Well, here we go. A few catch up posts before jumping in with current life. Thanks for all your warm comments. It always feels good to feel loved and encouraged! Here's a quick re-cap of the rest of 2014.
July- major road trip to Michigan for DH's cousin's wedding. R did great in the car even though she did not sleep a wink (3 leisurely days to get there, 2 coming home). Yes, that's right. My child will not sleep in the car seat no matter how tired she is. We tried to stop and see some fun things along the way, and she loved the lake and sandy beach we went to while in MI.
Oh- and right before the trip we had our big 20 week ultrasound which confirmed what we had already found out through blood work at 10 weeks...we were having a BOY. A son. Such a joy. We then told our families the news. To me it was still hard to believe that the gender could be so accurately determined with a simple blood test so soon in the pregnancy.
Aug- We said we should start addressing R's sleep issues, work on potty training, or work on other things with her, but we did none of them. Pregnancy was starting to zap my strength and I was having big time back problems since the babe was forming right out in front- the typical basketball under the shirt look- as opposed to the more up and down positioning R was in the womb. I started going to the chiropractor weekly at this point and continued through the end of pregnancy.
Sept- My OB goes on maternity leave. No big deal, right? I knew I had to shuffle through the 5 other OBs in the practice once before delivery anyways, so it should have worked out where I could do that and then see my regular OB again. Not a problem...or so I thought. R and I continue one last month with mommy and me gymnastics classes. Talk about a work out!
Major nesting continues and I attempt to complete house projects galore to get ready for baby and do things that hadn't been done since we moved into the house a year ago. First off, have all the rooms on the main level painted, wallpaper removed, and paint 1/3 of the upstairs. Secondly, remove a ton of trees in the back to clear play space and along the house to prevent pest and rodent problems.
Oct- THE ultrasound. No, not the 20 week ultrasound, but the ultrasound that sent things tumbling for weeks. I was seeing one of the other OBs in the practice and mentioned to him all the back pain I was having, some anxiety over how fast this labor might go (only 3 hours in the hospital delivering R and 8-9 hours in labor overall), cramping and so on. He suggested I could have a quick ultrasound to check my cervical length and make sure things weren't happening yet (I was 33 weeks). I gladly agreed, thinking it would give me some peace of mind and I could make it through the next few weeks. The cervix was nice and long with no change, but then the tech took other measurements because I was there and found the head to be measuring small.
Right away I knew in my heart the tech was wrong and off with her measurements, but as a result, the OB wanted me to see a specialist. I did and things checked out fine, but then that OB continued to pester me with more and more tests he wanted, fears that I would have to be induced because baby's growth might be restricted, and more. All along I was measuring right on track for the pregnancy, overall I was feeling good, and I was only on 100 mg of progesterone injections for most of the pregnancy. I had no reason for concern about the baby's well being, and God had given me peace about that up to that point.
But I was definitely moving towards the unstable side of emotions, and learning our upstairs furnace was leaking CO2 and needed to be replaced ASAP, certainly didn't help much. Thankfully, we have an emergency fund, but we had already allocated all of our housing allowance funds with the other big projects above. Wasn't planning on an additional 5K expense, but thankful the CO2 was discovered after only running our furnace once so far. Too bad our home warranty just ran out in August.
Take a birth refresher course and finally find a Christian doula. Not too organized or on the ball this time around.
Nov- Now I've got a black mark on my OB file because every other OB I see in the practice continues to push me on the "small head" issue. My heart still tells me this baby is fine, but after so many weeks of this, I start to grow fearful of an induction. My trust in the practice wanes, and I doubt whether or not my OB will be back from maternity leave in time to deliver me. I reach out in tears to my OB's nurse, and finally decide to see if I can find another OB at 36 1/2 weeks pregnant. Not exactly how I planned to spend the end of the pregnancy, and keep in mind, I still have the fear of dying in childbirth looming over my head.
My incredibly high stress levels lead to behavior issues/acting out in R, and basically, our house becomes an unhappy place for more weeks than I care to think about. I do find 2 amazing OBs that would take me at 37 weeks, but I would have to change the hospital I'd be delivering at. I'm already worried about the 15 minute car ride, so I just don't feel good extending that car ride up to an hour plus if it was during rush hour. I schedule the first available appointment with my OB the day she comes back from maternity leave and pray this baby doesn't come before that. At 38 weeks, I still hadn't allowed any of the OBs to check me. Since full term was considered 39 weeks now (not 37 weeks like when I was pregnant with R), I just kept declining cervical checks. I wanted nothing done to hurry along this baby coming until after my OB was back. DH and I were actually worried the babe might be a Nov. baby and not a Dec. baby since my body seemed to be preparing for labor earlier.
