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Monday, April 21, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
34 weeks tomorrow and some contractions, not fun!
The past few days have been interesting. I taught a child birth class on Sunday and after eating a wonderful meal at my parents I started to contract (around 8:45pm). They were somewhat painful and became consistent. I headed home and tried to relax, Craig was super husband and managed Kylie even though he had just worked a 17.5 hour day on 3.5 hours of sleep.
10:00pm I called Karen, told her what was going on and asked what I should do. Magnesium, Calcium, Big does of Fish Oil, and a warm bath was suggested. I did all the above while Melissa stayed by my side, Craig got some sleep and my parents took Kylie to sleep at their house. Things calmed down and by 11pm I was climbing in bed. At 2am my contractions woke me up :o( and we decided that it was time to head to the hospital and see if I was making cervical change. Karen had suggested this earlier if the contractions didn't stop, but I was not eager to make a trip to visit work. I called ahead to see if we would be waiting for hours in the waiting room, but my charge nurse assured me there would be a room waiting for me and as of right then, no one else was waiting. So Craig and I gathered our things and headed in. It was so very weird to be going to the hospital, with Kylie I was never put on a monitor, never had a vaginal exam (until after she was born), I had never once had any cause for concern or reason to go to the hospital. I was not mentally handling the adventure very well.
Luckily when we got there some of my favorite nurses were working. They were all concerned and knew I was the last person that would show up at the hospital unless I really thought it was necessary. I signed in (weird), got put in a room (weird), opted out of changing in to a hospital gown (would have been way too weird), and waited to be put on the monitors (weird again). The nurse in me couldn't be turned off, I was trying to help with taking my vitals, and putting on the monitors, I couldn't help but watch monitor and critique the baby's heartbeat. I was so worried that they would see something on the monitor that would indicate to them that I should stay and be assessed for longer, all I really wanted was a cervical exam to confirm that nothing was going on ( I had tried to check myself at home, but easier said then done, I was unsure if I even found my cervix). So they checked me, 0/10/-4. Perfect. then took a cervical length, 3.5. Perfect. I stayed on the monitors for another couple hours before they checked me again, no change, yay, and sent us home.
7:00am we were back home, in bed, resting. I was not contracting and feeling much better. We woke up later in the day, Kylie came back home, and Ammie arrived! I headed to yoga while Craig put together a delicious dinner for all of us, Ama, Papa, Ammie, Marta, Mommy, Daddy and Ky. It was a delicious, wonderful family dinner. But again around 8:30 I started to contract. Part of my thinks is has to do with the huge full moon and the eclipse that happened last night, but who knows. So I took my supplements, got back in the bath and this time they disappeared all together, yay. We went to bed and Craig (Superman/super-dad/super-husband) got up every time Kylie woke, he walked her and got her back to sleep so I would not have to get up or nurse her. We both had to be up early this morning to teach clinicals and I know he was just exhausted, but he powered through, he is such an amazing man. I made it through most of the day with just a few contractions, Ammie has been taking care of everything around the house and making meals so I can just put my feet up.
We had an apt with Karen this afternoon at 4pm and everything went well. The baby is in good position, moving well, heartbeat sounds good and I was not contracting. She gave me some suggestions for herbs to take and we plan on getting them tomorrow. I taught another child birth class tonight and felt really good. I came home, had a little snack and sat down to write without any more contractions, thank goodness! Bed time now, breastfeeding group tomorrow, but I think I am going to try and take it easy for the rest of the week, i am planning to stop working my 12 hour shifts (I feel like those cause me the most stress) and maybe decrease the other teaching and dancing for the next couple weeks, we don't want this baby to come early, we have three weeks to go!
Our next apt with Karen will be the 36week home visit, I can't believe we are already at this point in the pregnancy, it has gone SO fast. Now that the baby is head down, the movement is very much like Kylie was, it's really fun to feel the baby stretch and have hiccups. I am still having issues with my varicose veins, swelling and feeling very full like my food could come up at any minute, not fun, but what can you do :o)
Kylie had a very big day today, including a long adventure with Ammie, rescuing a small furry animal and opening conderful birthday gifts from Ammie and the rest of the family. I will have to write tomorrow all about her adventures and post some of the sweet photos.
Bedtime now, good night.
