Calling all the Pregnant PS''ers

[radiantgirl]

Ebree - Henry is gorgeous! Can''t wait to hear the long version of your birth story.

Fiery - OMG! Congrats on Sophia! She''s beautiful! Can''t wait to hear more about the details about your delivery.

blushingbride - congrats on hearing and seeing the baby''s heartbeat. Isn''t it the coolest thing?

steph - your ultrasound pic is adorable!

Eeek, that means I''m next in line, but so far only 50% effaced and no dilation as of yesterday''s appointment. I wonder when our baby boy is going to make his appearance.

37w5d

 

[sunkist]

Blushing and Steph love the pics of your little beans! Congrats!

Fiery congratulations! She is beautiful. Look at that wonderful hair! Take care

 

[Pandora II]

Fiery - CONGRATULATIONS MAMA! Sophia is gorgeous and I love the name! How did it go with MIL - did she dress up as a nurse to sneak herself in?

Ebree - Congratulations!

Henry is just adorable, I love newborns expressions, so cute!

PSers do all seem to have babies with lots of hair! Everyone told me that it falls out, but Daisy''s just seems to be growing longer and fairer

Mandy - Those invitations that your sister made are incredible (I''m saving the picture

)

 

[cdt1101]

congrats Fiery!!! She''s beautiful!!! LOVE the name

 

[nycbkgirl]

Congrats FIERY!!! Wooooooot ...she''s a qtpie!..enjoy her and look forward to seein u in the mommy thread

BB- congrats on u/s ..love those...sorry didn''t respond sooner..crazzzzzy day ystdy with the kiddos...for some reason I can''t think of who AB is...can u gimme the first full name?...weird that I can''t think of it..its a she right?...and yes curly was right...its the same weill and presby...congrats again..always here for ya wheneva ya need my help!..if I knew how to give ya my email I would.

 

[anchor31]

It''s Friday everyone... Let''s see some bellies!

Here I am at 14w2d. I feel huge already!

 

[AmberWaves]

Here''s my belly from Tuesday night at 19w2d. I''m pretty sure I''m feeling movement now!

Cute belly Anchor!

 

[neatfreak]

Congrats Fiery!!! Sophia is just gorgeous.

 

[littlelysser]

Congrats Fiery! She is so beautiful! Yay!

And Amber - YAY for movement!!!!!

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Amber and Anchor~~ Love the bellies!!! Babies are growing in there, and I can''t wait to see them!!

*****
congrats Fiery!! What a cutie pie girl!

Hope you''re recovering and feeling well, mommy!!

 

[fisherofmengirly]

Steph and Blushing,

YAY for first pictures of the babies!! They''re cute as can be!! Just think--the next time you see them, they''ll be SO much bigger. It''s so insanely crazy how fast they grow in there!!

 

[Blackpaw]

Congratulations fiery, ebree and robbie

cant wait to hear birth stories and see more pics

 

[nycbkgirl]

BB- never mind...i looked her up..dont know her personally but they all practice together as a team and are all equally great! exciting!

(oh and yes i got out of bed at 5am and remembered i wanted to look it up

)

 

[icekid]

fiery- awwww, Sophia is a doll! Congratulations

 

[Courtneylub]

Amber and Anchor, you both look great!

I can''t wait to hear Robbie''s birth story! Fiery, can''t want to hear the long version of yours!

Sabine, I''m looking forward to yours...which is coming very, very soon!

 

[Sabine]

Courtney, great to see you! So exciting that you decided to stay at home with Alila! I''ve been lurking over in the newborn thread, and can''t wait to join you there!

Anchor and Amber, you girls look great!

Well, after sulking all afternoon yesterday because it was gorgeous out, but dh was at work and I didn''t want to venture out alone because of how horrible my rash looks (the itching is marginally better, it actually looks a TON better on my stomach but is worse on my thighs, arms, and legs), dh got home after a night on call, slept for 5 hours, and then actually felt up for venturing into Norfolk for Harborfest and fireworks! I''m so glad we went! It was really nice to see another part of our new "town" and be out among the living folks. Of course, I was ridiculously uncomfortable after walking around, and then sitting and waiting for the fireworks made me insanely swollen, but it was totally worth it to get a night out with dh!