Dec- We made it to Dec- hooray! Meet with my OB Dec. 2nd and she apologizes for all the junk I had to go thru with the other OBs. Finally, get checked at 38 1/2 weeks and I'm 2.5 cm dilated, 70% effaced, and a -2 station. She says she'll be seeing me before the week is over! Hooray. I feel the same way. R came at 39 weeks and it seems there's a good chance this baby will to.
39 weeks comes and goes with no labor signs. Next check at 39 1/2 weeks is 3.5-4 cm dilated, still -2 station and still 70% effaced. No real contractions though but the cervix is ripe and super soft. Hopeful that baby can have the coolest birthdate: 12-13-14.
40 1/2 weeks and still no baby! I'm losing the mental game as I was so sure this baby would come early like R did. 4-5 cm dilated now and 80% effaced but still a -2 station. Sheesh. Dilation is almost half over and I've felt virtually nothing. Abdomen measured 42 inches and weight was up 40 lbs and I was feeling all that in my back. The dreaded induction talk came up at this point as I suspected it would.
The beauty of going past your due date when you think your baby is going to come early is you have nothing planned on your calendar! I literally had most of the month of December open because I was so certain this baby would arrive no later than Dec. 4th (39 weeks). Boy was I wrong, but the time together as a family was a beautiful thing given the extreme stress of October and November. I had so much peace about baby arriving when he was ready that I wasn't worried about him going late and I wasn't worried about his head size either. I still had the death fear in my mind, but that was one that wasn't going away until after delivery. And we spent a few good weeks waiting and waiting and waiting. We were asked daily if there was any baby news, which got old after awhile, but it showed how much people cared. Waiting...It was such a perfect Advent object lesson....waiting anxiously during the season of waiting. Waiting for the birth of our son as we waited expectantly to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus. The symbolism was not lost on us. Another beautiful gift God gave me...an unexpected gift I got as I had much time to meditate and reflect during those last few weeks of pregnancy.
Next catch up post: the birth story
July- major road trip to Michigan for DH's cousin's wedding. R did great in the car even though she did not sleep a wink (3 leisurely days to get there, 2 coming home). Yes, that's right. My child will not sleep in the car seat no matter how tired she is. We tried to stop and see some fun things along the way, and she loved the lake and sandy beach we went to while in MI.
Oh- and right before the trip we had our big 20 week ultrasound which confirmed what we had already found out through blood work at 10 weeks...we were having a BOY. A son. Such a joy. We then told our families the news. To me it was still hard to believe that the gender could be so accurately determined with a simple blood test so soon in the pregnancy.
Aug- We said we should start addressing R's sleep issues, work on potty training, or work on other things with her, but we did none of them. Pregnancy was starting to zap my strength and I was having big time back problems since the babe was forming right out in front- the typical basketball under the shirt look- as opposed to the more up and down positioning R was in the womb. I started going to the chiropractor weekly at this point and continued through the end of pregnancy.
Sept- My OB goes on maternity leave. No big deal, right? I knew I had to shuffle through the 5 other OBs in the practice once before delivery anyways, so it should have worked out where I could do that and then see my regular OB again. Not a problem...or so I thought. R and I continue one last month with mommy and me gymnastics classes. Talk about a work out!
Major nesting continues and I attempt to complete house projects galore to get ready for baby and do things that hadn't been done since we moved into the house a year ago. First off, have all the rooms on the main level painted, wallpaper removed, and paint 1/3 of the upstairs. Secondly, remove a ton of trees in the back to clear play space and along the house to prevent pest and rodent problems.
Oct- THE ultrasound. No, not the 20 week ultrasound, but the ultrasound that sent things tumbling for weeks. I was seeing one of the other OBs in the practice and mentioned to him all the back pain I was having, some anxiety over how fast this labor might go (only 3 hours in the hospital delivering R and 8-9 hours in labor overall), cramping and so on. He suggested I could have a quick ultrasound to check my cervical length and make sure things weren't happening yet (I was 33 weeks). I gladly agreed, thinking it would give me some peace of mind and I could make it through the next few weeks. The cervix was nice and long with no change, but then the tech took other measurements because I was there and found the head to be measuring small.