-Nat
10:00pm I called Karen, told her what was going on and asked what I should do. Magnesium, Calcium, Big does of Fish Oil, and a warm bath was suggested. I did all the above while Melissa stayed by my side, Craig got some sleep and my parents took Kylie to sleep at their house. Things calmed down and by 11pm I was climbing in bed. At 2am my contractions woke me up :o( and we decided that it was time to head to the hospital and see if I was making cervical change. Karen had suggested this earlier if the contractions didn't stop, but I was not eager to make a trip to visit work. I called ahead to see if we would be waiting for hours in the waiting room, but my charge nurse assured me there would be a room waiting for me and as of right then, no one else was waiting. So Craig and I gathered our things and headed in. It was so very weird to be going to the hospital, with Kylie I was never put on a monitor, never had a vaginal exam (until after she was born), I had never once had any cause for concern or reason to go to the hospital. I was not mentally handling the adventure very well.
Luckily when we got there some of my favorite nurses were working. They were all concerned and knew I was the last person that would show up at the hospital unless I really thought it was necessary. I signed in (weird), got put in a room (weird), opted out of changing in to a hospital gown (would have been way too weird), and waited to be put on the monitors (weird again). The nurse in me couldn't be turned off, I was trying to help with taking my vitals, and putting on the monitors, I couldn't help but watch monitor and critique the baby's heartbeat. I was so worried that they would see something on the monitor that would indicate to them that I should stay and be assessed for longer, all I really wanted was a cervical exam to confirm that nothing was going on ( I had tried to check myself at home, but easier said then done, I was unsure if I even found my cervix). So they checked me, 0/10/-4. Perfect. then took a cervical length, 3.5. Perfect. I stayed on the monitors for another couple hours before they checked me again, no change, yay, and sent us home.
7:00am we were back home, in bed, resting. I was not contracting and feeling much better. We woke up later in the day, Kylie came back home, and Ammie arrived! I headed to yoga while Craig put together a delicious dinner for all of us, Ama, Papa, Ammie, Marta, Mommy, Daddy and Ky. It was a delicious, wonderful family dinner. But again around 8:30 I started to contract. Part of my thinks is has to do with the huge full moon and the eclipse that happened last night, but who knows. So I took my supplements, got back in the bath and this time they disappeared all together, yay. We went to bed and Craig (Superman/super-dad/super-husband) got up every time Kylie woke, he walked her and got her back to sleep so I would not have to get up or nurse her. We both had to be up early this morning to teach clinicals and I know he was just exhausted, but he powered through, he is such an amazing man. I made it through most of the day with just a few contractions, Ammie has been taking care of everything around the house and making meals so I can just put my feet up.
We had an apt with Karen this afternoon at 4pm and everything went well. The baby is in good position, moving well, heartbeat sounds good and I was not contracting. She gave me some suggestions for herbs to take and we plan on getting them tomorrow. I taught another child birth class tonight and felt really good. I came home, had a little snack and sat down to write without any more contractions, thank goodness! Bed time now, breastfeeding group tomorrow, but I think I am going to try and take it easy for the rest of the week, i am planning to stop working my 12 hour shifts (I feel like those cause me the most stress) and maybe decrease the other teaching and dancing for the next couple weeks, we don't want this baby to come early, we have three weeks to go!
Our next apt with Karen will be the 36week home visit, I can't believe we are already at this point in the pregnancy, it has gone SO fast. Now that the baby is head down, the movement is very much like Kylie was, it's really fun to feel the baby stretch and have hiccups. I am still having issues with my varicose veins, swelling and feeling very full like my food could come up at any minute, not fun, but what can you do :o)
Kylie had a very big day today, including a long adventure with Ammie, rescuing a small furry animal and opening conderful birthday gifts from Ammie and the rest of the family. I will have to write tomorrow all about her adventures and post some of the sweet photos.
Bedtime now, good night.
-Nat
 |
| This is when they told me I could go home, otherwise I was not actually this happy to be on the monitors at work :o) |
 |
| Baby is growing, this photo is at 33 weeks and a few days. |
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
32 weeks tomorrow :o)
Trying something new, Kylie just did something cute so I am taking a second to document...