Hope everyone else enjoyed their 4th!

 

[robbie3982]

Hi Everyone! I can''t believe it''s been a week already since Des was born! The week flew by. I wanted to hop on and share my birth story. I apologize in advance for the length. It was written in short bursts while Des was napping so it''s probably not written very well either.

Congrats to Fiery on the birth of Sophia! She''s gorgeous and I can''t believe all that hair! Too cute that her and Des were the same size at birth.

Ebree, Henry is adorable!

I''ve briefly scanned posts throughout the week, but it''s hard to remember everything that''s been going on.

Anyway, here''s the birth story:

I started having contractions on Friday night around 7pm while we were waiting for a table at our favorite Italian restaurant. They weren’t painful, but definitely different from the braxton hicks that I’d been having. DH asked me to describe them and I said it felt like someone was hugging my uterus. At one point during dinner we started timing them and they were coming an average of 5 minutes apart. I thought it might be the start of labor, but knew we needed to wait it out to be sure.

I tried to go to sleep that night, but I was too excited about the possibility that this was it and I’d get to meet my baby soon! The contractions kept coming while I was up and were a little more intense than they’d been at dinner. Eventually I decided I needed to go to sleep or I’d be in trouble if this really was labor.

When I got up on Saturday morning I was disappointed that the contractions had spaced out considerably. I think I was up for at least a half an hour before I felt one. DH seemed to be a bit disappointed when I told him as well. We made plans to go to our town’s community day (an outdoor event with food and games) and spent a few hours walking around and eating. The thought crossed my mind to eat light, but I decided I couldn’t pass up a gyro and ice cream cone. It didn’t cause any problems so I’m glad I didn’t skip it! We ran into my mom and sister at community day and I had to pretend like I wasn’t having contractions while we were talking to them since we had decided not to tell anyone I was in labor until after the baby was here. The contractions still weren’t too intense at that point though so it wasn’t too hard.

After community day we went to the hospital to visit my friend who’d just had her baby via c-section a few days earlier. DH was hesitant to go because the contractions were getting stronger, but I reminded him that there was no point sitting around the house waiting and we were going to a maternity ward, so if anything happened, we’d be in good hands even if it wasn’t at our own hospital. We stopped at BRU to buy a gift and the contractions started getting more uncomfortable. We timed them for a bit, but they weren’t 5 minutes apart yet so we continued on our way. It was harder to hide my contractions from my friend because of the level of discomfort, but she was pretty engrossed in her new little one so she didn’t notice.

When we got back from visiting my friend my niece texted to ask if she could drop off some Panera bread for DH (she works there and she promised she’d get him some if there was leftover at the end of the night). He asked what I wanted to do since if she saw that I was in labor our families would know within minutes. We decided I’d hide out in the bedroom and pretend to be taking a nap and he’d make up a story about having to go somewhere so she wouldn’t try to stay and hang out. It was really hard to lie in bed and keep quiet while she was there. I was getting really uncomfortable.

After she left we decided to walk around the neighborhood for an hour timing the contractions before calling our doula and our dr. After about a half hour it was looking like they were about 5 minutes apart. We called the doula and she suggested we call our dr. We’d wanted to wait as long as possible at home to avoid unnecessary interventions, but she reminded us that 5-1-1 is just a guideline and you never know how quickly your labor will progress. She had her last baby in the car because they didn’t make it there in time. My contractions now felt like someone was squeezing my uterus and my spine in a vice, but I could still walk and talk through them. I thought this meant that it was probably too early to go in, but we called the Dr. to be safe. I was so excited to find out that my favorite Dr. was on call! She told us to come on in to the hospital and get checked out.

By the time we got to triage it was about 9pm on Saturday. They checked me and I was 3cm! I’d only been 1cm at my appointment on Thursday. They called my Dr. and she said to admit me! The hospital was really busy that night though so it took a while to get a room.

