Labor...Delivery.....a few months late!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for being a crappy blogger. Having a baby causes your brain to go through this process of liquification and I've still not quite come back from that.... so the last time I blogged (is that a word???) I was still pregnant so I probably ought to tell you that I had the baby (shock, I know......no I am not pregnant for an additional 5 months, ha!). Here's the story:

I was due on Sunday January 11 and by that day was still very much pregnant and ready to be done. It's funny how everyone tells you that "you'll know" what a contraction is as if you're going to have this made for TV moment where you are doubled over, hand on stomach and yelling "Honey, it's time!" (think Susan on Desperate Housewives with MJ.... along with every other pregnant woman on TV). Well, I'll tell you that had my friend, Tonya, not told me that all she ever felt was something similar to period cramps I would not have "known." There was no moment where clutching my rotund belly I told my hubby it was "time." I was just up from like midnight on with cramps here and there wishing that I had not eaten crab cakes for dinner because I was sure I'd be seeing them again soon. I was exhausted and uncomfortable and so over being pregnant. To top it off, that day our youngest puppy, Daisy, had gastroenteritis and we had to take her into the vet for IV fluids. Let me tell you, our vet (who we were so lucky would come in on a Sunday for us) was not too thrilled that I was in labor in his office but that's a whole other story. I spent the entire day having cramps/contractions but they were spaced out pretty far so I was thinking I was just being tortured and probably wasn't in real labor. After all, I'd been 1 cm and 50% effaced for 4 weeks now.... as if that wasn't torture enough, right? 

Well, after a long day and being totally exhausted from not sleeping the night before we go to bed hoping to get some sleep. No such luck because my cramps turned into full blown contractions and by 3am we were on our way to the hospital. I was hurting but I was so excited and so ready to be done being pregnant. We get to the hospital and they offer me a wheel chair but I opt to walk thinking it will help move things along. After all, that's what they tell you to do right? The nurse hooks me up to all of these machines and checks my cervix to find that I'm 2 cm dilated. Not quite the 4 cm I thought I would be after having contractions every 5 minutes for the last few hours (this is what they tell you in class people!) but it's progress and I'll take it! Yay! Things are definitely moving along and she says that I'll need to stay so they can monitor my progression. They tell me to get some sleep (seriously, are they kidding????) and that they'll have my doctor check me when she comes in in the morning. Well, if you've ever stayed in a hospital you know that it's impossible to sleep with all of the commotion and beeping and constant checking so by the time the doc came to check me that morning I was going on 2 nights with no sleep and was exhausted. She checked me and I was still 2 cm......what????!!! She said I was in prodromal labor where your body just stresses out and isn't progressing. At this point my contractions had slowed down and by noon when she checked me again and I was still 2 cm she sent me home. I was bummed but at least we got to stop by Spudnuts on the way home. I was not only exhausted but starving since they don't let you eat much while in labor. I spent the rest of the day (now Monday) eating donuts and watching recorded trashy TV with my hubby & brother (long story) and trying to breathe through my contractions. 

By that evening my contractions were much more painful (and by much I mean I definitely could not talk through them, I could barely breathe!) and getting closer together and longer. I tried getting in the bathtub (twice actually) and having my hubby rub my back, all of the positions and breathing (I just can't do the hee hee hee hoo thing, it annoyed me). Nothing was working and they were getting stronger and stronger. By this point my husband is on the phone with the OB asking when we should come back in and what he can do for me. She told us just to wait it out and come in if we absolutely couldn't stand it or if my water broke. He ended up calling a few more times and finally just decided that we were going back. My contractions were back to 4-5 minutes apart and I was dying. It was awful. Once we got in the car they were more like 3 minutes apart and we still had to drop our dogs off at the kennel in town. While waiting in the car for my hubby to take the dogs in (mind you it's 2 am, oh and he owns the kennel which is why that's ok) my contractions jump to every minute and are so intense I'm sure he'll be delivering this baby in the car. We race to the hospital and this time I'm ready to accept the wheelchair however no one offers (lovely huh?) and I waddle up the the maternity floor stopping every minute to grip my hubby's arm and breathe. It was a long walk/elevator ride. They get me into the bed and check my cervix to find that I'm..... still 2 cm! You have GOT to be kidding me! I was dying in pain and I told them they were going to have to do something for me or I wasn't going to make it. At this point I haven't slept in 3 days and I'm having contractions every minute. I'm not going to make it if I have to go back home. There is no way. They ended up giving me a shot of morphine which basically slowed my contractions a bit and allowed  me to crash and sleep in between in hopes of getting my body to finally relax so that I could progress past 2 cm. 

