February 27th, Alexander is here!

So I finally have a few moments to talk about the arrival of Alexander! I’ve been getting a lot of questions and I hope that this answers some of them. First off, to start with a disclaimer, labor isn’t pretty. Hollywood made it seem so clean and easy, but the truth is, it isn’t. Ha ha! You see movies where the pregnant woman screams “My water broke!” and they rush to the hospital. After 2 minutes of pushing, the baby appears! Reality, it does not happen that way. Now, here we go:
On Friday, I was fast asleep till about 3:30am, then I woke up in extreme pain. How to describe this pain? Think about the worst poop you’ve EVER had to take and it decides to grow arms and punch around! For a moment, I thought I had to go to the bathroom, but shortly after I realized I was just in pain. I really thought I could work through the pain and go back to sleep. I even got in the bathtub to help myself relax, but it all seemed moot. Eventually, I crawled back into bed around 5am. James usually senses when I come to bed and he’ll cuddle me, but that morning, I screamed at him “DON’T TOUCH ME!” He realized that I wasn’t comfortable and that I was in fact having contractions. Right away, he started to time them. This part is gross, but a reality for most women, the pain got so bad for me that I had to run to the bathroom to throw up. Having taken a birthing class, we both knew that this was a signal I was in active labor. I couldn’t concentrate on relaxing during the contractions while lying down. I actually had to stand up for a lot of my labor. So, James calls the midwife after timing my contractions for an hour, and she said it was time to come to the hospital.
After one of the most painful car rides of my life (not blaming James, just the labor), we finally get to the hospital where I’m wheeled into my delivery room. I’m going to stop for a moment to describe this room. It’s like a little hotel room with a nice bed, couch, rocking chair, a Jacuzzi tub and TV. James finds this great channel on the TV that plays instrumental music and shows nature scenes, which played the ENTIRE time I was in labor. I kept the room especially cold, probably around 60 degrees or so. I felt bad for my mom (who arrived later) who doesn’t like the cold, and was wearing a blanket my entire labor. So back to the labor story, I got there and changed. The midwife checked and found that I was 5-6cm dilated and 90% effaced. To be honest, I was really surprised! I had wanted to be dilated quite a bit before I got to the hospital, and I did try to labor at home for as long as possible (before I started to throw up). I didn’t think that I was dilated as far as I was since we left the house around 6am (remember, I woke up only at 3:30am in extreme pain). So I was pleasantly surprised, but I still didn’t expect my labor to be short by any means. I stood around the room for a long time, dealing with contractions. Sometimes I would do a slow dance with James, or I would just lay my head on the bed and stay standing. I did throw up a couple more times, and at around 10am, my midwife checked me again and I was 8-9cm dilated. So I was officially in Transition Labor. I DID notice the contractions getting rougher and longer to deal with. The midwife suggested that I get in the Jacuzzi tub and relax. I loved it, and James even made the comment that I was falling asleep between contractions. My mom thought that was funny because she did the same thing when she was in labor with me. After awhile, the midwife comes to me and asks if I wanted her to break my water and try to get pushing started. I did not want that to happen, and asked my midwife if we could wait an hour to see if I could break my water on my own.

Well, I gave it two hours. I waited and tried my hardest, but my water wouldn’t break. So after the midwife checked me again, I was fully dilated and fully effaced, I let her go ahead and break the water. After that happened, Alex’s head went into zero station and I had to prepare to push. I pushed for 1.5 hours and finally, my son was here! The pushing was a lot harder than I expected, but the end result was more than worth it. That’s all I can type for now. If there any questions, let me know!

Slaves to NASA

SO, NASA's soonest launch has been delayed a couple times. The original launch was set for February 12th, then was delayed to no earlier than the 19th and now it is set for no earlier than the 27th. James' entire work schedule is based around the launch. His team does 24/7 monitoring of the thermal conditions of the shuttle. So he works 1 out of 3 eight hours shifts during the day. The last mission, it was a bit rough because he worked during the Thanksgiving weekend but he still was awake for dinner. He was burnt out by the whole thing, but it was a rewarding experience and now we know what to expect. The only problem is (of course) is that our son isn't here yet and we want the initial bonding time with James and Alex before he goes back to work. I really really really hope that the shuttle launch isn't till the beginning of March and he'll be able to spend the first week with Alex before he has to work hard for NASA. I'm extremely proud of James, I can't imagine the work he's doing. I just also want James to feel included with the baby.

Getting closer..and more drama..

So yesterday, I had my midwife appointment. And when Dawn checked his heartbeat, she noticed it was on the low end. It was about 110 bpm and she decided to do a non stress test, so I laid there in the office for about 20 minutes with the fetal monitor strapped to me. The big problem was that he was extremely active at this time, so they didn't get the readings that they wanted. So, Dawn sent me over to L&D to do more long term fetal monitoring. I went over, got hooked up and after an hour, she came by and noticed that his heartbeat baseline is still considered a little low. She talked with Dr. Mott and decided to just continue to monitor while I ate and drank (since I didn't have anything for almost 4 hours). Dawn told me that it seems that he just has a low heart rate and she even did an ultrasound to check that he was still doing "unique" activity, such as practice breathing and opening/closing his hands. They weren't freaking out, I suppose they just wanted to know what was going on. After a couple hours more of fetal monitoring, they decided to send me home. I'm going back on Friday (my due date) to do some more monitoring and Dawn said they are probably going to insert the prepidil gel so I won't go too overdue. The nurse at the evaluation room noticed that I was contracting a bit, and she said it was either due to the vaginal exam or I may go into labor soon. They couldn't quite tell, but I just seem to be 1 cm dilated.

