.  I thought I had one but it turns out the hospital doesn’t take Michael’s insurance and that is what the baby will be on as soon as it is delivered.    I sort of talk about it in this previous post.

So I had one of my girlfriends send me her doctor’s information and I was working on getting my records sent to them.  Well it turns out the fax that Michael sent requesting my records never went through so they weren’t ignoring me… they just didn’t get the memo!  So I had an appointment today so I just got the records myself and step one is complete.

So today at my appointment the doctor mentions about me wanting to transfer and we talk about it and he understood but didn’t think I had anything to worry about.  He said if it were my second of third child he would say yeah go ahead it would be better to switch to someone closer but since it is my first that I will make it to the hospital.  OK- I understand that first babies aren’t as quick as the babies you have afterwards.

So I asked a few deeper questions to see what his thoughts were.

I asked well when would you have me leave the house?

• His response was that he usually says to leave the house after your contractions have been 5-7 for 2 hours but since it would be a longer commute to leave after 1 hour of contractions.

And I asked him what happens if it isn’t labor?

• He said I would then be sent home if the contractions taper off.  Ummm.. excuse me???  No- not happening.

This is one of the reasons I do not want to be so far away!  I will not be one of those women driving to the hospital every week or more because they are 5-7 minutes apart- just to be sent home.  What a waste of gas and time.  Not to mention who is going to take me to the hospital?  I would have to have someone who is willing to spend 4 hours (at least) with me because I can only assume driving on the expressway while having contractions is a bad idea.

Michael has been working a TON lately and typically I can find him 1-3 days working until 9m during the week.  Work is a good thing but being able to come 23 minutes home to turn around and drive me to the hospital to be turned around to go home because it’s not actual labor puts a strain on things.  So just having a 10 minute commute is a lot more appealing for the pretend labor contractions.

So on to the induction part of this whole situation.

He mentioned that if during my 39 week check up I have a good cervix, he said some other word that I can’t remember, he would be willing to induce me on a specific day so the whole traveling thing is out of the question.  So typically my appointments are on Tuesdays so I would be checked on 39 weeks and 3 days and scheduled later that week.  So to argue the fact that you should go 40 weeks because I know someone will bring it up. Is 39 weeks and 5 days much different from 2 days longer at 40 weeks?

Ultimately it is Michael and I’s choice and no one elses but I do not make decisions on the fly.  My Mother was induced with both of her children and she is OK with the idea but I am not going to base a decision off of one person’s pleasant experience because that isn’t a good study group either.

So the question is: Would you switch to the closer OB or schedule an induction late in your 39th week?

Now I am asking for intelligent comments, opinions and/or life experiences.

• Do not harass someone who leaves a comment because you do not agree.
• Do leave factual information vs just your opinion because I am trying to make an intelligent decision and just saying I don’t agree with it is just a cop out.

OK- I have always been the Mom at the baby shower who has no idea about this gadget and what this thing does.  Who am I kidding?  I am having my baby shower and I still don’t know what this gadget does!  I can not believe the hundreds and hundreds of things they make for a baby!

Now if you have had a baby shower do you wonder why people automatically say ‘heck no I’m not coming’?  Yes, people DREAD going to these showers because it is like this social group that you aren’t invited to unless you have had a child.  So what is fun for a Mom isn’t fun for a non-Mom.

(photo credit to coolestbabyshowerideas.com)

So with my showers I made sure it isn’t going to be like that.  They will not be measuring my belly, we will not be guessing poop like chocolate from a diaper, we are not going to guess what baby food is in the jar etc.  Who came up with these things?

(photo credit to allaboutbabydevelopment.com)

Why would you measure the belly of the expecting Mom?  Yes, she knows that she had gained 20+ pounds and resembles Shamu so why do you need to draw attention to it?  Is it because people secretly want to compare themselves to make them feel better, or worse, about how much they have gained?  Women gain and carry totally different so that isn’t good for the ego.

During my research I saw that some people play ‘guess the Mom’s weight’.  Seriously people?

I did find a game that I am good with because it is funny.  It is a baby shower mad libs and I hope that everyone gets into it.  You don’t have to know a thing about babies or Motherhood to play it.  You just pick words and plug them into the story.  And I really hope that my friends take advantage and make it interesting versus ‘safe’ because safe just isn’t my style.

Believe it or not I am a raunchy, foul mouthed beast with a slight perversion in life.  I am the best at hiding this, so not to offend anyone, and that is typically why I don’t talk much in public until I have gauged the group of people I am around.  I am especially proud of myself for keeping some of my posts on my life rambles family friendly too!