Obviously she has had her photo taken many times and now she likes to pretend to take photos herself. She holds a little old point_ and shoot camera up to her eye and says "Smile for me, a little closer, a little closer" then she looks at the camera and says "look, good picture." lol children are quite the mirror :o)
So this previous statement was written two days ago and I forgot to post it, good effort anyway :o)
Yesterday I had an appointment with Karen. The new baby is doing well. I am 32 weeks tomorrow, measuring around 31 weeks, baby's heart rate is 144 with good accelerations and as of the past couple days we think it has turned head down. Kylie was always head down from the time we could first feel her, but this little one has bee breech, I can often feel his/her head pushing up against my stomach, ugh, not always the best feeling. But a couple days ago I started to notice more movement around the top of my tummy that felt like little parts, maybe feet. When I had my appointment, Karen and two of her students spent lots of time feeling this little one. It is hard to tell (due to my placenta and this baby's general positioning) what part is head and what is butt. At the end of the apt Karen said she was pretty sure baby was head down, but since it is not something that matters until around 34 weeks, we would not worry about it and if at the next apt it was not completely clear, we would sneak a peek with her ultrasound machine. I hope it is completely clear by then, I am scared that we might accidentally find out the gender without trying :o)
I have been feeling pretty good, still having some discomforts that are different that they were with Kylie, in general I just don't feel quite as good, but I think that's because I don't get to rest and put my feet up like I used to :o) I am teaching some childbirth classes and clinicals for the school of nursing though May, I am hoping I can finish those commitments out, but I am planning to take time off of my 12 hour shifts a little sooner.
A quick update and Kylie...
This little girl is amazing, I know that I am biased, but she surprises us everyday with how much she understands and how she communicates. Lately she has been singing more songs, particularly songs from Mary Poppins and "We're late, we're late" from Alice in wonderland. She has not actually seen Alice in Wonderland and has only seen a handful of scenes from Mary Poppins, but she loves the songs and sings them all the time. Her imagination is getting really good too! A couple days ago she was telling me about her daughters, her two daughters names Judy and Lulu, Judy is 6 months and Lulu is a little older. "You want to meet them mommy?" she says, "they're very nice." She also talks about taking trips to Hawaii "I will be gone just for 2 hours" she says. "do you need to take a snack with you?" I ask, "no, I have shoes on, I have purse with chap-stick, I have sunglasses, I ok" she responds. When we were eating dinner tonight she asked for a napkin for her hands (she doesn't like to have her hands messy, she asks for a napkin just about every meal), the napkin fell in to her lap without her noticing, she then said (looking between Melissa and I) "where is my napkin, somebody take it?!?" She laughed when we pointed out that it was on her lap "oh, here it is" she said. The latest thing Craig has been teaching her is a response to the question "what you up to?" her response is now "oh about 3 feet."
One more little story...today we had Mish and Portia over to do some painting in the front yard. I get it all organized with the paint, brushes, paper, etc. Although Kylie loves to paint, neither Portia or Mish paint very often. They were bother getting paint all over, all over the paper, but also on their clothes and lots on their hands. They didn't seem to be bothered by the paint on their hands although I tried to wipe it off before it spread to far. During this time Kylie is painting her little picture, being careful to get her paint only on the paper then she looks and me and says "oh no." I look over and she has one tiny little dot of paint on her pointer finger. I wouldn't help but laugh out loud, the other girls hands were covered and here is Kylie worried about one little drop. We wiped it off and she continued, but I have spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how we ended up with such a neat-freak for a daughter. We encourage her to get dirty, Craig and I love to adventure and we are always trying to expose her to different experiences, but somehow we have ended up with a little girl that prefers to not get paint on her hands and heaven forbid she get her hands messy while she eats, lol, go figure I think she is cleaner then we are sometimes. Craig made a good point tonight, he said that Kylie would have been a great only child and I think he is right :o) she just seems to fit that mold.
Well we have our breastfeeding support group tomorrow morning so I guess I should call it a night :o)
Natalie
Harper, Liam, Kylie and Layla
Giving her baby some NahNees
This is what happens when you give a two-year-old a chocolate chip cookie in the backseat of the car.
Making a little trip to Ama and Papas, thought we would try to return Papas bike, maybe not the safest mode of transportation, but Marta walked beside us and we made it safe :o)
The girls like to coordinate when they take a walk to market night.
