Evolution of a Smile

Sleeping sweetly...
Dreaming of digestive noises and mommy's heartbeat

Something amuses her...

The start of a smile...

Full on belly laugh!

Tickled Pink

Baby girl and I headed to the pediatrician's office on Monday and got a great report. Emily was 6 pounds, 7 oz. when we discharged from the hospital on Saturday, and by Monday she was already back up to 6 pounds, 11 oz. Her measurements were great (20 inches long, which tells me the hospital was off by a little bit or she grew 1 inch in 4 days) and she did not enjoy the "getting naked" part. Now that my milk is in full force, she is peeing and pooping with abandon, often getting both all over the changing table, her outfits, and herself. Nights are a little dicey--we are following only one schedule: "baby's schedule". So for now, I just feed her when she needs it (sometimes every hour on the hour) and hold her when she's squirmy (basically all night). We'll worry about a real routine later. :) Giant yawn
I have two choices for clothing: maternity or Timmy's tee shirts

Gowns with mittens are a godsend.

She's such a great sleeper....during the day

Baby Emily is Here!

I was induced starting on Wed. night and received Pitocin at 8:30 am Thursday morning. At that point, I was already having contractions every 4 minutes and they put me on the lowest dose. I was 1-2 cm dilated, so the doctor broke my water. In another hour I was a good 3 cm dilated and working hard to make it through every contraction. At 11 am I got my epidural and was 3-4 cm within a few minutes. From there, it went pretty fast. I was 5-6cm at the next check, then 7 cm 20 minutes later. I started to feel a lot of pressure and told Timmy to call for the nurse. She checked and I was 10 cm, completely effaced, and ready to go. My doctor, who had checked me only a few minutes earlier, was in the parking lot, thinking it would take a lot longer than it did. She hauled butt back to my room, I pushed 3 times, and baby was here!

Emily Allison Drinks

November 18, 2010

2:25 pm

6 pounds, 14 oz. 19 inches long

Timmy put on her first diaper

Me and Peanut

She was so alert from the beginning

Grandmas Peggy and Cammy

Getting ready to go home

in the car

Settling in at home

Garrett and Caroline love her already!

Baby girl and Daddy

Scattergories

The kids have been witnesses to our heated games of Scattergories for years, but it has only been recently that they have asked to learn how to play. Garrett is surprisingly witty in his answers, and Caroline is lucky to get half a list filled out before the timer buzzes. Either way, I don't play for blood like I used to, so Tim and I can usually have a laugh and understand that "together time" is the goal, not winning. Until our game yesterday....

Picture it--Saturday, November 13, 2010. A foursome sat down to a lovely game of Scattergories. The letter was "H" and they were playing List 10. #5 on the list--"Things you replace". Garrett's answer--nothing. Caroline's answer--nothing. Jessica's answer--horseshoes. Timmy's answer.....wait for it....(dramatic pause)....husbands. Guess who DID NOT WIN?!?!?!

38 Weeks

Well, it's actually 38 1/2 weeks, but who's counting at this point? :) I am feeling large and in charge. Honestly, I am feeling huge, weepy, achy, and obnoxious. Here are my stats:
Me: 38 weeks, 3 days (less than a week to go!)
Baby: heartbeat was 126-130 bpm, very active, and jamming her feet out my right side. The US tech could actually see the bulge above my hip bone and showed me the toes on the scan.
Weight: Down a pound and a half since my appt. Monday.
Blood pressure: 120/80. Was told it was "good".
Dr. Visit: Went to perinatalogy yesterday (Friday) at 11 AM. Was actually seen at 12:10 PM, but I digress. Biophysical profile was great (8 out of 8) so doctor decided I didn't need to do the NST. They scheduled me to come back next Tuesday at 8 AM for another biophysical profile (BPP) and NST. I guess the fear of liability is going to force me to a doctor's office every day of the week.
Then I had an appt at my regular OB-GYN at 2 PM. They saw me right away, which was a nice change of pace, and stripped my membranes. I was unaware that they would be doing that! I was told to come back for this appt purely for "dilation check" reasons. Apparently, that is code for "jam your fist up my yoo-hoo and whirl it around". It really wasn't that bad, pain wise, and I've had cramping and a little bleeding since (oh, and a lot of mucus, but that might be TMI). Doctor said "Hope this helps! Might put you into labor this weekend!". The procedure "works" if your body is already favorable for labor and the procedure doesn't make a hill of beans if your body is not ready for labor. So we'll see. I'm convinced that you only go into labor if it's completely inconvenient. So Tim and I are sure it will happen Sunday night or Monday morning since he has electrician school on Monday. You are only allowed to miss TWO DAYS of school per calendar year (as opposed to middle school, where my students are absent on a weekly basis with no repercussions). That means "strict attendance policy" = "labor". Worst case scenario? Nothing happens and I go into the hospital Wed. afternoon for my scheduled induction. An end is in sight, people!
Likes this Week: My ultra sassy US tech, Roxy (who calls me "mama" and "girlfriend"); having an easy week at work; getting an induction date; knowing that Carrie is only a couple weeks away from visiting!
Dislikes this Week: the end of an era (Sable); breaking bad news to my children; my obsessive urge to nest (I practically did the splits on my freshly mopped kitchen floor); keeping up with blood sugar #s now that cravings are out of control (I cannot tell you the number of times I have looked over at Tim and said 'Want to go get a cheese burger? What about a steak? Or crab cakes?')