The Dr. had agreed to everything on my birth plan, including intermittent monitoring, but a written order was needed before the nurse would let me get off the monitors. It took a while because my doc had so many other patients. She ended up delivering 10 babies that day! The contractions really sucked while I was lying down. I was so happy when I was able to get up and walk around after the order had been written. We were told I had to be on the monitor 15 minutes of every hour. I spent the other 45 minutes walking around the courtyard. The weather was great and walking made my contractions completely bearable. It was funny because in our Bradley class we’d been taught to be as still as possible and relax everything when having a contraction. I tried doing that, but it felt horrible to me. At this point I was only really feeling contractions in my back. I tried getting on all fours during a contraction, but because I wasn’t moving it made it so much worse. I realized that walking was my thing and just stuck to that. I kind of went into the labor zone when the contractions would hit. I just focused on breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth doing the horse lips thing we’d learned in class and that I’d read about in Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth.

The hospital had 2 rooms with Jacuzzi tubs to labor in and 1 tub open to anyone. We’d requested a room with a tub, but because of how busy the hospital was that night (we were in the 2nd to last room), we didn’t get one. I tried the open tub during one of my breaks from the monitors and it was awesome! I did feel a bit overheated after getting out though.

We’d put on our birth plan that we wanted as few internals as possible, but I was just way too curious to not know what was going on and I kept asking for them. The Dr. offered to break my water at one point when she checked me and it was bulging, but I refused since we’d learned in class that there’s no research that supports breaking the water will speed up labor.

Up until transition I really had the contractions under control and I would be back to my normal self in between. Once transition hit though, I was completely out of it. I think part of the problem was that the monitors started slipping off at that point and I had to stay still for more than 15 minutes. I remember that the pain from staying still was excruciating (oddly enough though I can’t remember the pain, just that it hurt). When I was finally able to leave and walk around I was no longer on top of the contractions. It felt like someone was trying to snap my spine in half. I’d gone from low moans to all out screaming, hyperventilating and telling DH that I couldn’t do it anymore, I felt like I needed to push and that my body was pushing whether everyone else liked it or not. DH and the doula got me back to the room and the nurse called the Dr. in to check me. I’d been in transition for about 2.5 hours, but was only at 8cm, water bag still bulging. We decided to have her break my water at this point. She told us now would be a good time to call our photographer who lived about 45 minutes away. DH called, the Dr. broke my water and I went immediately to 9cm. One of the reasons I hadn’t wanted them to break my water was that I’d heard that contractions get much more intense once it’s broken. I didn’t feel a difference other than an increased feeling that I needed to push. I don’t know that the contractions could have gotten more painful though. I couldn’t keep my body from pushing with each contraction at this point and I was begging to be checked again. I think it was only about 15 minutes later when she came back to check me (time is a total blur though) and I was at 10!!!

I started pushing and the photographer made it just in time. DH says I was pushing for about 10 minutes, but I’m pretty sure it took 2 or 3 contractions to get Des out, so the timing seems off to me since contractions are supposed to space out during pushing. Perhaps this was just another part of my labor that wasn’t text book though. The doula is going to give me a written birth story so perhaps that will clear it up.

Pushing felt sooooo much better than transition. It burned when he was crowning, but it was totally bearable. I ended up with a 2nd degree tear. Desmond Jacob came into the world at 7:29 am on Sunday June 28th, 36.5 hours after I first started having contractions. He was 7 pounds 2 oz and 19 inches long. We were in the hospital for just 10.5 hours before he was born. I went completely drug and intervention free (minus the breaking of the water) during labor. We’d asked for delayed cord cutting, but realized afterwards that it had been cut pretty much immediately. We were so caught up in everything we had no idea. I think everything just happened so fast and the Dr. had delivered so many other babies that day (ours was the last) that it just slipped her mind because of how great she was about everything else. Neither of us is really upset about it though. The nurse tried to take Des right after they’d put him on my chest for the newborn procedures and the Dr. told her to leave him where he was for a while.

I remember saying immediately after the birth that I didn’t know if I’d want to go natural for baby #2, but now that I’m distanced from it a bit I think I would. Only 2.5 hours were really bad (the heplock honestly bothered me more than the contractions for everything except transition and pushing) and I’m still not ok with the possible side effects of a lot of interventions, even more so now that I know that the only thing that makes contractions bearable for me is walking and many interventions wouldn’t allow for that. I do feel awesome that I was able to go natural even though so many people told me I wouldn’t be able to and I’d just get the epi, but that was never my reason for wanting to do it.

