Love & Tantrums

Is She Eating Enough???

2012-02-01T10:34:00.004-07:00

I need your help.

I've noticed that I'm starting to have supply issues. This makes me very sad. I'm drinking so much water that about 30 mins after I walk out of the bathroom I need to go again, I'm practically swimming in water. I don't know what's going on. I got 2 oz. at my 9 am pump....I use to get 4. :O(

It got me wondering how much Emma eats and if we need to start adding some formula to her diet along with solids.

I'm also wondering if this could be contributing to the crazy sleepless nights we've been having.

So I've been doing a little bit of research, mind you I haven't had time to look at this extensively, and for her age I've come to the conclusion that she should be eating 2 'meals' of at least 3 Tbs. a day in addition to milk or formula.

I haven't been able to determine how much milk or formula she should also get with those 'meals' and outside of those meals.

Yesterday while I was at work she had about 9oz of milk. I have no idea how much she had from me (boob gauge is needed!)

She always seems happy, except when she's tired, but I'm wondering what we should do.

She's so small, weight wise. I'm concerned that we've been underfeeding her. I REALLY hope that isn't the case. Last time we weighed her, last week or the week before, she was 13.2 lbs. When I pump at night I don't even get an oz. Scott has never put a lot of milk in a bottle to see how much of it she would eat. So I'm not sure what her max amount is. All I know is the approximate of what she ate while I am away.

Oh and another question, is almost 5 1/2 mo to early start giving her things like sweet potatoes? Should we just get some formula to supplement with until she'll be 6 mo?

Still having BAD nights!

2012-01-25T09:01:00.003-07:00

Last night Emma woke up at 11, l:30, 3, 4, 5. It's absolutely nuts! We put her to bed between 7 and 7:30. She went down fairly easy, though I did nurse her. I don't remember if she woke up between then and 11. We went to bed at 9, and we might have gotten 5 hours of sleep total, though I'm willing to bet it's more like 4 or 4.5 hours total. I'm ALWAYS tired. I'm sure Scott is ALWAYS tired.

We have tried giving her oatmeal before bedtime in the hopes that she'll sleep longer. I don't think that works. During the day time I don't think it keeps her fuller any longer than breast milk does.

Part of me is secretly wondering if we should start adding some formula to her diet...just so we can sleep...and that makes me feel ashamed just thinking about it. Changing her diet just so that I can sleep. Seems selfish. I want her to be an all breast milk baby. I know it wouldn't hurt her to give her some formula. But it goes against what my plans were for her. It might be a swift kick to my psyche. I'm proud that I've been able to feed Emma for 5 months.

I just don't know what to do.

I know that I can't keep functioning on this little bit of sleep.

I know when we see the pedi next month he's going to say, again, she should be sleeping through the night. His suggestion was to already start sleep training her.

I still can't manage to get out of the house on time

I think I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. And it sucks because I end up taking out my frustrations on Scott, and it's not his fault. That makes me feel terrible. The last thing I want is to put a strain on our marriage because of how I'm feeling. It's not fair to Scott, it's not fair to Emma, and it's not fair to me.

I realize that this stuff is something that all parents go through and that my situation isn't any more unique than anyone else's. I do wish that there was such a thing as an easy button and that we could magically get little Emma to sleep better at night.

HO.LY COW!

2012-01-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

HO.LY COW!

Maybe we're doing something right the past couple of nights!

We, mostly me, got the longest stretch of sleep since the day that Emma was born.

Last night, probably around 7, we started getting Emma ready for bed. Scott put her in her night time diaper and her pajamas and her sleep sack. He read her 2 short books. I nursed her and we put her to bed. She was asleep by 7:30! First off that is the earliest she's gone to bed in a LONG time. We were shocked.

She woke up at 8:30 and after Scott tried to calm her down and that wasn't working we decided she was hungry so I nursed her.

She woke up hungry shortly before 11 and I nursed her again. I was back in bed at 11. She didn't wake up again until 4am! She started fussing, and I looked at the clock and I couldn't believe what I saw, 4AM! HO.LY COW! WOW. Scott woke up and looked at me and I told him to guess what time it was, he said 12:30, but he thought it might be later than that. I told him it was 4 and he didn't believe me and had to look at the clock. She was hungry so I fed her and she went right back to sleep.

I got up at 5 and while I was setting up the pump she started waking up a bit and fussed a little bit. I didn't go into her room and she went back to sleep. She slept until 6:45 this morning! She got a lot of sleep last night!!!!!

I can't believe that we got 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep last night! That was so AWESOME!!!!!! Keep it up Emma!!!

Better sleep on the horizon?

2012-01-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

"She needs to cry it out"

"Babies cry"

"Just let her cry"

These are just a few of the things that other parents have told me about getting Emma to sleep better at night. Yes I understand that babies cry, that is the only way they can communicate with us. But I don't think letting them cry for the sake of crying just because they wake up is the right answer for us.

We tried letting Emma 'cry it out' when she would wake up at night, all 6 or 7 times. This resulted in one very over tired baby and 2 over tired parents. When I don't get enough sleep I'm irritable, quick to anger, frustrated, stressed, on the verge of getting a migraine, on the verge of constant tears and pretty darn functionless. I'm a hot mess.

I told Scott yesterday that what we were doing or trying to do was not working. We had to find some way better to do this. I can't live like this.

We stopped doing CIO last night. We got little Emma ready for bed a little before 7:30 and with about 30 minutes of some pretty hard crying because she was over tired she fell asleep. While she was crying we were not just ignoring her either. We made sure to help her get her brain to slow down. So at 8 she finally calmed down enough that she could fall asleep.

She slept until about 11. We let her fuss for about 5 minutes, not screaming crying, and then Scott went in and calmed her down in about 5 minutes and she was asleep for another hour or so.

She woke up again at about 1:30AM I think. We did the same thing we did at 11 only after 5 minutes of calming not working I went in and nursed her. She was hungry and ate at a pretty good clip for about 6 minutes. As soon as she switched to comfort nursing I put her back into her crib and she slept for another 3 hours.

She woke up again at about 3:30. Again we went through the routine that Scott did earlier. I nursed her again after 5 minutes of soothing not working. She ate again pretty good for 4 minutes or so and, again, when she switched to comfort nursing I put her back into her crib and she slept for another 2 hours.

I was up to get ready for work at 5AM, a miracle, I heard her fuss a little bit but she didn't fully wake up so she must have been sleep fussing because she didn't keep going. She woke up again at 6AM and Scott went in and got her to go back to sleep until 6:30 where she woke up and wanted to eat again.

After that she was up for the day. I think we both got more sleep that way then we have been the past 5 nights or so. And today I feel human.

Scott's going to pay more attention to when Emma shows signs of being sleepy during the day to start getting her into a nap routine. And we're going to go through the same routine (only longer) at bed time to get her ready for bed.