Side view. Notice the look of sheer exhaustion in my eyes.

Our "update" board so Timmy can act like he always knows exactly how far along I am

Off topic, but the stepping stone we made for Sable before her passing. Looking back, I know my biggest regret, by far, would have been not making this stone. We have her paw print and some black hairs stuck in concrete forever. The kids added the stones that came with the kit.

All Dogs Go to Heaven...

and Sable is now their God. I want to remember my dog for the almost 12 years of good that I had her, not the couple of weeks of bad that finally took her. I remember, clear as day, walking up to the front door of the house where she was born. There were three black Labs, all females, still left from the litter. The owner had just put down a giant pan of food and two of the puppies jumped right in, completely ignoring me. Sable was the only one who glanced away from the food, looked at me, and wandered up to me, her tail wagging. I took her home that day. She was 8 weeks ago, full of piss and vinegar (the first of which was hardly dribbled on my carpet--it felt like she was housebroken in a day). She was just the smartest dog. Chris's dad, Big Mike, used to say "other dogs will bring the paper to you. Sable will read it for you". I taught her to shake, sit, lay down, and speak. Timmy taught her how to use her "indoor voice", a low growl/bark that always got her a "good girl!" and treat. The dog knew English as well. She had a look for when you said "outside, food, treat, ball, or dinner". She trained like a dream. I take the credit for making her the great dog she was, but really, she was just always that great. She will be sorely missed. Tim and I remind ourselves that keeping her here--sore, tired, half blind, unable to walk, and unwilling to eat--is cruel. She is in a better place for her, where she can go after all the tennis balls that get thrown off docks and all the ducks that get shot out of the sky. She is now sleeping in the ivy, her favorite lounging area of the yard. As Caroline said so sweetly last night "She's going to go to sleep for the rest of her life?" Yes, and our memories of her will never fade. Soon, I won't tear up every time I think of her. I will laugh a little or smile, remembering how she always pretended that she wasn't on the couch when I got home from work, even with the pile of dog hair on the cushions. Or how she loved to roll on her back, place her paws on either side of her face, and meditate. Or how Garrett used to walk her down to the pond behind our house, throw the stick for her, and then give her a bath when he brought her back. Or the days that she would see Timmy the Giant and me in a full size bed, and without thought or reason, heave herself into the middle of it. She was my first born. Way before there was a husband, two kids, an exhusband, another husband, and a baby on the way, there was Sable. My first baby girl. Her signature pose: "curious dog head".

Her favorite spot: the ivy

Yesterday. She still had her perky moments.

The kids and Sable, before we gave them the news. They knew she was sick, but they didn't know she wasn't getting better.

Caroline insisted on sleeping with Sable when she got the news. This shot was taken right before we left for school. Caroline said her goodbyes, then just had a quiet moment with her dog.

Before we left for the vet. Sable gave us a look that said she knew. I love her for letting us let her go.

May I Ask You a Question?