DH was an amazing coach. I couldn’t have done it without him and having a doula there was great as well.

Overall, both DH and I were very happy with how labor and delivery went. We were less happy with my postpartum care. The individual nurses were great, however, we felt like there were too many patients for each nurse and there were miscommunications all over the place. The day after Des was born I’d been standing up for a little while and got really dizzy and started feeling like I was going to black out. DH got me over to the bed where I sat down for a minute and then helped me to the bathroom. When I was in there I passed a large clot, DH got concerned and pushed the nurse button. Two nurses (neither of which was assigned to me) came in and told me that my clot was nothing and in a condescending kind of way to be prepared for a lot worse. I believe one said something like when you have something the size of a fist, then call. They told me that I was dizzy from getting up too fast even though I explained that I hadn’t just gotten up, I’d been up for a while. Later I passed a clot that was much larger, but didn’t call the nurse even though DH wanted me to because I felt dumb from the last time and it still wasn’t as big as what they’d told me was a “big” clot. I mentioned it to my nurse the next time she came in to check me and asked if I only needed to worry about clots larger than an egg after I was discharged or if it was a concern now too. She got really concerned and then asked if I’d been feeling dizzy. I told her about what had happened earlier and she said no one had even mentioned it to her. She immediately had me lie down, took my blood pressure and felt my uterus (none of which the other nurses did) and said that everything seemed to be ok, but to call if anything like that happened again. That was definitely the most serious issue postpartum, but there were lots of other little things like that like one nurse asked me how many times I’d been up and walking around and I said I hadn’t been and she scolded me and told me I needed to be up and walking a lot. Uh, no one told me that…kind of thought I’d take it easy after all the walking and laboring I did the day before…Anyway, I think I’ll probably have baby #2 at the same hospital, but DH and I will make sure to pay close attention to what’s going on postpartum.

So, on to the most important part: Desmond Jacob! He’s absolutely perfect! DH and I are so in love. He doesn’t do much more than eat, sleep and go to the bathroom right now, but he’s just so freakin cute! We think he’s a pretty good combo of the two of us and we’re excited to see who he’ll look like in the future. He started out with only 2 eating modes: latching on and falling asleep immediately and what we call gremlin mode. The boy seriously goes nuts in gremlin mode and tries to nurse on anything and everything while making the most ridiculous snorting and grunting noises. Luckily he’s now found middle ground and is able to stay awake while eating without going nuts. So far, I definitely wouldn’t say that I’m enjoying breastfeeding. I plan to stick with it for at least the next 11 weeks while I’m on leave though. Maybe I’ll enjoy it once Des is more interactive.

I’d love to be able to share how much weight I’ve lost at this point, but apparently our scale doesn’t just need a new battery. It’s broken . DH was supposed to pick up a new one when he went to Wal-Mart yesterday, but he forgot. I guess it really doesn’t matter, but I’m curious all the same. The belly’s gone down considerably, but I still look pregnant.

Here''s one of my fave pictures that our photog took.

 

[robbie3982]

Here''s one of my faves that I took the other day of DH and Des:

 

[robbie3982]

And here''s the belly 1 week pp:

 

[taovandel]

You look fantastic Robbie!

I''ve been thinking about going natural with my birth also---but I''m so scared so I think I''m sticking with the epidural...but hearing your story is really making me think about it again!

Des is the cutest!

 

[Jas12]

Robbie--Great story!! You did such a great job!!!! I don''t think you could have had a better hospital birth. It really went amazingly and i think that is a testament to being well informed, having a well informed coach and great support. I totally agree with walking around assisting in dealing with the contrax. I could do the bradley stuff for the first few hours but then i had to walk and move for a few hours. It wasn''t until the terribly intense stuff that i had to be be still again and adopt the trance-like state. I also agree that pushing was such a relief. Amazing how the body knows to slow down and give the mom a break. I was exactly the same as you--feeling that urge to push, quickly dilating to 10 and then 2-3 contrax. to deliver with a 2nd degree tear. Also, you make an interesting point about knowing that the contrax. were SO painful but now you can''t remember what they felt like, just that you know they were difficult. I agree--i can''t recall that pain either ....