I think for bedtime we're going to start by getting her ready for bed, getting her in her pajamas and night time diaper.
Then I'll nurse her for her last feeding of the day.
Then we're going to read her a book or too, keeping things calm.

We did these things last night but little girl was too over tired for it to be really effective.

If we can get her to go to sleep when she's tired instead of waiting until she's over tired all three of us should have a much much better nights sleep!

The 4 Month Wakeful Period..or Whatever this is

2012-01-13T09:59:00.006-07:00

SUCKS!!!!

I am not going to lie and say having a 4 month old is all candies and rainbows and that I love every second of it, because I don't! This doesn't make me a bad parent or a bad person, just an honest one. I love my little girl more than anything in this universe but right now I hate night time!

Night time should be when we can put sweet little angle Emma to sleep and have some quiet time to ourselves, where we can get some mommy and daddy cuddles in and spend some quality time with each other. The past few weeks this has not been the case. It has, instead, been the return to newbornhood. I thought we left that a few months ago. Apparently it's come back to haunt us.

We HAD been down to a decent sleep pattern. Emma would go to bed between 8 and 9:30pm and sleep for about 5 hours before waking up to eat. She would then go back to sleep for 2-3 hours and get up to eat again and would go back to sleep for another 2-3 hours before she was up for the day. It worked for us.

That lasted about 7-8 weeks and I have to say it was marvelous.

The past couple of weeks, it may not have been that long but it sure feels like it has, we have been having some rough nights...rougher than when Emma was a newborn.

Here's an example of what happened last night. We put Emma in her crib without a problem at 8:30pmish. That's normal. Then Emma woke up at 10:30pm (which has been the norm for the past how ever long this has been going on, I call sleep deprivation on my part for not being able to remember). I went in and was able to just rock her until she fell back asleep, she wasn't interested in nursing. It took me 20 minutes to get her to go back down. Then she woke up at 11:45pm. Scott got up to get her to go back to sleep which he did. Then she woke up again at 12:30. I nursed her and she went back to sleep. She was awake again at 1. Scott went in this time and spent probably 40 minutes trying to get her to go back to sleep. He came back in our room and not after he'd been in bed for 2 minutes did she start up again, so It was my turn, it's 1:45am at this point. I try to calm her, which she's having none of so I resort to nursing her in the side lay position on the bed we have in her room. I fall asleep with her there. She wakes up at 3, isn't interested in eating. I can't calm her and Scott comes in and we trade off. He gets her to go back to sleep in her bouncy chair on vibrate, I discovered this at 5:00 this morning when she work up again. I nursed her and she was then up for the day.

Mind you, if she's fussing at all I'm NOT sleeping. And every time I go in to try to calm her, I offer to nurse her but if she's not hungry she gets PISSED, but I offer nonetheless, it use to fix everything.

What happened??? She did roll over by herself for the first time on Wednesday. Could this be a contributing factor? I don't know.

Did you experience this around this age? If so, what did you do?

Here's where y'all come in. Time to help a sista out!! All of you!! Family, friends, blog buddies, lurkers...advice please!!!!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

2011-12-31T04:08:00.003-07:00

With all the craziness that comes with the Christmas season I haven't had time to post like I have wanted to. So now, at 3:30 AM on New Years eve while I'm unable to sleep I'm finally going to catch everyone up on what's been going on.

Two days before Christmas, Emma had her 4 month check up. She's 4 months old already. HOLY. COW. Just wear has the time gone? I'm happy to report that she is happy and healthy. Her weight is in the 12th percentile, height in the 29th percentile, and her head size is in the 36th percentile. She's growing right along her growth curve and is perfect in every way. Just like Mary Poppins.

We were given the all clear to start her on cereals. She's been getting oatmeal once a day. She's taken to that really well. She's already figured out that when the spoon comes toward her to open her mouth. She's still working out the tongue action though but she can take down 2 teaspoons in about 5 minutes. I think it's safe to say that she likes it.

During her 4 month check up the doctor asked if she was sleeping through the night yet. Answer is, No she's not. The pedi then starts talking about how we need to get her to sleep through the night now so that she can learn to self sooth and how it's much easier to do at this age and takes less time then if we wait until she's older. He said that 3 bad nights now will be better than 3 bad weeks when she is much older.

Of course I was keen to try this. Sleeping through the night is something that I haven't had the luxury of since the day that she was born. The thought of that was very appealing. That night we started to try. Scott would get up with her and try to comfort her back to sleep. After about 5 min, probably more like 2, and her cry escalating I would go in and feed her for only a few minutes and then try to get her to go back to sleep. That kind of worked. She woke up sooner than she did before we started and I figured it was because she wasn't use to this new way of doing things. We kept trying. With no success. This past week we have both gotten less sleep then we did before. Not what I bargained for.

After Emma woke up the first time tonight, at about 2:15, I started thinking about what we were doing wrong, why wasn't this working. Hence the reason why I'm still awake. Naturally, I went to google and typed "how to get 4 month old breast fed baby to sleep through the night" into the search query. The first link that pops up is from kellymom.com. I should have known to look there first. I go there for all of my other baby/breastfeeding questions I should have known there would be information on sleeping through the night.

After reading the information on that website, I have decided to forgo trying to get Emma to sleep through the night, right now. I really like our pedi, but in this instance I'm going to hold off on following his advise and listen to and pay attention to Emma and her needs.

I don't think she's ready yet. And that makes sense to me. I don't really mind getting up to feed her twice during the night. It's something that I have gotten use to. It's more time that I can spend with her that I miss during the day while I'm at work. Why fix what isn't broken? If we actually get more sleep with her waking twice a night than we do trying to get her to sleep through the night, then I'm all for it. She will do that when she's ready.

It's hard to believe that just one year ago yesterday we found out that we were going to have a baby. That was probably one of the happiest days of our lives! It's crazy to think that an entire year has come and gone already.

I wish you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my family to yours. I wish you the very best in the year to come and much joy and love!

Leaving for work = crying!

2011-11-22T08:55:00.001-07:00

This morning was the first day I cried because I had to leave Emma to go to work. I ran out of time this morning and didn't get to spend any time with her.

At first I blamed it on the fact that I had to rewash bottles. I was griping to myself while I was at the kitchen sink washing bottles, thinking about how I needed to finish putting on my make up and fixing my hair. How I still needed to get dressed. How these bottles weren't going to be dry and that I'd have to dry them before I left. How I hadn't had more than 5 minutes to look at, talk to, interact, or snuggle with Emma. I had to blame something or someone other than myself. I just had to find something else to blame, and the bottles were it! At least bottles don't have feelings.

On the drive into work I remembered that I was really tired this morning so I went back to bed after feeding Emma at 4:30 instead of staying up and getting things done and myself ready like I should have. It wasn't the bottles fault or anyone's fault that I ran out of time this morning. It really was my fault and that realization didn't make me feel any better, though I managed to keep the tears in check at this point.

