Baby Sling

One issue we have with Grace his her constant desire to be held. She fusses alot. I wouldn't call it colic, because we can easily get her to stop crying by feeding her (remember she eats roughly 6 to 8 hours per day, or by holding her. Now I don't mind holding her when she's awake and alert, that's a good interaction time, but the problem comes in when she's asleep. She'll fall asleep in your arms and then when you lay her in the crib she'll wake up and scream until you pick her up again. This is making things difficult. During the day, I would like to nap or get some things done around the house while's she's asleep and at night...call me selfish, but I wouldn't mind sleeping a little too.

We've got lots of well meaning advise from friends and family telling us not to hold her so much, or to just let her cry, she's manipulating us, or that it's "good for babies to cry." However, everything I've read says that a baby her age can't manipulate us and we should go to her when she crys. The books say that babies that are held are less likely to be clingy, dependent children and adults and well be more independent. They are also supposed to cry less as infants, a reference was made to American Indian cultures where they carry the papooses around all day. The dependency thing is supposed to be because by responding to baby's cry, you are teaching her that you are there for her and will meet her needs, where if you let her cry she feels abandoned, so as they get older they will be more clingy if they felt abandoned as infants.

Anyway, I felt like I needed to do something, so yesterday while at Babies R Us, I bought a sling carrier to carry her around and free up my hands. We tried it out yesterday evening and it looks a little uncomfortable. However, today, she was fussy and had just ate, so I put her in it and within 30 seconds she stopped crying and fell asleep. It's wonderful. She's in it right now as I'm typing. So we'll see how this goes.

Now, I'm going to go try to put her in her crib while I sneak a shower in and maybe, just maybe she'll sleep long enough for me to get a nap in too. Last night was rough. She slept from 10:00 to 2:00 a.m. and then was up at 4:00 a.m. and only slept in 30 minute to 1 hour intervals from 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. Mommy is very sleepy.

Pictures

I got pictures of Grace done at Babies R Us today. Here they are for your viewing pleasure. We ordered the first one.

Still Here

Where does the time go? Oh yes, I spend it feeding Grace, pumping, and napping when I can.

This has been a rough two weeks for me, but I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of things and hopefully, it'll turn around soon. I think I should first admit that I think I have a bit of the "baby blues." I wouldn't go as far as saying I have postpartum depression, but I will say there has only been 1 day I haven't cried since Grace has been born. I think a big part of it is the lack of sleep. I've always been a 8 hours plus kind of girl and sleeping in 2 or 3 hour chunks has been really rough. Especially when it takes Grace about 40 minutes to an hour to drink her bottle, then I have to pump and then maybe, she'll go to sleep. She's been staying awake after feedings alot now, so there is usually a 2 or 2 1/2 hour stretch where we're up overnight. I try not to make Eric do much in those overnight times, because he's back to work, but man it's tough.

I do love her though, and she's so sweet. She makes the cutest faces and I just love cuddling up with her. I even let her sleep in my bed with me one night (mostly because she had been up from 7:00 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. and woke up every time I tried to lay her in her crib and I was dying for some sleep, but oh well.

Baby's crying. I'll be back later.

Ok, new day and another moment to try to finish this post while Eric is taking the baby duty.

It's now Monday of our second week by ourselves and I think we're starting to get the hang of things although last night was a rough one. We also had a doctor's appointment at 10:00 today. I'm not sure if it happens every time, but we didn't get to see the doctor until about 11:15 a.m. and that is way too long to wait with a fussy baby. Luckily I brought a couple of bottles and fed her while we were waiting. This girl eats almost constantly, but she's gaining weight as today she weighed 9 pounds 1 ounce. After the doctor we came home and took a nap (both of us), then we got up, fed Grace and went to the grocery store. That's 2 outings in 1 day, I'm getting to be a pro at this! Sunday was another busy day as we took Grace to church for the first time and then went to brunch afterwards with Eric's family (Mom, Brother, Sister-in-Law, and Nieces). Grace slept through the entire service and woke up for a bottle while we were waiting on our table. She finished eating just before our food came and hung out quietly in her carrier while we ate. I was so impressed.