Des is scrumptious and you look terrific. Love the post-belly pic. It''ll be interesting to see the belly reversal

 

[peonygirl]

Wow Robbie, great story!! You''re a tough cookie. I''m thinking about signing up for a Bradley class around here--I guess you''d recommend them? Did you happen to have any twin moms in your class?

Congrats again, your little one is so adorable!!

 

[nycbkgirl]

Great Job Robbie! he is sooo freakn cute..so much hair too!..really nice photos

 

[cellososweet]

Robbie~

Bless you! What an amazing story. Congratulations on such a cutie and for trusting that your body could overcome the difficulties.

You look great!

 

[cellososweet]

Oooh Sabine, Dunno if they are still doing them, but in a few years when the little one is old enough to enjoy July 4th, Mt. Trashmore has excellent fireworks. Us kids used to roll down the hill all night long until the fireworks started while our parents jammed out on the awesome music (and sipped a few beers).

Glad you got to get out of the house

 

[Dreamer_D]

Robbie Thanks for sharing your story! Sounds like an overall great birth. I thought my pushing was short, but I guess at about 1.5 hours it was actually longer than most. Still, I loved pushing and I felt strong the whole time. Gremlin mode is a hilarious way of describing a newborn trying to nurse on anything! LOL! Hunter did that too. Hang in there for BFing. I didn''t like it at first because it is *all the time* and you are so tired and newborns are like houseplants

By 12 weeks it will be easier for sure. Now I can honestly say I really love it. Hunter caresses by breast as he nurses which is just so sweet. When you have moments like that I promise it is all worth it!

 

[taovandel]

Sabine: I second going to Mount Trashmore. I remember going out with my parents and braving the heavy traffic to get to Mount Trashmore. Thankfully I can see the entire show from my apartment balcony. We pulled up our chairs last night and just sat and enjoyed the show.


I think I overdid it today. I woke up this morning with the sudden urge to clean the apartment. So at 9 a.m. I was up cleaning and vacuuming and scrubbing while everyone else slept. When my husband woke up I already had half the apartment done--so he helped unload and reload the dishwasher--he cleaned the microwave out and everything! Then I tackled our closet. We live in an apartment so we have zero storage so I had just thrown our christmas stuff in there. I organized everything and it looks so amazing! We also went grocery shopping and I came home and my sciatic was acting up soooo bad. I couldn''t even walk! I had to lay in bed for about 2 hours before it finally went away and I was able to function. Thankfully though in that two hours my husband made dinner! I love him!

 

[anchor31]

Robbie - Congrats again! I''d really like to go med free too, so it''s really encouraging to read a great natural med free birth story.

 

[natalina]

Wow, I am SOOOOOO far behind!

EBRee- Henry is adorable! Can''t wait to hear your full story!

Fiery- Sofia is a doll baby! Glad to hear your labor went well!

Robbie- Thanks for the labor story! You are one tough cookie! Those of you that go all natural floor me. I just do not think I am cut out for it. Des is so cute. Love the photographer pic, and your DH looks so happy in the one of them together.

Sabine- sorry to hear about your rash(es). Ugh. At least you''re in the home stretch, right? Yay for a fun 4th with your DH.

Mandarine- I know I am way late, but those invites are TOO cute! I love them!

It''s raining babies around here! I just can''t believe how fast the time is flying. Everything is okay with me. Starting to feel a little bit of the slow-down that comes with gaining a belly. I am on my feet all day for work, and by the end of the day I have some pretty uncomfortable pain in the bump. Kind of above the pubic bone a little to the right of center. Feels good to rub it. One of the girls I work with suggested one of those belly support bands. She''s a teacher and used one during her pregnancy. Anyone else tried them? Wonder if I should mention the pain to my doc... Have my GD test this Friday. Eek- hope I pass!

Hope everyone else is well.

Will be 27 weeks this Thursday.

 

[blushingbride]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I started bleeding, cramping and clotting today.

I''ve already been to the emergency room and my levels are not where they should be. Will be going back to the doctor tomorrow to confirm. I will keep you posted on the outcome, but it''s not good.

DH has been wonderful through all this today, but it''s been very tough.