About half an hour after I got to work, I got this email from Scott:

Subject: Message from Emma

Mommy -

Good morning! I am playing in my jungle gym right now. I asked daddy to send you an e-mail since I can't type. Or talk. But he knows what I mean. I know this morning didn't go like you planned. I hope you have a good day anyways. It's okay that you have to go to work. We can snuggle and cuddle when you get home. I like snuggling with you. I just wanted you to know that daddy and I miss you when you go to work and that it's okay. Daddy says that you don't have to work on Thursday or Friday because of Thanksgiving. That made me smile :) But I have no idea what Thanksgiving is. Daddy and I love you so much and can't wait for you to get home every day. So have a good day today! Daddy and I love you!!

Emma

Attached:

That just made my heart melt and I started crying again. It's a good thing that I have an office with a door!

About 5 minutes after I got that email, and right when I finished reading it, I got a phone call from Scott. He wanted to know how I was and if I wanted to go to lunch today with him and Emma. So today we're going to lunch! I can't wait.

Scott is such an awesome husband and daddy!!! It was so sweet of him to send the email and then to think of us going to lunch together today. I wouldn't have thought of it because my brain was in 'so sad I miss my sweet baby' mode and was stuck in cry gear. I love Scott and Emma so much! I know that Emma is in good hands with her daddy!

Emma is 3 months old today!

2011-11-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Supporting daddy's NY Giants (20 November 2011)

Emma is 3 months old today! It's hard to believe that she's already 3 months old. I can't believe that 3 months ago I was in labor and giving birth and not much before that still pregnant. Time sure does fly by when one's having fun!

Emma has been spending quite a bit of time trying to learn how to suck her thumb. She's good at getting it in her mouth but she hasn't figured out how to suck on it yet. She's also 'talking' a whole lot more and smiles a lot. I love it when she smiles!

Yesterday she spent a good hour or so in her floor activity/gym 'talking' to her toys. She also grabbed the part that makes noise all by her self, more than once! It was cute watching her. Scott said all last week she would only be in there for 10 min or so before she decided she was done. I also got her to hold on to her rattle by putting it in her hand. She did pretty good with that, investigated it pretty good, but she didn't really 'rattle it.'

3 months old, where has the time gone?!

Survived!

2011-11-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

I survived my first week back at work! Scott survived his first week at home with Emma. Emma survived it all with smiles!

It's hard to believe how fast my first week back at work went. Maybe that's a good thing. Having had the first week go so well I feel much better about going back to work.

I got an email about our Bradley class reunion. I'm looking forward to that! It'll be exciting to hear everyone's birth stories and meet all the babies!

Since going back to work I've noticed that my shoes do fit different. I think my feet might have gotten a little bit wider during pregnancy. I didn't notice it until I was wearing shoes all day at work. My winter shoes all seem to be a little bit snug in the width. :O( I'm not very happy about that. I've also noticed that I've put on 6 pounds...now I've got 16 pounds left to lose before I get back to my pre pregnancy weight. I'm none too happy about that either but sitting on my butt and eating oreos doesn't help that situation. Time to start getting work outs in at lunch time while I'm at work.

Back at work

2011-11-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

It's official. I'm back at work full time. Today marks day 3. So far I've been mostly OK with being away from Emma. I think with Scott staying home with her and me pumping I know that I'm helping out still and that Emma is in good hands because she's with her Daddy.

I did want to cry yesterday when Scott told me that Emma had been fussing all morning and that he knew she had to be hungry, she just wouldn't eat. I felt bad because I knew if I was there she'd eat right away. A big change for all 3 of us. At least she she did finally eat good after she took a nap. When he called and told me that I felt much better.

I do have to say that I think I got over zealous with pumping Saturday and Sunday before coming back. I was so worried that she wouldn't have enough to eat while I was gone that I probably pumped double what she needed. At least she had plenty and Scott didn't have to get into the freezer stash.

Things are working out pretty good so far. I'm still not getting out of the house quite when I want to but I'm getting better at it. Each day I've managed to leave 10 minutes earlier than the day before. At this rate I should be leaving at the right time come Monday morning.

I definitely miss my sweet little girl when I'm at work! It makes me savor the time I have with her when I get home. I even enjoy night feedings more now! Time with just me and her.

It's hard to believe that today is already Wednesday and there are only 2 more days this week. Then I can see her all day on the weekend!!! Common Saturday!

Catching Up

2011-11-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

HELLO AGAIN!!!!!

I have been MIA mostly for the past 11.5 weeks, adjusting to life with a new baby. Now in only 5 days I will be going back to work and Scott will begin his new career, being a stay at home dad. We'll both be going through some huge adjustments. It sure has been nice having this time home with Scott and with little Emma. Going back to work is going to be hard. This weekend I'm going to be soaking up all the baby love I can!

I have started my morning routine for getting ready for work. I was pretty successful this morning...until I fed Emma. I forgot to put nursing pads in my bra and I also forgot to pump while she was nursing. As a result my shirt was soaked all the way to my waist and pumping wasn't even wort it. All the milk was in my shirt! GRRR! Tomorrow will be different.

Emma is growing like a little weed! She's 10 pounds now and has grown out of all her newborn size clothes. Hard to believe that she's fitting into her 0-3 months clothes! She use to fit preemie size!

Lately she's really been working on learning how to suck her thumb. She's gotten good at getting her thumb in her mouth, she just hasn't figured out how to suck on it yet...but eating her thumb keeps her happy.

We have also started getting into a night time routine. After we eat dinner she gets her bath and get all ready for bed. It works great most nights, last night she was asleep at 7:30! She does have her occasional fuss fest and won't go to sleep till midnight but lucky for us those aren't often.

I have been working on building a freezer stash of breast milk. It's safe to say that I have at least 50 oz in there now. Saturday and Sunday I'll have to spend pumping for Monday when I won't be here...for the first time! WAAAHHHHH!

I apologize that this entry is sort of all over the place!

7 weeks!

2011-10-10T08:57:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe that Emma is now 7 weeks old! Things really couldn't be going better. She got baptized yesterday. She's nursing well and growing like a weed. She's not colicky but she does have her occasional fuss fit. She's a really good baby! We are so blessed to have such a good little girl.

Something funny that happened yesterday afternoon. Emma was nursing, I was sitting on the floor at my parents house and my nephew was over (he's 14 months old) and Emma was making fussing noises so my nephew comes to the rescue. He walks over to where I'm sitting and promptly lifts up the nursing cover, Emma has started nursing by this time, and looks in at her and puts the cover down again like, I found here she's right there. It was cute. I've been wondering how long it would be before a little kid did that.

Things have been going great!

Finished birth story

2011-09-05T09:18:00.000-06:00

I finally had a chance to edit and finish Emma's birth story. To read the complete story click here

Enjoy!

12 days!