The OB came in to check me at 10:00 the next morning (now Tuesday) and I was fully prepared to tell him where to put it if he tried to send me home. All of my morphine has worn off and I'm back to dying in pain and am not someone you want to be messing with this morning. But I play nice while he's checking me and low and behold I'm 4 cm!!! Oh thank goodness I think and when he asks me if I'd like him to break my water all of the sudden all of my big and badness disappears and I'm scared. I've been so ready for this and now it's here and I'm just so worried that my contractions are going to be so much worse and I'm worried about how long it will be until I can get my epidural. The poor man is standing there waiting for me to answer him with his hand on my bag of water ready to go and was obviously expecting me to say yes since I was so big and bad just moments earlier. I say yea, go ahead and all of the sudden am now sitting in a puddle of fluids. Fun, yes, but even more fun... you get to keep leaking! I thought it was just one set of fluids and then  you were done, oh no, you keep leaking amniotic fluid until the baby is out. Let's just say it was an interesting trip to the bathroom after that one...

After that (around noonish) they hooked me up to an IV and called in the anesthesiologist to prepare my epidural. I know, I'm a wimp... but I had already felt enough pain and there was no way I was going any further without some pain meds. While I was talking to the anesthesiologist the nurse gave me a shot of fentynal and let me tell you it was GREAT. She said it was going to feel like a martini and I'm telling you it felt like 3. I was a little embarrassed when the anesthesiologist got a little blurry but whatever, I felt SO much better and at this point I didn't really care what she was going to do to me so long as it took away the pain I was in. Note, if someone offers you a shot of fentynal, take it! I was honestly more nervous about getting the epidural than I was about the actual childbirth but it really wasn't that bad. She had me sit on the bed and bend over (as far as a pregnant girl really can). She numbed my back and then put in the epidural. I never really felt anything more than a pinch and a little pressure and who can't deal with that for a painless childbirth, right? I even got to sleep for a few hours after that in between being checked every so often. 

By about 4:00 I wasn't progressing as quickly as they'd like so they gave me some pitocin and that really sped things up. I dilated 3 cm in an hour and then my epidural started to wear off on the side I wasn't laying on. So I kept switching side to side to relieve the pain. It was awful and I ended up hovering over a bedpan for about an hour totally nauseous from the pain. I went another 3 cm in the next hour. My hubby was running back and forth to the waiting room to give our family the news and by a little after 7:00 I was ready to push. The nurse assured me that pushing would relieve the pain I was feeling and I thought is she crazy? Does she really think that I am going to believe that pushing a small child out of my hoohaa is going to feel BETTER than this pain? Like she really knows what she's talking about as if she does this for a living (ha, I know but I was in pain and irrational). It did actually feel better to push but I'm a see it to believe it kind of gal. My doctor was awesome and she was such a great cheerleader. She was very motivating and made the experience really great. Plus, she looked just like my friend Sarah with her scrubs on and that helped calm me down. She had me push once to see what we were up against and could immediately see the baby's head. She said we'd be having a baby within the next hour and went off to get her stuff together. I kept pushing with the nurse and my hubby with each contraction. The nurse even let me watch with a mirror but I got so distracted that I couldn't push. No more mirror for me. The doctor came back in and it all went so quickly they almost didn't have time to get a baby nurse in our room. I pushed for about 30 minutes and she was out!  I swear it felt like an eternity before she cried but when she did it was the best sound in the world. They put her on my chest and she looked up at me, she was so perfect and so tiny! I actually asked where the rest of her was, ha!