Right away I knew in my heart the tech was wrong and off with her measurements, but as a result, the OB wanted me to see a specialist. I did and things checked out fine, but then that OB continued to pester me with more and more tests he wanted, fears that I would have to be induced because baby's growth might be restricted, and more. All along I was measuring right on track for the pregnancy, overall I was feeling good, and I was only on 100 mg of progesterone injections for most of the pregnancy. I had no reason for concern about the baby's well being, and God had given me peace about that up to that point.
But I was definitely moving towards the unstable side of emotions, and learning our upstairs furnace was leaking CO2 and needed to be replaced ASAP, certainly didn't help much. Thankfully, we have an emergency fund, but we had already allocated all of our housing allowance funds with the other big projects above. Wasn't planning on an additional 5K expense, but thankful the CO2 was discovered after only running our furnace once so far. Too bad our home warranty just ran out in August.
Take a birth refresher course and finally find a Christian doula. Not too organized or on the ball this time around.
 |
| One of my favorites from our maternity pictures at 35 weeks. Such an amazing gift to prepare my Napro baby (R) for the birth of another baby...her brother. Words cannot even describe the emotions after IF and miscarriage. |
Nov- Now I've got a black mark on my OB file because every other OB I see in the practice continues to push me on the "small head" issue. My heart still tells me this baby is fine, but after so many weeks of this, I start to grow fearful of an induction. My trust in the practice wanes, and I doubt whether or not my OB will be back from maternity leave in time to deliver me. I reach out in tears to my OB's nurse, and finally decide to see if I can find another OB at 36 1/2 weeks pregnant. Not exactly how I planned to spend the end of the pregnancy, and keep in mind, I still have the fear of dying in childbirth looming over my head.
My incredibly high stress levels lead to behavior issues/acting out in R, and basically, our house becomes an unhappy place for more weeks than I care to think about. I do find 2 amazing OBs that would take me at 37 weeks, but I would have to change the hospital I'd be delivering at. I'm already worried about the 15 minute car ride, so I just don't feel good extending that car ride up to an hour plus if it was during rush hour. I schedule the first available appointment with my OB the day she comes back from maternity leave and pray this baby doesn't come before that. At 38 weeks, I still hadn't allowed any of the OBs to check me. Since full term was considered 39 weeks now (not 37 weeks like when I was pregnant with R), I just kept declining cervical checks. I wanted nothing done to hurry along this baby coming until after my OB was back. DH and I were actually worried the babe might be a Nov. baby and not a Dec. baby since my body seemed to be preparing for labor earlier.
Dec- We made it to Dec- hooray! Meet with my OB Dec. 2nd and she apologizes for all the junk I had to go thru with the other OBs. Finally, get checked at 38 1/2 weeks and I'm 2.5 cm dilated, 70% effaced, and a -2 station. She says she'll be seeing me before the week is over! Hooray. I feel the same way. R came at 39 weeks and it seems there's a good chance this baby will to.
39 weeks comes and goes with no labor signs. Next check at 39 1/2 weeks is 3.5-4 cm dilated, still -2 station and still 70% effaced. No real contractions though but the cervix is ripe and super soft. Hopeful that baby can have the coolest birthdate: 12-13-14.
40 1/2 weeks and still no baby! I'm losing the mental game as I was so sure this baby would come early like R did. 4-5 cm dilated now and 80% effaced but still a -2 station. Sheesh. Dilation is almost half over and I've felt virtually nothing. Abdomen measured 42 inches and weight was up 40 lbs and I was feeling all that in my back. The dreaded induction talk came up at this point as I suspected it would.
The beauty of going past your due date when you think your baby is going to come early is you have nothing planned on your calendar! I literally had most of the month of December open because I was so certain this baby would arrive no later than Dec. 4th (39 weeks). Boy was I wrong, but the time together as a family was a beautiful thing given the extreme stress of October and November. I had so much peace about baby arriving when he was ready that I wasn't worried about him going late and I wasn't worried about his head size either. I still had the death fear in my mind, but that was one that wasn't going away until after delivery. And we spent a few good weeks waiting and waiting and waiting. We were asked daily if there was any baby news, which got old after awhile, but it showed how much people cared. Waiting...It was such a perfect Advent object lesson....waiting anxiously during the season of waiting. Waiting for the birth of our son as we waited expectantly to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus. The symbolism was not lost on us. Another beautiful gift God gave me...an unexpected gift I got as I had much time to meditate and reflect during those last few weeks of pregnancy.
Next catch up post: the birth story