2011-09-02T11:46:00.000-06:00

Emma has been here for 12 days already! I've heard that the first 2 weeks new parents are like zombies. For us it hasn't been that bad. I think we're managing pretty well. We've been able to get out of the house when we want to to go to the grocery store and get things done that we need to get done. It's been nice. Just the other day we took a trip to the mall just to walk around. With Emma being so light I was even able to nurse her while we were walking. That made me feel like a pro and like a million bucks!

It's still hard to believe that we are parents to a real live sweet little girl. She's our little sweet pea!

Meeko and Nutmeg seem to be adjusting just fine, which is good.

The only thing that I'm having trouble adjusting to is night feedings. I finally trust myself enough to wake up when Emma starts stirring that I'm not setting an alarm to wake me up before she does. I find it hard to stay awake during these feedings. I think I'm getting better. At least I don't feel like a zombie. So that's nice.

We've managed to stay sane and normal! :O) We're loving every minute with our sweet little angel.

Breastfeeding....is going GREAT!

2011-08-30T10:46:00.000-06:00

I haven't had a chance to do my post about breastfeeding yet. This might turn out to be a long one.

In the hospital we had a Nurse Betty...you know those nurses that make you feel guilty and really do their best to try to force their way on you. Well our nurse Betty did this with breastfeeding.

Emma's weight dropped 8 oz or so from her birth weight, well with in the normal 7-10% weight drop seen by average newborns. Well nurse Betty decided that it was because we didn't have breastfeeding established well yet. HEllo! I'm a first time mom learning this and Emma is also just learning this. Of course the first day isn't going to be filled with 20 plus minute feedings every 2 hours. I thought everything was going just fine with our short 5 min feedings and such.

Of course nurse Betty, every time she came into the room would ask when Emma last ate, for how long, on which side, and what her diaper output was. She was really just worried with those things and not how my breastfeeding relationship was going with Emma. She would also proceed to tell me that in order to get her to eat to get her all irritated and aggravated (like she's really going to latch on when she mad) and to shove her face into my boob and not let her move away. This went against EVERYTHING I had read and that I had been told by a lactation consultant (our Bradley instructor). She was doing a really good job at making me feel bad, like I was failing in some major way because Emma wasn't eating like she 'should' be. One night I was even trying to feed her and I couldn't stop crying because I was feeling so bad that she wasn't eating more.

Early that morning I sent my LC an email telling her how I was feeling and looking for some reassurance and some more tips that I could use. Those helped. Then later in the day the doula on call who also happened to be a LC came by to see how we were all doing and she spent an hour with us talking about breastfeeding. She was a god send just when I needed it. We told her how the nurse was acting with feedings and she basically told us that what I had read and been told before was the way to do things. Her words were "If someone force feed you your favorite ice cream, would you eat it?" probably not. That's how babies think. It's rude to force feed your baby like that. She also told us that when babies are just eating colostrum their stomachs are only the size of a tea spoon...There's no way she could eat for 20 min, there wouldn't be room for it.

While the doula/LC was in there the nurse came in and brought a nipple shield. Which the doula started talking about before the nurse could. :O) Because Emma is so small her mouth muscles were too week to draw in the nipple and boob needed to get a good latch so the shield should help with that because its formed. So with the doula/LC's help I started using that. She also told me how to stop using it as Emma gets bigger and stronger. She must have been in there for at least an hour talking to us. After she left things made a huge turn around and have been going great since! Doula Penny is the best!

Emma is now getting to where she doesn't have to use the shield to nurse. I still use it at night so that I can get more sleep, might be a bit selfish but sleep is good. But I'm hoping with her not using it during the day she won't need it at night anymore.

Emma is HERE - Birth Story, Bradley Method w/ Pitocin

2011-08-24T17:47:00.052-06:00

Emma

Weight: 5 lbs 15.3 oz

Length: 17.25 in

Time: 2:48 AM

16 days early

Birth Story

Completed! I hope you enjoy.

Saturday morning I got up to pee at 4:30. In my usual half stupor I got up, did my business and got right back into bed, fell back asleep and started dreaming. In my dream I was telling Scott that I was having period like cramps. I woke up at 5:30 and felt fluid leaking while I was laying down. The fluid was also accompanied by period like cramps. I started thinking that this was another false alarm like I had a few days earlier (with the fluid leaking), but I decided to get up and check things out. When I sat on the toilet there was a gush of fluid. I looked in the toilet and saw a little ting of pink in this clearish stuff (mucus plug with bloody show). When I got off the toilet I gushed more and I was pretty certain that my water had broken. I put on an panty liner, I thought this would be sufficient, and I walked out of the bathroom where Scott was sort of awake and I asked him, "Are you ready to have a baby?" He said something like "Oh my God" or "Are you serious." We can't remember now.

I got in the shower, didn't want to come in all dirty and while I was in the shower I continue leaking fluid. Of course I didn't think about shaving my legs or my other bits. And they both needed some tidying up too. While I was washing Scott made breakfast. After we ate I got up from the table and GUSH, the shorts and undies I was wearing were soaked; so much for the panty liner, I should have used a real pad. I changed into dry clothes, a real pad, we got all our stuff together and headed into triage in labor and delivery.

We got into triage about 7 or 7:30 AM and got put in a triage room immediately. Then with in 5 minutes the room was full of people, a tech, a nurse, the doctor on call, and the doula...the triage rooms are small, it started to feel cramped. The Dr. did the strip test just to make sure I was leaking amniotic fluid, not hard to do because just getting on the bed made me gush more. Then he checked dilation and effacement. This was the first internal check that I had had and it wasn't very comfortable. I was 70% effaced and 1-2 cm dilated. He immediately brought up the use of pitocin to get labor progressing. We immediately told him that we were aiming for a completely natural birth and asked if we could have a few hours to figure out what we wanted to do etc. He said OK kind of like he didn't really think that was a good idea but then he left and we didn't see him the rest of the day, which I thought was odd.

Doula Erin suggested that we go out walking around once they unhooked me from all of the monitors and such to see if I could get labor to progress better. We agreed as this was one of the things we learned about in our Bradley classes. We walked around for a good 3 hours. We even stopped by the cafeteria where I ate some chicken noodle soup, I was starving. I decided what they didn't know wouldn't hurt because I was supposed to be on a clear liquid diet. I figured we'd be there for a while and I didn't want to starve or get a headache from not eating. Doula Erin left us alone for half an hour to let us eat. So nice of her not to make me stick to the all clear liquid diet they say you have to be on once in the hospital. In that time spent walking around I thought that they would have a labor and delivery room ready for me. Oh how I was wrong. They checked me out again on all the monitors. While I was on the monitors the second time I sat on the birth ball and did circles, much better than being stuck to the bed. My progress was not checked. After that we went out walking some more, this time outside around the parking lot. Here I did some lunges and with every lunge I would gush more fluid. We also walked up and down the stairs inside where I took 2 at a time to get things to open up. Walking around seemed to bring contractions more regular and a little stronger though they were still only feeling like period cramps to me, but I have really bad period cramps so I'm not sure how my contractions would have felt to someone with mild period cramps. We ended up being in triage for 12 hours. 12 HOURS! That's a long time to be in a tiny little room. We never saw the Dr. again. That made me wonder why he would even suggest pitocin to begin with. My progress was also not checked again. Not something that I minded but it did surprise me. We were in triage for 12 hours because they were so busy in labor and delivery. It was like every pregnant lady in the city of Albuquerque who was term had their water break. Doula Erin also would keep checking into why we didn't have a labor and devilry room yet and asking all those sorts of questions for us. She also made sure that I had plenty of water or juice to drink. She's a trained acupuncturist and she pressed on some pressure points in my hands and feet while I was hooked up to the monitors to help labor along.

