Pages

7/30/09

Abigail is here!!

Yesterday at 7:40 p.m. our beautiful girl was brought into this world. I now understand what every parent knows and words can't truly express what we are feeling. She was 8lb 2 oz. and 20 1/4 inches long and healthy. Praise the Lord for having such a great pregnancy and delivery for Amanda and a healthy mother and healthy girl. Thanks for everyone's prayers.

7/29/09

So they broke Amanda's water at 1:30 today and we are at 7cm and have an epidural in after Amanda's contractions wouldn't stop. So it's 7 p.m. and we should have a baby by sometime tonight or early morning which would be a birthday present to Amanda's brother Hal. So we will keep everyone updated but ask that we have no visitor's please so we can get the rest we need while we can. Thanks for everyone's prayers through this process.

7/28/09

Monday's appt. (July 27)

So, after our drama filled weekend, the drs office worked us in for an appt. yesterday. We ended up being able to see Macie, the midwife that we've seen the most. We gave her the details of the weekend, including all of the crazy measurements that people had given us when they checked me. 

She wanted to check me herself, and felt that I am still at 5cm, and that I am 70% effaced.  She is still about as high as she has been (-2 station). Last time I'd been checked they said I was about 5 and 50%. My contractions have spaced out again, but I've still had some good ones here and there. Macie had us go back to the ultrasound room to to see which way Abbie was positioned. She said she looked great, and was facing "face down" (facing my pelvis), and that it was possible that before she could've been "face up" (facing out, aka posterior position) and that when a baby is in that position, it can cause labor to become a lot slower. All in all, she's the right way now, and looks great. 

Macie had us schedule an appt. for this Wed. to check my progress if I haven't had her by then. Which is encouraging to think that the midwife thinks I could go at any time. 

She's been surprised that I stalled out where I did. I think everyone has been, though. Oh well, Abigail is bent on doing things her own way and taking her sweet time. 

Oh, and on top of everything else, our washer broke Sunday night. It would cost around $200 to repair (it was older anyway) so it isn't worth fixing. We have to buy a new one. So we went to the furniture store and while in the parking lot, Jonathan had to change the tire on the truck. It had been repaired before-so he put the spare on and we went off to Wal-Mart, where they told us that all 4 tires looked really bad/had low tread/were showing signs of dry rot and needed to be replaced. 

UGH.

We had new tires put on in VA. in 07 and have put only 14,000 ish miles on them (50,000 rated tires), so how does that happen? So we had to get 4 new tires for the truck. And have to buy a new washer. Gotta love the unexpected. I'm like please Lord, nothing else right now....

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS. 

7/26/09

No baby yet

So, Abbie is a little sneaky deceptive one. She fooled a midwife, a Dr. and four nurses. It's crazy, I had contractions 3-6 minutes apart and progression from 3cm to a "good 5cm" at the hospital-then, nothing. And no baby. They thought I was in full labor, admitted me, the whole nine yards. Even offered me the epidural. NUTS! (Sure glad I wasn't like, yeah, let me go ahead and have one...). I always thought the false labor thing was just something anxious moms jumped to conclusions about...and we were so afraid of doing that, and calling people too early.

But REALLY, when the Dr. and midwife tell say that you are in labor, you tend to believe them.

They should know, right???!!!

And so here we are. It's Sunday night. Still having contractions, but they have spaced out and are nowhere near as intense/painful as before. 

She's coming in her own sweet time.  Sorry for getting everyone all excited. 

We are emotionally drained, as you can imagine. It's been a roller coaster weekend. 

And now, we continue to wait.
~AB

Such a mystery... Lord we need a drop

So the latest.... After coming home on Friday, Amanda slept for about 3 hours and had a good dinner. We went walking and got some raspberry tea from Sarah. Starting drinking that and then took another walk. On the second walk, we hit big constant contractions. So we waited to see about going back to the hospital. They slowed down so Amanda decided to get some sleep.
We were back up and going after eating and walking again at 7 a.m. Sat. morning.  Did this and kept drinking tea. Contractions kept picking back up so around Noon, we decided to head back to the hospital. First exam still at 5cm and still hasn't dropped any more. So we walk, hook back up and now even though she is having contractions, the ones that are able to be read on the monitor are actually FURTHER apart! Ugh. The nurse is a little confused, as are we. So we decide to get examined again and still the same thing...
So the nurse feels as if Amanda wasn't actually in labor since she said you can progress like she did at times (though rare) without being in labor and that its possible she is in the first stages of labor on Saturday. She got a shot of demerol and phenergen to allow Amanda to be able to get some good sleep. She said most women will sleep a good bit with this shot and that she has even heard of some sleeping 12 or more hours. Well, she will have heard of another one cause Amanda and I both slept for 14 hours. Soooo who knows, she said that some women after having this shot and getting good rest will wake up and their body has the energy to kick start the laboring process back up again. Hopefully this is the case with Amanda and that our little girl will drop and start moving again and that we will have this baby... 
So pray, pray, pray. We want specific prayer that this baby will drop today and/or that Amanda's water will break today.

Thanks,
Jonathan

7/24/09

Maybe Round 2

Sooo we are having good pains, shorter times in-between. It's 10:23 p.m. and Amanda was able to get about 3 1/2 hours of good sleep this afternoon and a relaxing hot shower. I grilled some chicken and pasta and veggies to get her some strength that she will need. We have done some walking and that has helped. Amanda's Dad went to Walmart and got ice cream and toppings to make banana splits and sundaes. We have just gotten back from another walk to which she was having bendover and breath through contractions about 2- 2.5 minutes apart. So it looks like we might be headed back hopefully soon. PLEASE KEEP PRAYING for continued dropping and progression of stages. We are as far as we know still at -2 station. THANKS!