Madison Grace Dofflemyer was born on January 13, 2009 at 7:48pm. She weighed 5 lbs 12 oz and was 18 in long with a full head of brown hair! She looks just like her daddy and she's absolutely perfect. We are so in love!

No longer pregnant!!!

We're getting closer!

I'm still feeling lots of pressure "down there" so I called the OB again today to ask just how normal this all is. It feels like a really bad period where everything down there is just swollen and uncomfy and honestly what I would imagine feeling like after pushing out a baby, not prior to. It freaks me out a little bit so I felt my call was warranted. The last time I went to the OB they told me that she had dropped down and would continue to push down and that was just my round ligaments that were hurting.  Well, unless I have round ligaments in my cervix, I'm thinking it's more than round ligaments and me being sensitive. 

We went to the OB today and saw one of my favorite doctors who is just fabulous. Turns out I'm between 0 and -1 and 50% effaced. Woohoo!

35 weeks pregnant

I feel like she might fall out...

So hopefully not really but I did freak out a little last week. The girls at work threw me a baby shower on Friday 11/21 and that's when it all started. I felt terrible and was feeling a lot of pressure like she was pushing down between my legs. I went home that afternoon and just took it easy and felt much better on Saturday during the day. Saturday night it came back and then I was fine all day Sunday. I went to work on Monday morning thinking all was fine and I had just had a crummy weekend, right? Not quite...I walk a mile uphill to work every day (haha, that makes me sound like my Grandpa except minus the 3 feet of snow, haha!).  Anyways, I was walking to work and it started again but it really felt like she was down between my legs. This really freaked me out because I'm thinking it's probably not a good thing to be feeling lots of pressure where the baby is supposed to be coming out, right? I got to work and asked around and pretty much everyone told me that they felt like that in the end of their pregnancy and it sounded normal. I called the doctor and talked to a nurse hoping she would tell me the same thing, that all was fine and normal and I'd just be uncomfortable for a few more weeks until I deliver. Wouldn't that have been nice, but no....I had to go in to be "checked" out.  Mind you, I was not preparing to be "checked" down there until 36 weeks and that area is not one I've seen in a few months so obviously I'm not too thrilled to be baring all before I had a chance to get it under control and presentable if you get what I mean...

Being that this is the week of Thanksgiving, my husband is now working crazy hours and cannot come with me to the appointment since it wasn't planned. My Mom comes to the rescue and picks me up and accompanies me to my appointment. I was definitely freaked out and didn't want to go alone, plus walking was making me even more uncomfortable so I certainly didn't want to walk all the way back to the car (downhill this time, but still a mile).  We see the doctor and he asked me a million questions, pokes & prods (ouch!), then checks my belly measurements and listens to her heartbeat. All looks good and he takes a look at my cervix, which let me tell you hurt like crazy! Turns out her head is just down in my pelvis and she's getting bigger faster than my ligaments are willing to stretch out which is causing my pain/pressure. Gotta love those round ligaments! He did a fetal fibronectin test as well just to make sure I wasn't in early labor and that all turned out OK as well. So basically, my baby is engaged and ready to go and I just get to suffer until she decides to come out. Good news though, is that I only have 3 more weeks until I'm full term!

34 weeks pregnant

So it turns out I'm a lazy blogger...

I know it's been a while since my last post so I thought I'd do one on things you've missed in the midst of my laziness...