At about 7 PM we were finally moved to a labor and delivery room. Once in there an IV was started, I requested the hep-lock, told her that I planned to stay hydrated on my own by drinking water after every contraction. The nurse said she would check to see if they could do that (I don't think she did) and would do that if she got the OK but that she would turn on the drip really slow. She sucked at starting IVs, that hurt worse than my contractions, and it's not like my veins are hard to find they are nice an plump and traceable. Shift change. Doula Erin got to go home (she was awesome to stick with us for her entire shift while we were in triage) and doula Debra took over. I never did just have the hep-lock, they kept the IV going. The new nurse came in and said that the doctor had ordered me NFM (no fluid by mouth) which meant that all I could have were ice chips. This made me mad because the doctor hadn't seen me for 12 hours. How could he know! I told her that too. I kept drinking my water and the nurse went to go check that out with the new on call doctor. Thankfully I was able to drink to my hearts content after that but they still left in the IV. She also checked my progress again and I was dilated 2-3 cm and 80% effaced. So I had made some progress in those 12 hours.

The nurse also read my birth plan and asked me if I wanted her to offer pain meds if she felt I was in a lot of pain or if I wanted to ask her for them. I told her that I would ask her for them. They started a pitocin drip, told me that they would only have it on long enough to get me into more active labor and that it wouldn't be turned on much. I agreed to this with the understanding that the drip would be stopped once I was in good active labor. I looked at it but I don't remember what the rate was. The pitocin started working pretty quickly. The nurse said that meant that my uterus was very favorable to it. Scott and I both think that they really never stopped it like I thought they were going to do. My contractions steadily got worse but only stayed where they were earlier in the day, in the lower part of my belly where you would normally feel period cramps.

The doctor came in after a bit and checked me again. I have no idea what time it was, and I was at 4 cm. She said that getting to 4 cm usually takes the longest and that I should start progressing quicker after that. Boy was she right. I did quite a bit of things laboring out of bed with Scott's and doula Debra's help. Scott and I did the high school dance. He lifted up on my belly during a contraction, something that I didn't like the feel of during our Bradley class. Funny how I liked it while in labor but we were told that that would likely happen. I labored on my knees leaning on the bed. Found out that I couldn't do that because when I bent forward I was pinching Emma's cord and her heart rate would drop really low, so anything that required leaning was out which meant that Scott never got to try out the counter pressure techniques that I liked during our class. I was starting to get quite shaky at this point and decided to rest a little bit and labor in bed some. While I was doing this Doula Debra sneaked me some peanut butter. I ate that and some chicken broth and some dehydrated apricots that Scott and I brought with us. I was STARVING! Doula Debra massaged my feet during this time too. That felt really nice!

My contractions up until this point were all VERY manageable. I was still feeling very confident in myself and in my choice to go med free.

I don't know what time transition started but I'm sure it started when I got sick. I was in bed when I got sick and as soon as I got sick my contractions started coming MUCH stronger and super close together. I had to get out of bed again because I couldn't deal with them laying down. They were tripple piggy backing on each other. I tried getting in the tub to let the shower run on my belly. After trying I had to get out because the sitting position wasn't good for Emma's heart rate. Scott and Doula Debra were pretty sure at this point I was in transition, they mentioned this to the nurse and she didn't agree. I stayed out of bed as long as I could, holding on to Scott with each contraction. I keep telling him that I couldn't do this. This was too hard. At one point I think I told him that I wanted drugs (too late of course). The contractions were so bad that I wanted to cry and couldn't. I was doubling over in pain from them which wasn't good for Emma, and I was trying really hard to stay relaxed, VERY HARD TO DO when these contractions seemed to have no end. Doula Debra kept rubbing my shoulders (where I keep my tension) and keep reminding me to relax.

I remember telling Scott that I felt like he wasn't listening to me, to stop looking at me like that (he had this funny smile on his face), and that I couldn't do this. He kept bargaining with me like we were thought in our Bradley class, saying things like, just make it through this one, you're doing great, you're getting closer to seeing Emma, this is what we wanted for Emma, etc. Doula Debra was also saying lots of things along the same lines. She kept rubbing my shoulders. I was squeezing Scott's hand but when the contractions got really bad I'd let go of his had because I was afraid I'd break it. I was standing through a lot of transition, Scott and I did the HS slow dance a little...all until my legs were shaking so bad I was scared I couldn't hold myself up anymore. At that point I decided to get back into bed.

I got up to pee and at that point I felt A LOT of recital pressure. My progress was checked again and I was at 9 cm. That was encouraging to hear. I was still so shaky I was scared to stand so I got back into bed. Scott's hand and the bed rail got pretty used. I was trying hard not to curl up into a ball with each contraction because of pinching Emma's cord but that was hard to do and I have to admit that I did do that a few times. The Nurse was in the room all the time at this point and she kept adjusting Emma's monitor to make sure she was doing OK. I felt like I was being loud a very vocal with each contraction, saying things like ouch ouch ouch, ow ow ow. Scott said that I wasn't that loud. Trying to stay relaxed and cope all at the same time.

I could really tell when I got the urge to push. I told the nurse that I really wanted/needed to push. She checked me again and told me not to, I had a small lip on my cervix. I couldn't help it and took a few practice pushes anyway because it felt good and I had to clench my butt muscles to not push. I mentioned this too I think and at this point the doctor was in the room and she said I could push! The best words I heard all night. Scott held one leg, doula Debra held the other and I held both. I don't remember what this pushing position is called but with my legs being so shaky I don't think I could have used any other position.

