1 Week Old

Time is already flying! Bailey is now 1 week old. This first week has been amazing and I love every minute of getting to know my baby girl. She's a great baby, she sleeps so well only waking 2 or 3 times to eat and then right back to sleep. She is a great nurser and we haven't had any problems with breastfeeding, I give her credit because I sure as heck didn't know what I was doing but she took to it like a champ.

 My all-time favorite thing is watching Bailey react to her dad's voice. She was fussy all yesterday afternoon and when Micah got home from work it took all of about 2 minutes of him holding and talking to her and she was quiet. He reads to her and she just lays there wide awake listening. Her outfit in these pictures says it best. She is her Daddy's princess.

Yesterday we had a photo shoot with a local newborn photographer. The photographer is amazing and I'm so fortunate that she offers her services for such a reasonable fee. The quality is that of something we probably wouldn't normally be able to afford. She was awesome with Bailey, 2 1/2 hrs of posing and shooting and Bailey never really made a peep. Watching her actually taught me a little bit about taking care of babies. She had this calm energy that the babies just pick up on. It won't take long to get the pictures and I can't wait to share them!

Bailey heard the dogs barking the whole time I was pregnant and it worked because now she can be asleep or nearly asleep and they start barking like crazy and she barely even stirs. It's great!

 Bailey also got her first bath this week. Her least favorite thing in the world is to be naked, so the bath was not exactly her idea of a fun time. Micah was a champ though and powered through all of her screaming.

She's Here!

Our preciuos Bailey Noelle was born at 8:41 am on Wed. January 16th. She weighed in at 8 lbs 5 oz and was 19 & 3/4 inches long.

Here is the story of her entrance:

On January 15th Micah went to work and I spent the day walking around various stores with my mom. I would get braxton hicks contractions while I walked but nothing that was time-able or painful... We took the dogs for a walk... nothing. I had Micah rent "Just Dance 4" from redbox so that I could do some "wii" and maybe get things started.

Micah wanted to take me to the Pie Bar (a local place that serves pie filling in wine glasses. yes it is as awesome as it sounds) for my birthday, but I told him to wait until Tue. night because if I was still pregnant I would need a "pick-me-up" So at about 6:00 pm we went to the Pie Bar.

Around 10:00 pm I gave up on labor starting and Micah, myself, and my mom were all headed to bed. At about 10:15 I was laying in bed and heard a "pop" I then asked micah if he just popped his wrist because that's what it sounded like. he said no... I didn't want to get my hopes up, but decided i should probably stand up and check to make sure my water hadn't broken... I stood up and "whoosh"! My water had just broken!!!! I was soooooo excited. Our hospital has a rule that you need to get there within 1 hour of your water breaking to try to avoid infection so we woke my mom, called our doula, and headed to the hospital.

This is when contractions started. On the way to the hospital I could tell I was getting real contractions that were fairly frequent (maybe every 5 minutes) but they were manageable. Once at the hospital things started to pick up really fast. It took about an hour to get all the paperwork done and for me to be seen in triage. they confirmed that my water had indeed broken and I would be staying to have the baby. To my disappointment when they checked me in triage i was still only about 1.5cm dilated. (Super bummer!)

Before they could move me out of triage things started getting even more intense. I felt like the contractions were coming on so fast I hardly had anytime to breathe between them. I began to have diarrhea and nausea... it was taking everything I had to try to focus. At this point they moved me to my room.

Bailey's heart rate looked great but I was really beginning to struggle with the pain. The contractions were every 2 to 3 minutes. The nurses had to get me to keep signing forms and were trying to start an IV etc. They told me since my water had broken they didn't want me getting out of bed but knew that i wanted to go natural so they were going to "check on it". I was now at a point where i couldn't be quiet. I began to vomit everything that was in my stomach. I was tensing my entire body with every contraction... to be honest everything really becomes a blurr at this point in time. My doula doesn't normally come until you are at 4 cm in "active labor" but I told micah if I wanted to get through this naturally i needed her right then... so he called her. Before she could get down I had decided I couldn't do this. I was crying and fighting every contraction so I told Micah and the nurse I needed the epidural. Micah was great, he gently asked me if I was sure, but i think even he realized this was worse than I anticipated and he quickly supported my decision.