My eyelashes fell out! No, not all of them but certainly a significant enough amount that freaked me out. I usually wear glasses so I hadn't really been noticing this going on for a few weeks behind my glasses but once I did I freaked out and called my OB and told the nurse that my baby was causing my eyelids to go bald (obviously I am NOT OK with this!). I had changed nothing else, no new makeup, meds, face wash, nothing...so it had to be my baby, right? She assured me that this was not the case and I needed to call my PCP as this was not obviously not related to my pregnancy. I'm thinking OK, what on earth is he going to do about eyelashes so I disregarded that advice and decided to call my eye doctor. Eyelashes, eye doctor, made sense to me and they thought so too so they set me up an urgent appointment. I went to the eye doctor, who was not my normal doctor (who is fabulous and I love) and I swear she was 12 years old and basically told me she had no idea and figured it was because I was pregnant. She took out some fancy machine and looked at my lashes and said she couldn't see where any were even missing and they looked just like normal eyelashes should. OK, I get where she could say that, but I don't have normal eyelashes, I have GREAT thick & full eyelashes that are usually so long that I can't even open my eyes all the way until after my mascara dries or I get tiny black dots under my brows. I want my fabulous lashes back, not normal people lashes! (Yes, I realize that sounds terrible, please accept my apologies). So she decided to refer me to an eyelid specialist to make sure there wasn't a bigger issue. I'm thinking, great, the 12 year old eye doctor has no idea, thinks I'm crazy and now I have to see someone else...fun! But I follow directions and I go see this other doctor like a good little patient. She, too, basically looks at me with her fancy machine, tells me she can't see where my eyelashes are falling out but offers to write me a prescription for a glaucoma medication (um, NO THANKS!) to help my eyelashes grow. Is she crazy? Basically, another $30 co pay later I am simply the pregnant girl who THINKS her eyelashes are falling out. Fun. I'm sure they had a nice little chat about me afterwards.

Update: my eyelashes have grown back and all is well (without glaucoma medication...).

My 28-week glucose tolerance test & rhogam shot. I took the day off since I would be thoroughly poked & prodded and figured I'd just get this all done in one day. My Mom came for moral support (I really think she just wanted in on the poking & prodding) and we trotted off to the hospital at 7:30am. We show up and fill out loads of fun paperwork and I am handed what looks to be a tiny orange soda in a glass bottle. The lady explains that I should not shake the bottle since it is indeed carbonated. I'm thinking, why on earth would you make a pregnant girl drink a carbonated soda on an empty stomach at 7:30am??? This is pure evil. I take the bottle and we find our seats and I proceed to ingest this carbonated beverage. I had heard horrible rumors that it was this nasty orange syrupy drink that would make me ill so I was fully prepared to just hold my nose and down it. In all honesty, it just tasted like orange soda, which normally is a good thing if you like orange soda, just not at 7:30am on an empty stomach. We waited an hour and then with my now massive case of heartburn (once again, the carbonation, was it really necessary???) go back and have my blood drawn. I will have to admit that the woman was incredible and I barely even felt the needle, I was impressed. Her assistant gave me a my little pony sticker (no, not kidding) and we went upstairs to go have my rhogam shot. By this point I am totally starving and can think of nothing other than grabbing my McDonald's breakfast and rushing to my OB appointment which is in 30 minutes. I'm thinking, rhogam shot, this cannot possibly take that long. Just stick me in the arm and let me go, right? Wrong. We got Mr. McChattyPants who typed with 1 finger and asked me a million questions not related to my shot in between all of the pertinent questions (name, date of birth, etc). I swear it took 20 minutes just to get through his line of questioning before he would give me the shot. And let me tell you, it hurt like crazy! I was thinking it would feel like a typical shot, like the flu shot or something, but oh no, this shot has massive amounts of material in it and took forever! My arm was quite sore afterwards as we ran downstairs to the cafeteria to grab an egg & cheese sandwich which I inhaled as my Mom rushed us across town to my OB appointment. Turns out my glucose levels were fine so I did not have to repeat the test, thank goodness, but I do have to have another rhogam shot at delivery. Fun!