I think physically I'm recovering nicely too. I got over most of the soreness after the first week although, I'm not sure how long the stitches take to dissolve or if they are still there. I'm still bleeding a bit, but it's getting lighter, so I'm assuming that will be done soon. Of my 35 pound weight gain, I lost between 15 and 20 pounds by the time I got home from the hospital. The rest has been slowly coming off. I've been frustrated that I still have to wear maternity clothes as my prepregnancy stuff either doesn't fit or makes me look really fat. Although Eric keeps reminding me that it's only been two weeks. Today, however, I weighed myself and found I'm only 9.5 pounds above my prepregancy weight, so I tried my jeans on again and with some holding my breath, I got them buttoned and wore non-maternity jeans to the doctor today. I haven't been craving as much junk, so I'm hoping the rest will continue to drop off. Eric bought me some exercise videos and stuff I can do at home for Christmas (at my request), so I'm hoping to start exercising soon, although I need to wait at least a month before I can maybe get clearance from my doctor. I was considering starting a diet for the New Year's but may need to put that on hold for a while too.

Pumping all the time really has me down, as it seems like I spend all of my time either feeding Grace or pumping. Assume it takes Grace 40 minutes to an hour to finish a bottle and she eats an average of 8 times per day. That's 6 to 8 hours a day feeding the baby. Then it takes me about 20 minutes start to finish to pump. I do that about 6 to 8 times per day which is about 3 hours pumping. That means if I do all feedings that I would be feeding or pumping 9 to 11 hours per day. Keep in mind that after several feedings she's awake for another hour or two, plus the time I'm trying to sneak naps in...that's why we're not posting much. Anyway, I wanted to discuss stopping pumping and switching to formula with the doctor today. She was thrilled at me pumping though. Especially when I told her I'm getting between 3 and 4 ounces per breast at each pumping and Grace is eating about 3 to 4 ounces per feeding. That means I have been freezing a ton of milk and have a great supply. She wants me to keep it up for at least a month, so I've got another two weeks to keep going. After that, we'll re-evaluate.

Ok, I think I've left the family upstairs long enough, plus I haven't put up those groceries from todays trip to the store and I was considering starting some laundry. I better get to work. I'll try to update again soon, but if not, I'm still around, just busy.

Grace's Birth Story

The baby has been fed and Daddy's home from work, so I have a moment to tell you how Grace came into this world.

Sunday morning I got up at at about 7:45 a.m. Eric and I had planned to go out to breakfast before church, so I was getting ready to jump in the shower. After I used the restroom, I was about to get in the shower when I noticed some fluid running down my legs. It wasn't alot and I had just used the restroom, so I wasn't 100% sure, but I immediately thought, "I think my water broke." I decided to go ahead and shower and see if there was still fluid after I was out and dry. I remember feeling a couple of possible "gushes" in the shower, but as I was standing under running water, I wasn't sure. After I got out of the shower and dried off I brushed my teeth, put in contacts, etc. and sure enough more fluid was running down my legs. I got partially dressed and headed downstairs to wake Eric up. He had stayed up Saturday night playing X-Box and fell asleep on the couch. I woke him up and told him that I had bad news. I didn't think he'd be able to watch the Colt's game today. That woke him up and he asked if I was in labor. I told him I think my water broke. At that time I wasn't having contractions yet, so I told him he had time to take a shower and we'd get the rest of our stuff together and make a couple of calls. While Eric was in the shower, I called my parents and let them know that we were about to head to the hospital and they started checking out flights to come on over. Then I called Samara to let her know what was up. We grabbed our last minute items. By the time Eric was out of the shower (8:15 a.m.) I had started having contractions. I came down to put a couple lines on my blog and while sitting at the computer felt a more definate gush and by then was pretty sure this was it. I was pretty calm, but Eric was a bit freaked out. We drove the hospital and went up to labor and delivery to check in. By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were about 5 minutes apart.