Pushing felt GOOD! I would feel the contraction coming and tell Scott and the doula and they'd get my legs into position and I'd grab my legs and push. It took me a little bit to figure out how to do it effectively. The first few didn't really do much because they were little pushes but I thought they were big pushes. HA-HA. After a bit I figured it out. You know when you have a really huge urge to poo and you're sitting on the toilet and sometimes those muscles sort of make your throat clentch up a bit, that's what I had to make myself feel like to get in good pushes. For each contraction I would take a deep breath hold it, push and let it out slowly, take another deep breath and do it all over again. For each contraction I would do this 4 times. I started feeling like I was going to pass out. A few times after a pushing session the nurse would tell me to take a deep breath so I could catch my breath. During pushing the contractions didn't hurt at all and between each pushing session I had a few minute break. I was so exhausted I kept my eyes closed through most of the pushing and the rest periods. I couldn't keep my legs from shaking. Yes I pooed...4 times in fact. A little bit embarrassing. Scott said that I was a lot. I couldn't really feel Emma move through the birth canal but I could tell when her head was close to crowning I could not close my legs comfortably because it felt like I had a football in there. Scott said I was pushing for probably about 1 hour and 30 minutes. During pushing I got SUPER hot! I couldn't cool down at all. Doula Debra was putting cold wash clothes on my chest and my head. That helped a little bit. And it's true what they say in class, you loose your modesty! I stripped that stupid hospital gown off of me and threw it to the floor.

They told me that she was really close to being born. That was exciting. After they told me that I think I had 1 or 2 more pushing sessions. I could feel her crown but the 'ring of fire' wasn't that bad. I expected worse. Scott said that once her head came out the rest just followed really fast, plus the doctor pulled her out. Scott said that it happened so fast, the thinks the doctor hooked under Emma's arms and pulled her out that way. Scott said that once her head was out the doctor cut the cord really quick because it was wrapped so tight around her neck. She kicked the back of Emma's neck with the clamps because it was so tight. Had Scott wanted to cut the cord he wouldn't have been able to. Once the cord was cut the doctor told me to give a big push and she pulled and woosh, out came the baby and everything else. I could still feel the cord and the placenta. I delivered the placenta in about 20 minutes after Emma. That was easy and I remember seeing this big purple blob over Emma.

Immediately after Emma was born the baby nurse put her on my chest. I couldn't believe I had done it! There she was this perfect little girl laying on my chest. Crying until she warmed up. I couldn't really see what she looked like because she was right under my chin but Scott said she was beautiful. She warmed up really quickly because I was so hot and they covered us with a blanket or two. The baby nurse rubbed her down and suctioned out her mouth and nose while she was on my chest and just let us be skin to skin. SO AMAZING! A completely indescribable feeling. I had just delivered this perfect little sweet pea. She was ours, all ours. Emma pee'd on me twice while we were just laying there. I really couldn't believe that I just did that. No pain medication! WOW! Boy did I feel awesome. I wasn't in any more pain at all until the doctor sowed up my tear she did give me a local for that but she had to spread some stuff out down there to sow and that hurt. I had a 2nd degree tear, didn't even feel it when it happened because everything was happening so fast.

I'm not sure how long we were able to just be but the nurse got me out of bed and to the bathroom. I needed to pee for her...make sure my bladder was working and so that it wasn't pushing my uterus to the side...it was. I was in there for about 15 minutes and couldn't coax my bladder into letting me pee so she had to give me a catheter for about 5 min just to empty my bladder. Not a pleasant feeling. And boy was my bladder full. I tried to feed Emma during this time but she wasn't ready. And she was just as beautiful as Scott said she was!

While I was in the bathroom they did all the things that they didn't do while she was laying on me. About 90 minutes after delivery they moved us up to the mom and baby floor. We were super tired. I tried to feed Emma again and this time she sucked pretty good. I could even feel my uterus contract down when she did. We slept skin to skin for about an hour (the only sleep I got that night) and then Scott slept skin to skin with her for a little bit. We were so exhausted. I was still shaking uncontrollably from all the energy used and the adrenalin and other hormones going through my system.

Scott thinks transition lasted an hour and a half to two hours. I felt like it lasted forever. He thinks I was pushing for about an hour and a half. Not too bad for a first time mom. :O)

I had done it. I brought our daughter into the world with no pain medication just like I wanted to do. I still can't believe it. I would have liked not to have had the IV or the pitocin but in the long run that's just a minor glitch in the plan I had envisioned. Emma coming 2 weeks and 2 days early was definitely not part of my plan either. Looking back I think that they probably kept the pitocin drip going because Emma's cord was being pinched and because my water had been broken for so long. I had been told that when your water breaks when you deliver at the hospital they like to have the babies out with in 24 hours because of the risk of infection. My water was broke for 21 hours by the time Emma was born. I wouldn't trade any of what happened. The doula program at Pres. is worth every penny! I am so glad that we had them to help us. We will definitely be using them again for our next baby.

Our trip to Triage in Labor and Delivery

2011-08-17T09:58:00.001-06:00

Yesterday started just like any other day, only it didn't.

Every day before I even get out of bed in the morning Emma usually gets in her morning kick/roll count without any hesitation and very quickly. Yesterday she didn't move at all before I got out of bed.

When eating breakfast she usually starts moving around a lot again, excited to be getting food I guess...and again she didn't move around much at all.

On the drive in to work every morning she moves a fair amount, but even with my poking and prodding her to try to force her to get her count in (8 in 2 hours) she didn't want to but did get 8 in before I got to work.

In the middle of the day, around lunch she usually has a small one baby dance party that lasts a good 30 min. Yesterday it only lasted about 10. A significant decrease.

When I get home from work and relax, and Scott gets home, that's when she always has her big movements of the day where I can feel feet scraping across my belly and elbows jutting out and stuff. NONE of that yesterday.

I was poking her, shaking her, jumping up and down (yes I really was). I drank Ice water, ate supper, drank more ice water and I still wasn't feeling her like normal. We gave her till bedtime ~ 9PM last night to start moving normal. She didn't so we called in to the Dr. on call, he said to go down to Triage in Labor and Delivery just to make sure everything was OK with the baby.

So we went. Of course I took a quick shower first...all of 5 minutes and we were out the door. Nutmeg had this look like, Hey we just went to bed, where are you going now?

All the way to the hospital Emma didn't move at all. I was doing my best to relax, thinking about nothing, hoping that would make her want to do the jig or something. But nope, she just stayed there doing nothing. I asked Scott what he would think if we got there and found out I was having contractions. He said, geese I hope that won't make them induce you.

We get there, get checked in. They have me put on a gown, which I have to say made my boobs like really really perky, and hooked me up to the monitors.

When hooking up the FHR monitor the nurse said that she was moving around like crazy, I couldn't feel it though. Then he was going through the list of questions I'm sure they ask everyone..."Are you having any contractions?" he asks. "Nope, not that I know of" I say. Not but a few minutes of having the mommy monitor on he says, "You're having a contraction. Do you feel that?" and No I didn't feel it, not at all. Didn't feel any of the other ones that were happening either.

They did not do an internal check and they did not do the strip test for amniotic fluid. I still don't know if I'm dilated any and I haven't noticed my mucus plug coming out yet. From what I understand, you know when this happens.