I get this 400 times a day. Most of the time it goes like this: "May I ask you a question? How you feeling? When you gonna finally have that baby?" Sometimes this is followed up by the ever-helpful statements: "You look so tired", "You look so over it", and my personal favorite "I don't think you can get any bigger!". Well, here are my top 5 answers to this question:
1) I AM TIRED. I sleep 2 hours at a time. If I lay down on a soft surface, I fall asleep in 2 seconds. I have been known to nod off in the middle of conversation. I regularly fall asleep during my NST and ultrasounds. I snore with abandon.
2) I AM SORE. I hold in the weight of a baby with the sheer willpower of my pelvic bones. Everything hurts. Even if the baby is only 6.5 pounds, the fluids and placenta add additional weight. When I roll over, I feel like I got hit with a tire iron. I have more in common with geriatrics right now than my students.
3) I AM SAD. This is supposed to be a joyous time, but it's overshadowed by sadness. Sable the Dog is sick and isn't getting better. Dr. Dunlap, the best vet out there, finally put it to me this way: "We need to talk about the thing that no one wants to talk about". This is the puppy that picked me, not the other way around. I have had her longer than my children. She is my first born. Follow up post later.
4) I AM IRRITATED. It all irritates me. Students with questions, kids with needs, coworkers with comments, and a house full of chores. When the doctor sees me on time, I am irritated that I can't grade papers in the waiting room. When the doctor is running an hour behind, I am irritated that she hasn't updated her magazine collection since 2005. I am irritated when the phone rings and irritated when it sits silently on the counter. I am irritated that I have to prick my fingers 5 times a day and irritated that I have to wake up from the couch at night long enough to give myself an insulin injection.
5) I AM SWOLLEN. My feet are the least of it. Now my fingers are red with bands of white at the knuckles. My wrists are getting marks from my watch for the first time in my life. My wedding ring looks like a cobra fighting a caymen....and losing. My face feels fat everytime I turn my head. Don't even get me started on the downstairs region. If my blood volume increased by 40% due to pregnancy, I will tell you where 38% of that blood volume sits all day--in an uncomfortable place that gets mashed everytime I cross my legs. I am three seconds from buying support hose or sitting on a donut pillow.

What Do Mickey Mouse & Emily Drinks Have in Common?

Apparently, a birthday! "Steamboat Willie" came out on November 18th, so the Disney Corp. recognizes this date as Mickey's birthday.
So what does this have to do with my doctor's visit today? Well, I was so happy to get an induction date, and when I showed up, my doctor was in a C-section. I was asked if I could see Dr. N who is new. I said "sure". Little did I know that she's very new, not well liked, and slightly cantankerous. She tried to fight me on induction! She said, "Come back next week and we will schedule it then." Ummmm....how about NO?! I pointed out that both of my other doctors had said we would induce between 38 and 39 weeks and I am 38 weeks this week. She then said she would induce me 2 days before my due date as a favor to me so I wasn't in the hospital for Thanksgiving.....are you kidding me?!?! I told her, in no uncertain terms, that I had already delivered one baby at 40 weeks, and if she considered shoulder dystocia and an almost 10-pound birth weight to be "successful", we were not on the same page, buddy. She did a quick take-back, checked my chart, mumbled "Oh, I didn't know that", and said she would check the induction schedule. Long story short....check in at 4 PM on November 17th at MWH for Cervadil to get my cervix "favorable" for labor, then Pitocin started the next morning. If I'm lucky, baby girl will be hanging out with me while I order lunch on the 18th.
Oh, and for those keeping count, this is the 3rd Scorpio in my family...in a row. My mom, me and Carrie, now Emily. Heaven help all the men who deal with us :)
STATS:
Weight: Down one pound. Total gain up to this point: 21 pounds
Blood pressure: 123/68.
Baby Heartrate: 121 bpm
Fundal Measurement: 37 weeks
Next Visits: Tuesday (tomorrow) and Friday for NST at perinatalogist, back to OB next Monday @ 2:30 PM
Likes this week: packing my hospital bag!, getting an ending date, Tim making dinner every night, the time change, nesting (my bathroom is sparkling), Garrett's final soccer game!
Dislikes this week: sick dog (more on Sable later), telling the kids that Sable is not going to get better, driving to town 3 days for dr visits, cats sneaking into my room and waking me up, swollen feet, calling out sick last Friday, grading papers