Portia met up with us too, all the girls were in their Crocs, so cute!
Most recent visit with Karen, Kylie measuring my tummy.
Obviously she has had her photo taken many times and now she likes to pretend to take photos herself. She holds a little old point_ and shoot camera up to her eye and says "Smile for me, a little closer, a little closer" then she looks at the camera and says "look, good picture." lol children are quite the mirror :o)
So this previous statement was written two days ago and I forgot to post it, good effort anyway :o)
Yesterday I had an appointment with Karen. The new baby is doing well. I am 32 weeks tomorrow, measuring around 31 weeks, baby's heart rate is 144 with good accelerations and as of the past couple days we think it has turned head down. Kylie was always head down from the time we could first feel her, but this little one has bee breech, I can often feel his/her head pushing up against my stomach, ugh, not always the best feeling. But a couple days ago I started to notice more movement around the top of my tummy that felt like little parts, maybe feet. When I had my appointment, Karen and two of her students spent lots of time feeling this little one. It is hard to tell (due to my placenta and this baby's general positioning) what part is head and what is butt. At the end of the apt Karen said she was pretty sure baby was head down, but since it is not something that matters until around 34 weeks, we would not worry about it and if at the next apt it was not completely clear, we would sneak a peek with her ultrasound machine. I hope it is completely clear by then, I am scared that we might accidentally find out the gender without trying :o)
I have been feeling pretty good, still having some discomforts that are different that they were with Kylie, in general I just don't feel quite as good, but I think that's because I don't get to rest and put my feet up like I used to :o) I am teaching some childbirth classes and clinicals for the school of nursing though May, I am hoping I can finish those commitments out, but I am planning to take time off of my 12 hour shifts a little sooner.
A quick update and Kylie...
This little girl is amazing, I know that I am biased, but she surprises us everyday with how much she understands and how she communicates. Lately she has been singing more songs, particularly songs from Mary Poppins and "We're late, we're late" from Alice in wonderland. She has not actually seen Alice in Wonderland and has only seen a handful of scenes from Mary Poppins, but she loves the songs and sings them all the time. Her imagination is getting really good too! A couple days ago she was telling me about her daughters, her two daughters names Judy and Lulu, Judy is 6 months and Lulu is a little older. "You want to meet them mommy?" she says, "they're very nice." She also talks about taking trips to Hawaii "I will be gone just for 2 hours" she says. "do you need to take a snack with you?" I ask, "no, I have shoes on, I have purse with chap-stick, I have sunglasses, I ok" she responds. When we were eating dinner tonight she asked for a napkin for her hands (she doesn't like to have her hands messy, she asks for a napkin just about every meal), the napkin fell in to her lap without her noticing, she then said (looking between Melissa and I) "where is my napkin, somebody take it?!?" She laughed when we pointed out that it was on her lap "oh, here it is" she said. The latest thing Craig has been teaching her is a response to the question "what you up to?" her response is now "oh about 3 feet."
One more little story...today we had Mish and Portia over to do some painting in the front yard. I get it all organized with the paint, brushes, paper, etc. Although Kylie loves to paint, neither Portia or Mish paint very often. They were bother getting paint all over, all over the paper, but also on their clothes and lots on their hands. They didn't seem to be bothered by the paint on their hands although I tried to wipe it off before it spread to far. During this time Kylie is painting her little picture, being careful to get her paint only on the paper then she looks and me and says "oh no." I look over and she has one tiny little dot of paint on her pointer finger. I wouldn't help but laugh out loud, the other girls hands were covered and here is Kylie worried about one little drop. We wiped it off and she continued, but I have spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how we ended up with such a neat-freak for a daughter. We encourage her to get dirty, Craig and I love to adventure and we are always trying to expose her to different experiences, but somehow we have ended up with a little girl that prefers to not get paint on her hands and heaven forbid she get her hands messy while she eats, lol, go figure I think she is cleaner then we are sometimes. Craig made a good point tonight, he said that Kylie would have been a great only child and I think he is right :o) she just seems to fit that mold.
Well we have our breastfeeding support group tomorrow morning so I guess I should call it a night :o)
Natalie
Harper, Liam, Kylie and Layla
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