I've never been so happy to see the epidural cart before in my life! My doula got there just in time to help me re-focus and make it through the set-up and administration of the epidural. About 3 hrs after my water broke I got the epidural. The actual administration of the epidural was perfect, a tiny pinch for the numbing medicine and that was it. No sharp shooting pains, no issues of the epidural not working. Just a wave of relief. After I got the epidural they checked me and I was at a whopping 3 cm. I was sooooooo glad i got the epidural because clearly I was fighting my body. My Doula agreed.

Me after the epidural 

At this point we told my mom she could come back to the labor room since I no longer needed to concentrate on making it through contractions. My mom and Micah both napped while i spent the next 4 hrs just watching the monitors, and  using my ipad, etc. At 6:30 they came to check me and told me that if I hadn't made progress (since they suspected my contractions weren't strong enough based on my prior lack of dilation) that they would put internal monitors in. To their surprise (but not mine) I was completely dilated to 10 and at a minus 1 station.

A little while later Dr. F arrived and I began pushing. I give Dr. F so much credit for believing that I could do this. I pushed with everything I had for 1 hr 45 minutes. Later I learned that the nurses were doubting that I would be able to push her out, but Dr .F believed. Bailey did great throughout the pushing and her heart rate was never in danger. I let my epidural wear off as much as I could so that I  could feel what I was pushing.

Finally, right before she crowned Dr. F gave me a medio-lateral episiotomy to try to prevent me from having a 4th degree tear. I asked her if I really had to have one and she told me I was already tearing and yes. Well, I'm glad she did because even with the episiotomy I ended up with a 3rd degree tear. (in case you are medically minded this means I tore into my rectal muscle, but not completely through the rectum).

They immediately placed Bailey on my chest and Micah cut her cord. I couldn't believe my little girl was finally here and she was sooo chunky! :) She scored 9 and 9 on her Apgar's (basically perfect) and after a rather lengthy and uncomfortable repair of my tear I was able to nurse her for the first time and they gave Micah and I quiet time to enjoy that first hour of being a family.

We had an uneventful hospital course and were able to be discharged after 48 hrs. Our little girl is finally home in our arms and we couldn't be happier.

40 weeks...and then some

Was kind of hoping I wouldn't make it to this post but... here we are on our due date! As I write this I'm now at 40 weeks and 1 day. It's also now my 27th birthday, which I would LOVE to share with her if she would just hurry up and decide to come out already. So far i'm still not really having any contractions or back pain or anything to make me thing she wants to come out. 

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I picked my mom up from the airport yesterday, so now she's here for 3 weeks... It's so hard to sit around and wait for your body to do something. I know it is super common for first time mom's to go past their due dates, but with modern medicine they get really nervous if you go too far so I really only have about 4 more days until they will induce me (read natural birth plans get thrown out the window) 

At this past week's doctor visit I was still "barely 1cm" but 80% effaced. The doctor couldn't strip my membranes since i wasn't dilated enough but she did her best to stretch me to a full 1 cm. That night I had contractions for about 2 hours but they fizzled out before they got strong enough or regular enough. (talk about disappointed). 

I've tried all the old wives tails about how to jump-start labor (except castor oil... but that is not really recommended due to the "side effects"). Yesterday I ate the 3rd to hottest boneless wings at Buffalo Wild Wings thinking maybe the spicy food would do the trick. Nada. 

Here is the up-close version of the board Micah drew for me this week. In case you can't tell that is a space shuttle getting ready to take off. His graphic representation of 40 weeks :) Micah has taken to talking to my belly trying to convince Bailey that she needs to come out so he can hold her and play with her. At least now with it being a Monday morning there is a chance he could at least get to miss work. 