We went for our 3D/4D Ultrasound. We went on a Saturday so that our friends & family could join us and let me tell you they did! We had like 10 people in the room with us and I swear we were so loud, thank goodness they only do one appointment at a time. It was great though, we had basically our whole family (which just so happen to all live in this same town, haha) plus a few fabulous friends who love us and couldn't wait to see the baby. I had been drinking massive quantities of water since that was the instruction for a productive session so I had to pee at least twice before we even got started (yay pregnancy!). The room was so nice, there were comfy leather couches and a big screen TV in the corner and one on the wall as well. The table for me to lay on was even comfy and had a big pillow so I didn't have to lay flat down on my back like they make you do at the OB. It was super nice and I was thrilled. I'm thinking this is going to go so well, right? She starts the u/s in 2D and is immediately worried about what we'll be able to see since our oh-so-cooperative child is nicely snuggled face first up into the placenta. She switches to 3D mode and all we get is a gooey looking blob that she says is placenta over the baby's face. She keeps pushing around and prodding my poor belly and gets nothing more than the jawline with placenta over the rest of her face. The only part we really wanted to see! This was supposed to be your glamour shots baby, move away from the placenta & show your face! Well, she kept trying and trying and had me move around and roll over and get up (which was no problem since I had to pee 3 more times during the session, haha) to try to get the back to move a little away from the placenta. She even had me drink sprite & each hershey kisses (I happily obliged, duty calls!). She was remotely successful and we could see a bit more of her face but this time she has her head resting on her arm and then her foot on her cheek & forehead. By this point I'm thinking my child just has no desire to show us her face until she is good & ready. She got some good pictures but she recommended that we come back for another session at a different time of day when the baby may be more active and willing to participate in her glamour shots photo session. We rescheduled for the next week thinking we'd have the pictures in time for my baby shower. Oh, and did I mentioned the technician was due to have her own baby like that next week? She calls me the day of our rescheduled u/s and tells me she's in labor. Yay for her but not so yay for me. I have terrible luck sometimes! So now we're going back this Saturday to see if we can get a better look. I'm assuming there was only one baby in her belly so barring any additional births we should be able to keep our appointment. Think happy thoughts!

31 weeks & promising to be better about remembering to blog

Psychic was WRONG!

So much for believing in the fancy psychic lady....she was WRONG! 

We went for our ultrasound on Sept. 3 (I know, I should have posted this earlier, sorry!) and man were we in for a surprise. The lady was really nice and she asked us if we wanted to find out before she even started. We, of course, said yes. So I got on the super uncomfy flat table they make you lay on, even though you're not supposed to lay on your back when you're pregnant.....doesn't the OB know this??? She looks around and starts telling us what body parts and organs and whatnot she was looking at. She did some measurements of the heart and the head and then moved along to other spots. She said the baby wasn't cooperating very well and would have to start if we were going to find out the sex. I was fully prepared to run laps or do jumping jacks, whatever was necessary as we were not leaving without knowing who was in my belly. She kept looking around at various body parts that all looked like gray/black spots to me. We had no clue what she was looking at and then she asked again if we were sure we really wanted to know. Was she not listening earlier? I offered to do jumping jacks, of course we want to know! We said heck yea, tell us already! She said OK....it's a little GIRL! It's like we didn't get it....I'm sorry, you said what??? A what??? We just kind of laughed in shock because we were so prepared for it to be a boy. It's definitely a girl, she showed us the three little lines and everything. Some psychic!

We're really excited now. We were just a little surprised to begin with. We were so sure it was a boy and I was so prepared for it to be a boy, especially after talking to, what I thought was a legitimate psychic (do they even exist? I'm going with no now, ha ha). I think my husband was just trying to will the baby to be a boy, a little golfer! Well now he'll be golfing with his little girl! We would be happy with whatever we got, as long as the baby is healthy that's all we're concerned with anyways. And we want one of each so maybe the next one will be a boy. We're excited for the little girl, it will be fun! And now I get to shop for PINK! Woohoo!