AND wouldn't you know it, as soon as they get me all wired up Emma starts moving around like she's supposed to. DUDE! She even kicked the mommy monitor at one point. Scott said that she's taking notes from Nutmeg, making us go in when the regular doctor office is closed.

I was hooked up for about an hour. Close to 12:30 we started hearing this beeping outside the door. Of course we're wondering what that's all about figuring that someone else there must have lost a signal or something...Nope it wasn't someone else it was us. Emma moved out of the way of the FHR monitor and that set off the alarm. Another nurse came in to get her back on the monitor and made a comment about the contractions that I was having. They were just about to let us go home and she said that one of the nurses asked, "are you sure you want to let her go, with all those contractions?" and then the other nurse said that I said I wasn't feeling them. Which is totally true. Funny how I asked Scott about contractions on the way there and then found out I'm actually having them.

I don't know how far apart they are for sure, (Scott thinks about 7 min.) but from what Scott was saying by watching the chart thing they aren't at a regular length or intensity but they are smooth like they should be. I asked the nurse if the monitor would be able to tell the difference between a braxton hix contraction and a real regular one and the nurse said that the braxton hix ones usually are pretty jagged and irregular and come suddenly and end quickly, So I'm not having those...which I've noticed in the past couple of days I haven't felt those, I just didn't think anything of it. Guess they changed.

This morning Emma is back to her normal self, moving around like she's supposed to. In fact right at this moment she's squirming around.

I'm glad that we went just to be safe. Scott said that we can look at it as a practice run.

✎ Week 37 Questionnaire

2011-08-16T05:00:00.001-06:00

How far along?: 37 weeks 0 days, OR 8.509 months pregnant. ONLY 3 WEEKS left!!!! 21 DAYS left!!!!!! Only 13 working days left till due date! Emma is now FULL TERM!!!!!! SUPER EXCITING!
How big is baby?: If I go into labor now, her lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. Emma weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. http://www.babycenter.com/
Weight gain?: 40.4 pounds as of yesterday.
Stretch marks?: None yet.
Maternity clothes?: Nothing new.
Best moment last week?: Having everyone over for the baby pool party...only we forgot to do the pool!
Symptoms?: Cold sweaty feet, some heartburn, indigestion, rib pain (from expanding rib cage), swelling in my right arm from my elbow to my finger tips. I've been having tingling in my fingertips and some pain in my elbow form the swelling putting pressure on my nerves.
Exercise?: The exercises from our birthing class.
Gender?: GIRL!
Movement?: Emma: Has decreased a little bit. Emma is losing room in there and has been sleeping a lot more. She does get in her kick/roll counts though.
Me: Me on the other hand, It's harder for me to get up off the floor, now I have to get on my knees first to get up.
Belly button?: Still in, though it's getting shallow and still pierced. I'm still wearing my pregnancy belly ring.
What I miss?: Hands that feel normal sized! Some days I feel and look like I've got Michelin Man hands!
Labor signs?: Occasional braxton hix contractions. I notice I get these more the more active I am and if I haven't had enough water.
What I'm looking forward to?: Just playing the waiting game now...

Did my water break, or did I just pee myself?

2011-08-15T15:33:00.000-06:00

Friday evening Scott and I went to Walmart to get a few things we needed for our baby pool party on Saturday. We just finished putting things in the car/suv thing and I took the buggy over to the buggy return. I turned around to walk back and suddenly felt very wet down there. My shorts were even wet. Scott was watching me walk back and like a goof ball I tried to look down to see how wet my shorts were...forgot that I can't see past my belly.

Mind you I'm still walking toward him when I ask this, stop and pose in the middle of the parking lot for him to look while I'm still a distance away from him. I'm so fashionably ladylike! Anyway, I ask Scott,

"Is it all wet down there?"

And he says, "YEAH!" With this what's going on expression.

LOL! I finish walking to the car and say,

"what was that, did my water just break?"

Scott's says "I don't know, should we go get beer now or do you want to go take care of 'this'."

"I want to take care of this! I'm not walking around the store with my shorts all wet."

So we head home. I head stright for the bathroom to invistigate. Shorts are definitly wet, need to be washed. I'd been wearing them all day and wasn't able to tell if the new wetness had an order to it because I had been having major swamp crotch issues all day. I decided I'd take a shower and put on clean dry clothes and see what would happen.

While I was in the shower, Scott put in a pizza for dinner and called the doula program at Press. We weren't sure what was going on and needed someone to talk to. To try to decide if we needed to go to labor and delivery or not. Scott also got our 'go' bag packed in record time! I got out of the shower and while we were eating dinner I got on the birth month board that I participate on to see what the other ladies thought and DH put a call in with the OB office. He has all the numbers programed into his phone. He's ready!

We got a call back from the doula on duty and I talked with her about what it felt like and she asked some questions about things, like did it have an odor, if I change positions do I get a gush of fluid still, etc. I told her that I haven't noticed the mucus plug coming out and asked if you can leak fluid from your water breaking and the MP still be there. She said it is possible if it's moved to the side a bit. None of those were happening and I was still dry from taking a shower. So we decided to wait and see what happened. We never did get a call back from the OB on call (which happened to be my OB). That kind of bugged us.

So we concluded that even though I didn't feel like I needed to pee I must have pee'd myself. I asked Scott, "Who does that?" his answer, "3 year old's." Made me laugh. Though I suppose it could have been an increase in vaginal discharge.

Now, though, I'm paranoid every time I feel something leak down there and I'm in the bathroom checking it out.

OH and on Saturday at the 'baby pool party' we completely forgot to do the pool!!!!!! DOH!

☤ 37 Week Appointment

2011-08-15T11:27:00.000-06:00

My weight: 40.4 lbs over my PP weight. It's only been 4 days since my last appt. and I gained 0.2 lbs. I wonder how much of that has to do with it being a different scale.
My BP: 110/70
Belly measurement: 37 cm Right on track
Emma's heart rate: in the 140's bpm

My GBS (group B strep) test came back negative! Which is AWESOME

I asked the NP if she thought that Emma was face front (posterior or sunny side up) or face back (anterior) and she said from feeling around she would guess that she is face back. Which is also great!

Everything is looking great. ☺ and now we just pretty much get to wait for labor to start and go back for our appointment every week until Emma decides she's ready to see the world.

☤ 36 Week Appointment

2011-08-11T09:52:00.001-06:00

My weight: 40 lbs over my PP weight. That means I now currently weigh 13 pounds less than my dad... ☹ I'm not too thrilled with that number but Emma is healthy and so am I and that's really what is important.
My BP: 118/70
Belly measurement: 36 cm Right on track
Emma's heart rate: in the 140's bpm

I was also given the GBS (group B strep) test. Should have results of that by our next appointment...which is Monday. I hope it's negative!

