Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

[KatyWI]

NEL, mine is... right now! I'm in the doc's office as I type! I am kinda glad I am doing it before carb-fest 2011, but I guess I see it your way too... if I have to abstain from pie, I'm going to be really sad!!

I'll be back hopefully tonight to FINALLY catch up (I have been so busy! Ack!) but I wanted to let everyone know...


Our Miss Freke's water has officially broken! So I imagine she'll be back here with some news of her own pretty soon! Let's all wish her lots of luck for an easy delivery!!

 

[lliang_chi]

Lots of quick and easy labor dust to our dear Freke!!!!

Katy, good luck on your glucose test! So glad you're popping in now. Hope you pass with flying colors!

NEL, thinking about you for yours tomorrow. I think it's a good thing to get it done before Thanksgiving. That way the whole carb-fest doesn't throw off your numbers.

Thanks for weighing in if that's what BH feels like. That sucks! Speaking of which I need to fill up my water bottle now then and start chugging water. I don't want that again today.

Speaking of glucose tests, I have mine on the 5th, so I'm going to be diligently hitting the gym for the week prior. Or at least trying to.


~LC (26w, 5D)

 

[Loves Vintage]

Mimzy - Congratulations on Matilda!!!!! What a BIG BABY!!!! 10 lbs 1 oz!!! Woo-hoo! My baby was 9 lbs 9.5 oz. Must be that extra baking time. I did have quite a time recovering, too. Hope you can get some much needed rest over the holiday weekend.

Oh, and I'd love to see the photos of your little girl!

 

[Skippy123]

Yay for a health 10 lb baby, congrats Mimzy, can't wait to see pictures!!!!

 

[S&I]

bobbin, I've heard that even some of the raw sushi is safe, as long as you know it's fresh and has been stored at the proper temperatures, etc. Cooked sushi should also be safe, unless you go to a shady place that isn't handling it correctly, like mixing it up with the uncooked stuff or whatever. The general consensus is to stay away from the big fish (like tuna) due to higher mercury content. Yay for telling work, and congrats on finishing your semester! Cute bump pics too!

NEL, I will probably take your advice about getting through the holidays before signing up for classes. Things just get too hectic around this time. So sorry you're sick! Darn the weakened immune system that comes with being preggers! I love your 25-week pic - D looks so excited. Good luck with the GD test tomorrow!

Freke, hope you have a quick and smooth delivery! Can't wait to meet your little girl!

LC, great belly pic! I think I also had the same feeling where my belly felt like it was going to explode yesterday! I have no idea if I'm still too early to be feeling anything like that, but it was definitely hard to the touch. I have this illogical fear that I won't know a contraction when it hits me (when the time comes), or I'll be one of those girls who keep getting sent home with false labor. Have fun at the Opera!

mimzy, thanks for posting your birth story, and I'm glad you were able to progress enough the second night so your dad could stay for the delivery! Yikes about being able to feel all the repairs down there. My DH was a 10-pounder, so I'm worried that I might end up having to push one of those out too. Can't wait to see Matilda's first pics!

Katy, hope your GD test went well. Thanks for letting us know about Freke's status!

AFM, my manager just gave me a half-day tomorrow, and also said I could work from home in the morning if I wanted to. That comes in handy, since I still have to go grocery shopping for the last-minute Thanksgiving dinner that I decided to host for my parents and some cousins. Other than my weird belly pain from yesterday (I seriously thought the baby was just really upset for some reason), not much else going on. I started poking around at different parts of my belly, and my DH told me to stop poking/squeezing the baby, for fear that I would hurt the baby. Only 8 more days until the anatomy scan!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving holiday!

(18w+4d)

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

De-lurking to say Go Freke (& baby!), GO!

 

[loriken214]

How exciting!!!!

Lori

 

[EricaR]

Baby Freke is here and mom and baby are doing well. More details to come!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Thank you my dear PS friends!!! I appreciate your sharing in our joy! Baby Claire came home from the hospital today! They were doing really well so they were able to go home. Here is a picture from today!