I've completely given up on my weight and instead have a bit of a pity party for myself about having to go past my due date. If I would have had her  2 weeks ago I would have had 2 weeks Less to gain weight. In the past 2 weeks i've started getting really puffy and retaining fluid i guess. my socks leave imprints on my ankles. Micah wants me to start doing cross-fit with him after i can restart exercising... with the weight gain i've put on these past few months i'm thinking this may be a necessity. 

Oh and in case you can't tell, I'm writing this post at 3:48 am because sleeping through the night has become a distant memory of mine. It is impossible to sleep comfortably so i alternate by spending a few hours a night in bed, a few hours in the reclining chair, and a few hours sitting on my exercise ball and killing time on the computer. With my mom here I no longer have a spare bed to sleep in so if I try to go back to bed i'll wake Micah up (and he has to go to work and can't nap so I really don't want to wake him up unless i have to). 

Here is a new picture of Fiona. She got to go to the groomers so that she would be all clean and pretty for when Bailey comes. Too bad she'll probably be matted and stinky once this stubborn kid decides to make an appearance. 

I really am trying to stay positive, but it is so disappointing to be waiting so long... I just keep reminding myself that in less than one week I will be holding my squirmy daughter in my arms and this past month will all fade to memories. 

Wish me luck! 

Summary:
Weeks = 40
Fruit/Veggie = Still a watermelon, though I suppose a slightly larger one? "
weight gain = about 42 lbs.
Milestones = I have to go for a non-stress test today (just means they strap me to monitors to watch bailey for about 20 minutes and make sure her heart rate/movement etc are fine) Then on thursday I have my LAST OB appointment... if my cervix is still at 1 cm then i'm going to be heading to the hospital (maybe that night, maybe friday... maybe sunday who knows) for an induction. 

39 Weeks

I seriously can't believe we are already at 39 weeks!!!

Our last doctor's appointment was last Wednesday and I was still 1 cm dilated (different doctor this time and he said barely 1 cm... he wouldn't have even really called it that) But... I am more effaced at nearly 75 to 80% effaced and she has "dropped" and her head is at a -2 station. My doctor gets back into town tonight/tomorrow so it looks like she will be the one to deliver Bailey. 

She's still active, but most of the time it doesn't feel as strong... she's running out of room I suppose. I'm getting a lot of braxton hicks but no real contractions. I'm sitting on the exercise ball as much as possible and trying to walk around each day. Luckily yesterday warmed up into the 40s so Micah and I took the dogs for a walk. It's funny when i see my shadow because i'm like "whoa, that's a very pregnant shadow!" 

Micah encouraged me to go ahead and get my hair cut, so I got a trim with some light layering done on Friday. I love it and it made me feel so much better to have it "styled". 

Still proud of my stretch-mark free belly! 

My biggest issue now is that I am having a REALLY hard time sleeping (to the point that now i've started sleeping in the guest room and/or lazy-boy so i don't keep Micah up), i have horrible gas, and I want to eat everything in sight! I thought labor might be starting soon since all day Friday I had horrible intestinal cramping, but it went away and still no contractions. I'm at a point where I find myself eating cereal at 2:00 am nearly every night... 

Micah and I got a LOT of time together, enjoyed our 1 year anniversary, played a lot of dominos and card games. Now he's back at work until Bailey gets here. I'm trying to find "activities" to keep myself busy during the week. This is going to be a long 7 days (+/- a few). 

Roses from my always sweet & thoughtful Hubby! 

Summary:
Weeks = 39
Fruit/Veggie = Watermelon
Weight gain = 40 lbs
Milestones= Bailey moved to a -2 station, I go back to the doctor on Thursday if Bailey still hasn't come. At that point if it's possible I'll have her sweep my membranes and hopefully get something started by Sunday. My mom also gets to town next Sunday...