We are going to decorate a quilt square at my Mom’s shower just because it is going to be a great keepsake for the baby since it’s Great Grandma and Great Great Grandma will be putting all of the squares together for it.  So that discriminates against those who aren’t creative not those who aren’t a Mom.  It’s very similar to decorating a onesie or a scrapbook page.  All are great momentos for the child and take some of the work off the Mom to be.

I guess to sum it up you will get more guests if you don’t make it a socially exclusive thing where all you talk about are babies etc.  Shoot at our first one there is an open bar!  Whatever it takes to break the stigma of the dreaded baby shower!

I am thinking I am going to turn off as much as I can and take a couple of mental health days.  If this shirt I found on Zazzle explains anything it should explain how I feel right now!  I have a few guest posts here and there so I will try and schedule those for the rest of the week.  I am just increasingly overwhelmed with things around the house and with this upcoming baby.

House Appraisal:

The appraisal went well and the only thing we need to fix before she comes back out is a small paint chip on the second story outside.  Thank goodness that is over because it had Michael all in a tizzy worrying about passing it.  Every weekend he has been working on something construction wise and leaving me the mess.  I personally think he is training me for the baby.

His Dad would come over and they would work on some project that would span across two stories and involved drywall dust.  There would be tools in every room of the house along with this awful dust.  And each week I would go around the house after the weekend was over and pick them all up and put them in one spot.  They got a lot accomplished but goodness!  I stopped running the Dyson on the stairs because I would get it clean only to have them drag drywall or tile board or something over it again.  *note to self* I need a hand held sweeper for the stairs.

OBGYN:

This category of my life is a mess.  I hate me OB, as you already know, and I wanted to switch to someone closer to our new home.  Well I spent a few days researching people who take my insurance and who would take me this far along.  I found one!!  Then I was transferring the paperwork and we realized Michael’s insurance doesn’t cover the hospital that the single OBGYN delivers at!  So now I am starting over again and I am almost 33 weeks pregnant.

Unpacking:

This is nearly non existent because this preggo isn’t as limber as she once was.  We are down to boxes of stuff that I would just fine donating because they are those things that you rarely use anyways.  Not to mention the back pain that comes with any sort of physical movement.

Pregnancy Hormones:

I am finally to the whole wanting to cry all of the time stage.  I have mysteriously cried once this whole time and almost a second time which I have to say is decent.  I am not sure if it is the hormones with the overwhelming feeling from everything but good grief it’s like I am holding them back all of the time.  I am not a crier either so this is a painful part of this whole process for me.  Oh and did I mention- I am the meanest person in the world right now.  If I open my mouth or even type something it is probably not nice.  Holy cow!

The Nursery:

Umm… doesn’t exist??!!  Michael has been focusing on construction things and all I want to do is start my nursery!  I hate that the baby could come at any moment and nothing is started.  All of the nursery things just aren’t a priority for Michael right now but if he waits much longer I am going to do them all without him and he is going to be one sad Daddy!

The silliest thing to me is that I just want to put in an additional shelf to have two rows of hanging clothes.  He wants to build a shelving unit!  While I appreciate what he is suggesting I just don’t think there is the time to do something like that and have everything put away before the baby comes.

I pulled the compromise card and told him he isn’t working on the dining room floor like he thinks he is.  He worked on that shower for 3 weeks and now he is going to give me what I want… the nursery.  Once the nursery is done him and his Dad and do their project of trying to repair the giant dog urine spots.  I tell him all of the time that I would complain less if he just gave me what I wanted if it is baby related.  :)

My Maternity Photos:

The first person I was going to have take them never got back with me so I decided I am not going to wait any longer and picked another person.  It actually happens to be my teacher from last semester too!  But now our schedule is wacky and by the time I get my photos I will be a cow instead of the cute preggo.

Our Schedule:

This weekend Michael is on call for a big work project and has to go in Saturday and Sunday.  Our first shower is on Sunday too.  The next weekend is our second shower and maybe maternity photos??  The third weekend is our house warming party and the fourth weekend is probably going to be his diaper party so we don’t have it on the 4th of July weekend!  That will put us with plans up to 35 weeks…. yuck.

I will probably feel better once I get the OB thing straightened out because that is a pretty big issue to have looming over my head.  Then I will feel even better once the nursery is done and things are just in order for the baby to arrive.  So you will probably see a decrease in the amount of freebies and shopping deals for a little bit or they just won’t be prompt.  My usual schedule is Sunday: Walgreens and Rite Aid the Monday: Meijer and Kroger.

I am sure I am going to be spending a lot of free time writing thank you cards too since Michael doesn’t write them.  For the wedding I wrote out all of them and made him lick them all because he didn’t help me.  It is going to be the same thing

Rant Over…