DS she is gorgeous. Tell your daughter to savour these early days, they just go by so fast! Next thing you know you have a six month old. And then a 30 year old!

Thank you, Dreamer! And this is oh so true!!!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, yay, Freke!!! Hope all is going well and that your little one is HERE!

 

[loriken214]

Baby Freke is here and mom and baby are doing well. More details to come!

Thank you for the update Erica!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

Lori

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Baby Freke is here and mom and baby are doing well. More details to come!

Yay!!! When I posted earlier I was so excited to see that her water broke and that baby was on the way that I missed the second post!

Can't wait to hear more about her arrival, her name, and see pictures!!!!

 

[Bella_mezzo]

yay Freke and baby Freke!!!

 

[sapphirering]

Thanks everyone!!!

Claire Elizabeth was born at 8:20am eastern time, 8lbs.8oz., 19 inches.

My daughter did very well and amazingly had her naturally!!! I would have bet money that she would have opted for an epidural but she had a great doula who helped her through it (and her hubby, of course). So she is feeling well other than being up all night and the baby is alert and doing great! They opted for no shots in the hospital, which I support.

Okay Freke..your turn now!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Grandma! Your granddaughter is absolutely beautiful! I had two natural births as well and I loved the euphoria I felt right after the baby was out. (The actual pain part? Not so much. )

 

[mimzy]

Thanks everyone We are really excited to have Matilda home. She's such a good baby so far - almost back to her birth weight, eating like a champ and sleeping 5-6 hours at a time at night (dr. said it was okay since her weight looked so good )

NEL You (and your DH!) are adorable! Your nursery looks awesome. I know the classes can seem like a lot, but we did 4 or 5 and I was really glad that we did. If he's up for it, you might want your DH to go to the BF'ing class with you....Stefan came with me to mine and he has been able to be such an awesome support and really actually helpful the past week with feeding (he remembered some things that I didn't and I think he has a better understanding of how hard it can be, etc).

LC and bobbin your bellies are so great! I hope you are enjoying showing them off

DS Your granddaughter is so cute! such big eyes! Congratulations!

Freke Congratulations! I hope you had a smooth delivery and a fast recovery!

S&I Hopefully your baby will take after you more than your DH in that department then! Although, they say that bigger babies eat and sleep better and I'm beginning to think that's true, so it might be a blessing if your LO is on the big side!

 

[mimzy]

Thanks everyone We are really excited to have Matilda home. She's such a good baby so far - almost back to her birth weight, eating like a champ and sleeping 5-6 hours at a time at night (dr. said it was okay since her weight looked so good )

NEL You (and your DH!) are adorable! Your nursery looks awesome. I know the classes can seem like a lot, but we did 4 or 5 and I was really glad that we did. If he's up for it, you might want your DH to go to the BF'ing class with you....Stefan came with me to mine and he has been able to be such an awesome support and really actually helpful the past week with feeding (he remembered some things that I didn't and I think he has a better understanding of how hard it can be, etc).

LC and bobbin your bellies are so great! I hope you are enjoying showing them off

DS Your granddaughter is so cute! such big eyes! Congratulations!

Freke Congratulations! I hope you had a smooth delivery and a fast recovery!

S&I Hopefully your baby will take after you more than your DH in that department then! Although, they say that bigger babies eat and sleep better and I'm beginning to think that's true, so it might be a blessing if your LO is on the big side!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Thanks everyone!!!

Claire Elizabeth was born at 8:20am eastern time, 8lbs.8oz., 19 inches.

My daughter did very well and amazingly had her naturally!!! I would have bet money that she would have opted for an epidural but she had a great doula who helped her through it (and her hubby, of course). So she is feeling well other than being up all night and the baby is alert and doing great! They opted for no shots in the hospital, which I support.

Okay Freke..your turn now!!!