Mother's Intuition

Call it what you want, but Thursday morning I had the feeling that something was off with Baby. I woke up several times to make my trip to the potty and never felt the kicks and shifts that usually accompany my settling back into bed. I was very aware of the lack of movement when I got up at 5 AM and ate my waffle and pb. I drank a huge glass of water and still nothing. I got the kids ready, headed off to work, and promised myself that I wouldn't panic. After first period, I made the conscious effort to sit in my reclining desk chair, which usually causes a few stirs. But nothing. Ignoring my GD diet, I downed a regular Coke. Nothing. So when it reached 10 AM and I hadn't felt a movement since the night before, I decided to call the doctor's office. Their response: "How soon can you get here?" I was off like a shot and made the drive to Fredericksburg in 19 minutes. They immediately took me back and hooked me up to the monitor. It took the nurse about 15 seconds to find the heartbeat, and I am pretty sure I didn't breathe that entire time. Once I was all hooked up, the doctor came in and checked my progress. Baby's heartbeat was steady between 110-125 bpm, but was not fluctuating with activity and I still had felt nothing. The doctor pointed out that I was having contractions, too. Add that to the GD and insulin, and she sent me to L&D to be monitored. I got an NST at the hospital, then headed down to radiology for a biophysical profile. Baby looked great on that (score: 8/8) and when I was wheeled back up, the doctor said "We're admitting her, take her to room 3077. I will be in to explain." Well, that will freak you out! So Dr. M came in and explained that when I was monitored earlier, baby's heartrate fell to 95 bpm for a couple of minutes. She was going to be overly cautious and monitor me for 24 hours. Also, I had a UTI and needed IV antibiotics.
Long story short.....IVs in your hand hurt like a bitch, IV fluids make you pee every half hour, UTIs apparently don't always cause burning, and baby had a beautiful read out from the monitor. She had great accelerations and decelerations and was very active from 5 PM on. I was allowed to go home 10 AM Friday morning. I will be back at work tomorrow with the hopes that my doctor appt @ 3 pm gives me some great news--an induction date.

37 Weeks

Side view--baby don't feel tiny
Very side view--thinking I dropped a little recently

My photographer--she had to turn the camera around on herself

Me: 36 weeks, 5 days

My stats: Baby's heartbeat was a jolly 145 bpm. My blood pressure was 130 over 70, which was higher than usual but not high. Weight up 2 pounds, which Dr. said seemed to be mostly water weight (my feet are balloons). She gave me the good news that my foot swelling is not likely to go down during the night like it has in the past--these puffy things are here to stay til baby arrives.

Dr visit: Today I saw the midwife because my OB GYN is out of town. The midwife asked how my visits to the perinatalogist are going. I told her about the growth scan and she asked if I was having weekly ultrasounds there. I said yes, usually on Wednesdays, and I had another scheduled for this Wednesday. She did my fundal measurement, which was 36 weeks (better than the 2 weeks behind like I was measuring 2 weeks ago). She was very pleased with my blood sugar numbers (said she wished she could get her patients to keep such good track of their numbers!). I told her that Dr. E (the perinatalogist) recommended I be induced at 38 weeks. The midwife nodded and said "I'm all for an induction between 38 and 39 weeks. The hospital doesn't like to do them at 38 weeks because it increases the incidence of breathing problems at birth. With your great numbers and how well you have controlled your diet and everything, I think we can safely plan for around November 12-14. Let's have you come back next Monday and we'll check your cervix to see how favorable it is for induction and we'll put your induction date in the schedule".

So now I have to wait a whole SEVEN more days to get an actual date, but at least I got a range of dates! And my appt. next week is with Dr. S., who is such an induction nazi (She loves to schedule them)...so maybe I'll get lucky and she'll say "Why wait another week? Let's do it tomorrow".

Anything New? After my enlightening meeting with HR at work, I have come to the conclusion that I can't take off work before the baby (translation: working until the day of induction). For every day I take off before, I won't have a day for after. This sucks on several levels: (1) I am dead tired from the minute I wake up until I go to bed; (2) I sleep worse than an infant--I get up several times to go to the bathroom and rolling over makes my hips pop, which wakes me up; (3) the students are royally on my last nerve because I have no patience anymore. So this Bitter Annie is not going to be such a pleasant person to be around for the next two weeks or so.

Likes This Week: baby kicks; baby presents from students (thanks Cailey!); lower blood sugar numbers; insulin injections that don't hurt/sting; weekly ultrasounds

Dislikes This Week: baby using her head as a battering ram against my cervix; feeling like someone punted a football into my pelvic region; sleeping like crap; working in general; driving to Fredericksburg 2-3 times a week.

What's Next? Biophysical profile with perinatalogist on Wed, 38 week appt with OB next Monday @ 3pm