After I got home, I cried. I knew there wasn't a lot to worry about. I wasn't really freaking out. I was just very emotional. I came home and cried my heart out. James comforted me wonderfully and even made me dinner so I wouldn't have to stress out. I love my son so much already, I'm so already attached, that if anything were wrong with him, I'd be terrified! I want him to be here, in my arms. My due date is tomorrow and I can't believe he isn't here yet. I wish he was. My life doesn't seem complete without him now...

Yesterday's news

I went to the midwife again yesterday, for my 37 week appointment. Technically, the baby is now considered "full term." This means that I could deliver any day and he should be healthy. Doesn't mean I don't want him to come out before he's ready though! I asked the midwife to do a pelvic exam, mainly because my dad was really curious if I was progressing at all. TMI, but she said my cervix is soft and I was "half a fingertip" dilated (0.5 cm). So I have 9.5cm to go!

It was funny because since 4am yesterday, I've been feeling crazy contractions. Nothing too extreme since I was able to drive to the hospital and all. I just feel the menstrual like pain and it was on and off for a few hours. I was finally able to sleep through them after I got home from my appointment. These are more intense than the regular Braxton Hicks contractions, but I can still manage just fine. I'm NOT having high hopes that this means I'll be delivering anytime soon. I know that this could last for weeks (which will drive me crazy) but it's something the body naturally does to prepare for delivery.

To keep my hopes at bay, the midwife said that I should plan on having my baby 10 days after my due date. I'm not anxious to have him right away. It's more for selfish reasons as to why I would have him now, but I know that in due time, he'll be here. I'm just getting more and more uncomfortable. I can tell that he's already somewhat dropped since my heartburn has finally stopped. And now, I'm dealing with a new symptom, swelling of the feet. Luckily, my hands haven't swelled yet, so I can still parade around with my wedding ring on. I haven't been able to sleep very much, or when I do, it's only for a few hours at a time. I sleep at weird times and I don't know if I can keep my promise to my boss that I'll be working till the day I go into labor.

Speaking of my job, my boss is a great woman. She's really nice and friendly and asked what I would want to do when the baby finally comes. Since I didn't have a resolution, she offered to let me bring him for awhile. I told her that we could do that, but in the end, not to be surprised if I decide to quit and stay at home with him. She seemed to expect that, but she doesn't want to let me go just yet. Either way, I still have my job after Alex is born.

Our house is almost done! We're hoping everything will be ready by the time my folks fly in. Our dining room table was finally assembled yesterday and our living room has been rearranged. Alex's room is almost in order and we're slowly organizing and putting things away. I'm getting excited and really want my nesting instinct to kick in full gear (being one of the many signs of labor). Anyway, on that note, with these false labor contractions, I'll be signing off for now.

Weekly appointments!

So we went to the midwife this past Tuesday. She didn't do a dilation check, since they don't normally do those. But we did give her a copy of our birth plan, which she was really open to. She recommended that I start taking evening primrose oil, to ripen my cervix and that will help me not be over due. James and I went to Kroger and got me some capsules. I was reading on the web that some women actually insert these next to their cervix, but I think I'll just stick to taking the pills for now. I'm crossing my fingers that I won't be overdue. I just want him to be here and healthy as soon as possible. I don't want to rush this, but according to the ultrasound tech, my due date is February 17th and that means I'll be considered full term next Tuesday.

I'm very excited that we're moving into weekly appointments. James won't be able to attend all of these, which is fine, since his work schedule is so crazy anyway. I'm just happy he's excited and involved at all. I am getting a little frustrated with those asking questions about when Alex is coming. Although I would love it if he was here tomorrow, it's entirely out of my hands. I can see why the midwives don't check all the time because that raises expectations too much. It's VERY likely that I could be late. Even though I don't want to be, I don't doubt that it will happen. All we can do now is wait...

Getting started!

So we have finally started on Alex's nursery! There is a lot that still needs to be done! We still have to buy bedding and I've been throwing around more ideas. His crib's brackets were recalled, so we're waiting for a response from Storkcraft to find out when the new ones are coming in. James changed his mind and decided to make his room themed for airplanes instead of rockets. We painted the base blue, and we're going to put clouds up. I've asked James if he wanted to make model airplanes and hang them from the ceiling. I've thought about getting some shelves for Alex's room and painting them the green color of the bedding. There is a lot to consider and a lot to do. Just hope we'll have it all done before he gets here! 2 more weeks and I'll be considered to be full term!

Back from New Mexico

So we had a blast in New Mexico. I miss it so much, the beauty of it and the sincere surroundings. I can't wait to show Alexander when he finally comes. I'm getting more and more impatient. I wish he was here but I KNOW he has to stay in there longer. I'm 33 weeks and 3 days along and in less than 4 weeks, I'll be considered to be full term. So, a MONTH!! I still don't have anything ready!!