CONGRATULATIONS Grandma! Your granddaughter is absolutely beautiful! I had two natural births as well and I loved the euphoria I felt right after the baby was out. (The actual pain part? Not so much. )

Thank you so much! I am biased but I do think she is a beautiful baby! She is one week old today. You are amazing if you did it twice!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Aww, Mimzy!!! Matilda is adorable!!! I love seeing all these little babies born around the same time! I do think there must be something about the bigger babies sleeping more. My daughter's baby was 8 lbs. 8 oz. and she also sleeps for longer stretches and the doctor says she is also gaining weight so it is okay! Yay for both of you on that!

 

[FrekeChild]

Updating from a hospital bed...

Aralia (haven't given her a middle name yet, first name is pronounced same way as Aurelia) was born 11.23.11 at 4:27am via emergency C-section. 18.75inches, 6 pounds 5 ounces. She's amazing. She's currently taking up residence in th NICU, mostly as a precaution, but there were several complications. I'm hoping she gets to come up to the nursery on our floor later on today. As for me, I'm hanging in there. I am so so so glad I didn't have a birth plan, as nothing went as expected or even remotely the way we thought it might even just a few hours earlier. More details on that when I'm at a real computer!

Thinking about all of you!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Take care, Freke, and congratulations!!! I agree about birth plans for sure! Just glad to hear you and baby Aralia are doing well! We'll look forward to pictures!!!

 

[parrot tulips]

Yippee for all of these gorgeous November girls! DS, Mimzy, and Freke - We definitely have an extra special reason to give thanks today. I can't help but post Ava pictures. I forget how tiny she is when I look at her photo (she's officially over the 3lb mark now).

 

[Skippy123]

Congrats FC!!!!

MIMZY and PARROTTulips, your baby girls are so GORGEOUS!!!! Congrats Yay for the 3 lb mark; I love her knit hat! Mimzy, aww I see a dimple!!!

 

[FrekeChild]

Birth story...watch out, it gets a little graphic towards the end!

Monday morning I went into OB's office and was told I was 1cm dilated. As per my last update (before baby was on her way) I was not pleased.

I woke up very early Tuesday morning with some kinda painful contractions, but they went away relatively fast and I was able to go back to sleep.

I got up as usual and went to get ready for work, and just as I was about to pull on my work clothes, my water broke, 7:38am. I jumped into the shower (amniotic fluid doesn't really gush out like in the movies, but it still made quite a mess) and my husband started to gather anything we could think of and did a little research on when we should head to the hospital. Text my boss, let her know my water had broken, called my dad, D alerted his work that he wouldn't be teaching classes. Left for the hospital, which was 5 minutes away.

Checked into Triage, they were completely empty. It was 8:30am. Waited for the midwife to come in, she had to check to make sure it was my water that had broken (you know, because I can't tell the difference between water breaking and when I pee myself, but whatever!) and I was 2cm dilated. I wasn't having any contractions at this point. The confirmed that it was my water. They had me go walk around for 2 hours to try to jump start contractions and also sent me to go eat some food. Returned to triage around 1pm, was told to go back and walk for another hour.

Walked around, got the bag from the car, back to triage and then they sent me to Labor and Delivery. Went to L&D and was told that I was 2-3cm dilated and I'd had to start pitocin if I was going to have a baby any time soon. Got a nurse that couldn't put an IV in very well, got poked 4 times before finally getting it in (and they had to call another nurse in to do it). She put in the pitocin at a level that was too high. And the contractions started finally.

Between 8:30am and 7:30pm, they delivered 10 babies...that was kind of frustrating to hear because I wasn't one of them and I hadn't had any progress except my dang water breaking!

Shift change and I got 2 very competent nurses. Turns out baby couldn't tolerate the pitocin and her heartrate was bouncing all over the place, they turned it off. Hit 4cm around 5pm. Then the series of killer contractions started when they started me on lower pitocin, and I had had no pain meds. Got an epidural. They upped the pitocin a little bit because I stopped feeling things. Doctor came in and told me that she would come back and check on me in about 2-4 hours and if I hadn't progressed past 4cm, she was going to have to do a c-section.