Stubborn Girl

So it's 12:45 p.m. on Friday 24th and we are officially home and Amanda is resting in the bed. We had been doing great up until about 3:30 a.m. This is when Abigail decided maybe she wants to stay in a little longer. After having 2 runs of 6 drip pitocin (sp?) we had gotten no where. The doctor came and checked her and said that she was at a 5 and was just at a station -2. You have to be at 4 before they get you to start pushing and a 3 before they like to break water. So we got some food and got up and walked. It was good to walk because the labor pains increased and the tightness increased. Amanda had to stop and take breaths this time which is good signs. They felt like the pitocin would do the trick this time however Amanda has been up for almost 36 hours straight and was exhausted and was afraid that if it did work she wouldn't have the strength at the end. So we have made the decision to come home sleep, shower, cut off phones and pray that her water will break or that heavy labor will begin. Sooo.... that is the big prayer that Amanda will get some rest along with the rest of us and that afterwards Abigail will set and be ready to come. The last word is that they don't anticipate her to last through the weekend. So I am sure we will be back soon. Thanks to everyone and hopefully we will have a picture to put up on Sunday! :)

7/23/09

LABOR update!!!

So Amanda and I are at the hospital. We called the doctor wanting to know when he would like for us to call him. They told us to come in and let them do a labor check. When they did Amanda had dilated 3cm. They sent us to the hospital to be monitored. After being monitored for 30 minutes, we walked for an hour and when they re-checked Amanda, she was at 4 cm and they called the doctor and then informed us that we were staying. So it's 10:55 p.m. and Amanda is at 5cm and doing AWESOME!! So baby will be here soon hopefully :)

7/16/09

Week 36 belly pic and artwork pics

The canvas I made for the nursery...I'm pretty 
proud of how it turned out!!

Another crafty project...
Getting huge-but almost there.

Week 37 updates

Baby update ~

Had a Drs. Appt. yesterday. We were scheduled to see Dr. Barfield, one of the only Drs we had not seen yet. However, he was at the hospital delivering a baby…so we didn’t get to see him. At least we’ve seen most everyone else.

Baby Abigail is doing just fine. I have the group B strep test done, will have results in a week-normal test, no biggie. Everything is like it should be…except for the fact that I am 37 weeks (as of today), and I measured 39 weeks at my appt.. So, the Dr. ordered an ultrasound for my next appt., which will be next Friday. Maybe they will be able to tell about how big she’s getting in there. The ultrasound is a somewhat vague estimate, and could be way off. But they are doing one anyway. : )  The Dr. said that sometimes there’s a lot of fluid around the baby which can make people measure ahead, but she didn’t think that was the case with me. She said she felt “all baby” when she was measuring, haha. So, Miss Abbie may decide to come early. If she has no more room, she must come out….right???

The bag is packed just in case. I just have to grab a few things to put in that I use everyday (so I can’t pack them yet).

We pre-registered at the hospital, so we are pretty much ready to go.

This week I finished thank-you notes from the shower (Jonathan's family threw for us this past weekend), finished the canvas for the nursery, nesting a little at a time. 

Just waiting now. 

7/14/09

Circus party-I am astounded.

This has nothing really to do with being preggo, I just had to share.

creativepartiesandshowers.blogspot.com/2009/07/circus-party-of-century.html

Seriously, how in the world do you top this party the next year? And I don't even want to think about how much it cost them.

And it was for a 2 year old and a three year old. 

WOW is all I can say!

I do love the creative parties and showers blog, it's so crafty.  : )

7/3/09

July already?

Wow, I can't believe it is JULY. 
My last appt. was on Wednesday. We saw Dr. Ribot, and (GREAT NEWS) I measured at 35 weeks. (Wed. I was 34 and 6 days) So I guess I am back on track, maybe Abbie just had a growth spurt. Hopefully she will be a normal size. Who knows. Also, the Dr. told me that I was lucky to have great skin (just what you want to hear, haha) and that since I didn't have any stretch marks this far in, I most likely wouldn't get them. (YAY) Everything has been textbook so far in this journey. It's scary to think that I could have this baby within this month...we are as ready as we can be!

I don't have any major complaints...
* My lower back hurts if I'm in one spot too long. And when I sleep. 
* This baby is getting pretty heavy. 
* I feel really big and awkward. And bump into things a lot.
* She's squishing all my insides. I have to eat smaller portions more often, and I'm always in the bathroom.
I feel VERY BLESSED to be 35 weeks and not miserable-yet.

What's been going on this week?
*I've been procrastinating in putting up pictures on facebook. I'm 2 weeks behind.  : )
*Jonathan and I put up our pack-n-play last night.
*We went and bought a baby monitor from Target with giftcards from the shower.
*I bought our travel system (stroller and carseat) from BabiesRUS. Jonathan put it together and installed the car seat. We also got a diaper champ on sale, and of course I had coupons for both things. : )
*Went and pre-registered at the HOSPITAL.
*Wrote 57 thank-you notes. NOT an exaggeration...that's how many I wrote for real.
* Been having Braxton Hicks contractions. My body is practicing, yay! 

I still need to:
*Pack my hospital bag : ) I have plenty of time, but just in case...
*Organize all this baby stuff that is ALLLL over the nursery.
*Finish up a few art projects that will go in the nursery.

There are still things we need (or would like to have) for Abbie, (like a swing...high chair...medela pump.......)

BUT we have her crib and carseat (hahaha) so we are good if she decides to make an early appearance.