I am happy to report that Emma is HEAD DOWN!!!!! YAY! That means that she won't be grounded. The OB did an ultrasound to check. I'm guessing that the Webster Technique that the Chiropractor did a few weeks ago worked. :o) The OB also said that once babies turn they usually stay that way. And if she decides to flip back around that I'd really notice it and to call and let them know, just in case she's one of those squirmy kids that likes to keep flipping. I don't think that will happen.

Everything is looking great. ☺ and now we just pretty much get to wait for labor to start and go back for our appointment every week until Emma decides she's ready to see the world.

✎ Week 36 Questionnaire

2011-08-09T09:28:00.000-06:00

How far along?: 36 weeks 0 days, OR 8.279 months pregnant. ONLY 4 WEEKS left!!!! 28 DAYS left!!!!!! HOLY CRAP! (In the styling of Achmed the dead terrorist - Jeff Dunham puppet)
How big is baby?: Emma is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.
At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term!!!! http://www.babycenter.com/
Weight gain?: I forgot to weigh myself this morning. I'll have a weight update on Thursday after the 36 week OB appt. I figure my dad will weigh about 10 pounds more than me when I deliver. What a happy thought....NOT!!!! HAHA
Stretch marks?: None yet.
Maternity clothes?: Nothing new, but my shirts are starting to feel short and with only 4 weeks left I don't want to buy more.
Best moment last week?: Realizing that I'm not scared of labor and delivery like I use to be. I'm now looking forward to it and quite excited about it. Maybe that puts me in the 'you must be outside your mind' group. Maybe I am. :O) I'm not sure what brought on this change in my thinking, but I like it!
Food cravings?: Nothing knew this week.
Symptoms?: Cold sweaty feet, some heartburn, indigestion, rib pain (from expanding rib cage), swelling in my right arm from my elbow to my finger tips. I've been having tingling in my fingertips and some pain in my elbow form the swelling putting pressure on my nerves.
Exercise?: The exercises from our birthing class.
Gender?: GIRL!
Movement?: Emma: Has decreased a little bit. Emma is losing room in there and has been sleeping a lot more. She does get in her kick/roll counts though.
Me: Me on the other hand, I can no longer bend over to reach something across the table, I have to get up and walk to get it.
Belly button?: Still in, though it's getting shallow and still pierced. I'm still wearing my pregnancy belly ring. The pretty one that I bought got lost! The ball fell off :O( So I had to change the balls on the ends. Now it looks like pepperment.
What I miss?: Hands that feel normal sized! Some days I feel and look like I've got Michelin Man hands!
Labor signs?: Occasional braxton hix contractions. I notice I get these more the more active I am and if I haven't had enough water.
What I'm looking forward to?: This week, I'm really looking forward to he OB appt. I want the conformation that Emma is now head down like I think she is. She better be!

✎ Week 35 Questionnaire

2011-08-02T09:20:00.000-06:00

How far along?: 35 weeks 0 day, OR 8.049 months pregnant. ONLY 5 WEEKS left!!!! OR 35 DAYS left!!!!!! HOLY CRAP! (In the styling of Achmed the dead terrorist - Jeff Dunham puppet)
How big is baby?: Emma doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.
Weight gain?: This morning I was 36.4 pounds above my PP weight! I now weigh 176.4 pounds. EEK that's a lot!
Stretch marks?: None yet.
Maternity clothes?: Nothing new
Best moment last week?: Washing little Emma clothes! They are SO tiny!
Food cravings?: Nothing knew this week.
Symptoms?: Cold sweaty feet, some heartburn, indigestion, back ache, rib pain (from expanding rib cage), gas, calf cramps. One major symptom that got the best of me yesterday was the swelling in my right arm from my elbow to my finger tips. I've been having tingling in my fingertips and some pain in my elbow form the swelling putting pressure on my nerves, but yesterday it hurt so bad that every time I picked something up with my right hand I was afraid that I was going to drop it. I spent the day working to get the swelling to go down and today it's not hurting, which is good.
Exercise?: Walking and the exercises from our birthing class. Though I don't do either as much as I should. We also need to start practicing our Bradley stuff. We only have 5 weeks left!!!!!!!
Gender?: GIRL!
Movement?: Lots of movement still.
Belly button?: Still in, though it's getting shallow and still pierced. I'm still wearing my pregnancy belly ring.
What I miss?: My wedding ring.
Labor signs?: Occasional braxton hix contractions. I notice I get these more the more active I am and if I haven't had enough water.
What I'm looking forward to?: As odd as it may sound I'm actually really looking forward to the whole labor and delivery process. Does that make me weird?

Started the Webster Technique

2011-07-29T12:03:00.007-06:00

Wednesday (34 weeks) I had another appointment with the chiropractor. I asked her about the Webster technique and if we could start that during that appointment. I explained to her that the OB mentioned in my last visit (at 33 weeks) that they like to see the babies turned by 36 weeks (Emma hadn't turned yet), and that I was really starting to get concerned that Emma hadn't turned. I really don't want to have a c-section (though I will if necessary) and was starting to worry about that and really wanted her to go ahead and turn. The chiropractor said it was a bit early to start the Webster technique but said we could try and see if it'll help. So she did that on Wednesday.

At my 33 week appointment Emma's head was in the upper right quadrant of my belly and her feet were in the lower left quadrant. She was just chilling out in her hammock. The OB confirmed that this was the way she was hanging out in my belly. After that appointment I started looking at a website called spinningbabies.com. I did the inversion seen on that webpage 2 or 3 times (not on the same days and only for about 30 seconds each time) and that made her position change a little bit, but I couldn't figure out how. Only that her head wasn't in the spot that it was, but I don't think she turned with me doing that.

Yesterday I was thinking Emma's position has now changed from how it was before my chiropractor appointment and after the inversion. I was, and still am, feeling kicks, punches, and hiccups in different areas than I was feeling them in before.

Here's my latest belly mapping drawing (from spinningbabies.com) of how I think Emma is situated in there now.

I have no idea if she's posterior or anterior facing. Wouldn't even begin to try to figure that out. I just hope that she really is situated like this now.

Right now she's pushing out so hard on my belly I'm starting to get sore.

Dear Skin,

2011-07-26T19:07:00.000-06:00

Dear Skin,

We need to have a talk. For the past 34 weeks you have been very kind to me. Never itching, not giving me any stretch marks, always being nice and moist with the oils and lotions I have been putting on you since finding out that I was pregnant. You have been very, very nice to me with all of that. And I appreciate it. I really do.

My issue is the past couple of days. Why have you decided that soap suddenly is too drying? Why did you have to start peeling on my boobs because of one shower with soap last week? Why have you been so itchy on my belly that no amount of lotion cures the itch? You feel like you are going to jump right off of me and go running down the hall. WHY???

I am trying my best not to scratch you. I am paranoid that you're going to give me stretch marks if you keep this up. I hope the Bio-Oil that I just bought will make you like me again. So far since applying this after getting home today, you have been nice to me. Thank you! Let's hope we stay on friendly terms.

Sincerely,
Me