This was about 11pm. I finally went to sleep for 4 hours. Woke up at 2:30, doc came back and did a cervix check - I was complete! No one was in more shock than I was. So I went to pushing with the nurse a bit. Pushed for 2 hours in a variety of positions. Her heartrate started to jump around a little bit, which wasn't too alarming, but not good still. Baby wasn't really making any progress towards getting around my pelvic bone.

Then I started to run a fever. Doc was called in, the next thing I knew there were about 15 people in my room and the doc was by my head explaining how a c-section worked and what was happening. At that point I was pretty much in shock and things were just happening to me. Less than ten minutes later I was in the OR surrounded by people (all women - which was interesting!) and getting prepped for surgery. 5 minutes after that, D was allowed to come back into the OR, and not long after that, they had sliced me open. Only then did they discover that she had expressed meconium, and I should have had a C-section earlier. They couldn't tell because she was so stuck in my pelvis. They also discovered just how stuck she was- a nurse had to stick her hand up the birth canal to un-wedge her head - she was so stuck in there that they couldn't pull her out through the incision in my belly. Finally they got her out, and everything went pretty normally after that.

D stuck by my head until they called him over to look at her, in which case he walked over to her, and unfortunately turned and looked at the half of me that wasn't my head. Luckily I was really out of it at that point, so I couldn't really tell what he was upset about, but when he brought her over to me, he had tears in his eyes. He told me later that it was horrific to see me like that.

So because of my infection during labor, the meconium and her breathing it in, they put us both on antibiotics, sent her to the NICU and I only got to see her for about 2 minutes before they took her away and put me back together.

I know that the above sounds pretty terrible, but my birth plan was a "do whatever needs to be done at the time and the end goal is healthy mom & healthy baby" with no specifics. I am so glad I did that, because nothing went at all the way I thought it might, even from hour to hour. But my end goal was met, and I the only reason I got stressed out at all during the whole endeavor was because I was tired. Everything I did or chose was just a *in the heat of the moment* decision and it really worked out for the best, I have no regrets about anything that happened.

And she's worth every little bit of angst & pain I had to go through to get her.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Oh, Freke! What a great ending to your story! I agree, it is all worth it when you hold that precious baby in your arms! She is beautiful! It is funny but our hospital had the same hats and blankets so she looks a lot like my daughter's baby did after birth! I know you are both elated!!! I hope you'll heal well and be able to go home soon!

PT...baby Ava is sooo adorable! I just can't even imagine 3 lbs!!! And you are so right...we DO have so much to be thankful for this day!

 

[Skippy123]

FREKE, beautiful baby girl, I am guessing you were at the same NICU as us (looks familiar), congrats!!!!! Glad everyone is Healthy and doing well!

 

[loriken214]

Liz...I'm crying tears of joy.....my heart is so full for you and D!!!!

Love,
Lori

 

[Bella_mezzo]

Congrats Freke, she is GORGEOUS!!!! So glad that the end result was healthy mama and healthy baby!

Mimzy-Matilda is adorable.

PT_Oh my heart, Ava is such a beautiful little peanut!!!

 

[lucy.lucy.80]

congrats mimzy and freke- your girls are adorable!

 

[Mannequin]

Congratulations, Freke! So glad that little Aralia and you are doing well. She is darling!

Mimzy and PT, love the pictures of your little ladies!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Need to take a 24 wk pic this weekend- time is flying by. DH finally felt a kick from Weston yesterday, after he woke up from eating lots of turkey with me. Enjoy your holiday! Will check in again soon.

 

[NewEnglandLady]

I'm going gaga over all of these adorable baby pics!

Freke, I'm so glad that you and Aralia are both doing well. Your flexible birth plan was really put to the test and I'm glad you were able to go with the flow and do what needed to be done. She's absolutely gorgeous and I hope you're healing process goes quickly!

PT, yay for Ava being over three pounds! And I love it when you share photos, I can't get enough of them!

Mimzy, I was so excited to see a pic of Matilda--what a cutie patootie. She sounds like a very easy-going baby, which must be wonderful! Also really glad to hear that the classes you took paid off. I'll have to see about D going to the BFing class, it could be a source of entertainmnet!

I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!