23 weeks pregnant

Psychic says we're having a boy!

Ever since we found out that I was pregnant we have been counting down the days until we get to find out just who is in my belly and eating away at my brain. Originally we were told by the OB that we'd get to find out at the 20 week ultrasound, which would have been last week. I had planned to go on August 25th and have the first appointment of the day since I just had to know the first minute I could. Well, they decided earlier this month that no, we would have to wait another week so now we'll get to find out at our 21 week ultrasound on Wednesday next week. We have the last appointment of the day and I've already informed the staff that we will not be leaving without the sex determination so they should be prepared for a long night should our oh-so-cooperative child behave like he/she did at the 13 week ultrasound. 

As a result of my impatience (not baby induced, I've always been this way) I've resorted to other methods to tell me who might be in there. The Chinese Gender Predictor says it's a boy, the Old Wives Tales say it's a girl, a lady at work did some crazy mathematical equation which says it's a girl, and most recently a psychic told me she thinks it's a boy. No, I'm not that crazy. I did not go out in search of a psychic to tell me the gender of my child. I met one at work who I swear was the coolest woman ever. She's apparently world famous and has worked with the FBI for 35 years in a "Medium" sort of way. Not like the creepy ones with the crazy clothes and crystal balls, they sort of freak me out and I would worry that my kid would end up with some voodoo kind of wickedness if went within 25 feet of them. No, this lady was normal and totally legit and she was super nice. She took one look at my belly and said, "Oh, you're having a boy aren't you?" I said she was the expert and I wasn't having my ultrasound until Wednesday so she should tell me. She put her hands on my belly and said it was definitely a boy in there. How cool!

I knew my husband would be super excited by this since he's been willing it to be a boy all along so I called to tell him the good news. He's thrilled but says he won't be totally convinced until he sees the little guy on the ultrasound on Wednesday. This was a super cool experience though and I bet she's right! I'll keep you posted!

21 weeks pregnant

I'm sure my baby is eating my brain...

So I'm currently 5 months pregnant and getting dumber by the minute. It's not like I was dumb to begin with though. I have a Bachelors Degree from VT (Go Hokies!!) and a pretty high IQ, if only I could remember what it was...I like to think of myself as a pretty intelligent person, at least when I don't have a little parasite feeding off of my brain cells. I read somewhere that it is a proven fact that your brain cells diminish faster when you're preggers and I am a firm believer. I don't really think the baby is eating my actual brain but that's what I've been using as my excuse. I mean seriously, I've never forgotten so many things in my life! 

Like this weekend for example. My husbands birthday is on Monday (Labor Day) and I was supposed to order a cake from a local bakery that he loves (yes, I can cook, their cake is just so good and doesn't food always taste way better when you didn't slave for hours to cook it yourself???). Anyways, so Friday night comes around and we go to get ice cream (the baby needs loads of calcium right?). He mentions that he'd like some of the ice cream cupcakes in addition to his cake from the bakery and this OMG light goes off in my head....I didn't order the cake. It's almost 9pm on Friday night and I didn't order the cake! You are supposed to order 1 day in advance, and this is especially important on a holiday weekend when they're closed on Sunday & Monday. I'm an idiot! Luckily, I remembered to call the next morning and the lady took pity on me and said if I came by later in the day they could have it ready for me. Crisis averted, but no thanks to my pregnant brain. 

It's just amazing the things I'm capable of doing (or not doing) when I'm pregnant. I never thought I'd be one of those women who just became stupid but here I am, pregnant and losing massive amounts of brain cells by the day. I'm doing my best not to complain too much because we did try for 9 months to get here and I am truly blessed to be carrying a child that, so far is super healthy and growing according to schedule. So I guess it's ok as long as the baby is healthy and all is good. Let's just hope I don't forget something really important next time!

21 weeks pregnant