They put us in a triage room first to confirm I was in labor before admitting me (about 9:00 a.m.). They used this strip of paper to try to test the fluid to see if it was amniotic fluid. Unfortunately, I was a little too "dry" so the strip didn't completely turn colors. They told me I'd have to wait for a resident to do an internal exam where they collect some fluid from just outside the cervix and look at it under a microscope. We waited around for a while and finally the doctor came in to check me. While I was scooting down towards the stirrups I had another little gush and the doctor saw it, so they decided to use the strip again and this time it confirmed that my water had broken. While the doctor was there they did check me and I was at 3 cm, 90% effaced, and -1 station. The on-call doctor from my practice gave orders for me to walk for a while, so while they were doing my admission paperwork and getting me a room, they sent Eric and I to walk around the hallways for an hour. We walked for an hour and then went back and were put in our Labor and Delivery room around 11:00.

They hooked me up to the fetal monitors for a half hour or so and my contractions were about 2 to 3 minutes apart. Then they had me walk for another hour. This hour was tough. The contractions were really getting intense and I had to stop during every one to lean against the railing or Eric and breathe through it. We were supposed to go back to our room at 12:50 p.m. (after 1 hour of walking). We got back into the room and hooked back up to monitors. The monitor didn't seem to show all of the contractions that I was feeling and they mentioned giving me Pitocin to see if they could make my contractions more regular. I told them I didn't think the monitor was showing everything, so they put in an internal monitor. The internal monitor showed I was having contractions about every 90 seconds, so they decided I didn't need the Pitocin after all. They also checked me at this time and I was dialeted to 6 cm and 100% effaced. Will and Samara came in around 1:00 p.m. and got to witness some of the contractions I had to deal with. After they checked me, I started asking about an epidural. They said they would order me one, but they needed to start my IV and they had to take some blood to the lab before they could do it. They asked if I wanted some Nubane in the mean time. Eric and I had discussed it before hand and wanted to avoid Nubane, but these contractions hurt! I asked how long it would be before the epidural came, so I could decide if I wanted to just wait it out. They said an hour, so I decided to get the Nubane. It was wonderful. It made me a little sleepy and slightly drugged, but it definately took the edge off of the contractions. I'm not sure if it was the new drug or my perception of time, but it seemed like the anesthesiologist was there about 20 minutes later to give me the epidural. It was a breeze to get in as I didn't feel a thing. The IV in my hand hurt more. Eric saw the needle though and said it was pretty big. The epidural was in place around 2:00 p.m. After that, I didn't feel any of the contractions. I was just talking to people and sometimes Eric or Samara would mention that I was having a contraction (by looking at the monitor), but I didn't even notice. Will left a little later, but Samara decided to stick around since it seemed to be going relatively quickly.

Around 3:00 p.m., the nurse came back to check my progress again. I was now 7-8 cm. I'm not sure exactly when it was but around this time, Donna my mother-in-law arrived as well. We started trying to guess how much longer. We all thought maybe 7 or 8 p.m., but the nurse's guess was 5:15, so she must have known I was really progressing nicely. She came back to check me again at 4:00 p.m. This time I was 9 cm (still not feeling the contractions). She told me she'd be back in about 15 minutes, but to call sooner if I started feeling like I needed to push. Right about 15 minutes later, I started to feel like pushing. She came back and checked me and sure enough I was 10 cm dialated. Donna headed to the waiting room, the nurses brought out the sterile drapes and set up the tables with whatever stuff they use, and they adjusted the bed to add the stirrups and drop off the end for pushing. Around 4:20 p.m. I got to start pushing.

It took a couple of contractions for me to get the hang of it, but very quickly we started to make progress. Eric held one leg, while Samara held the other and Eric actually watched the whole time. At around 4:30 p.m. he could see the top of the head during pushes. I asked them to drop the mirror down so I could watch too. It was so amazing to see her little head making it's way down. They went to call my doctor at 4:30 to tell her to come to the hospital. She was about 20 minutes away and luckily for me, had come on call at 1:00 p.m., so my doctor was going to deliver my baby. After that, the nurse had my scale back on the pushes, so I wouldn't deliver before the doctor got there. I skipped a couple of contractions and did smaller pushes on others. Dr. D came in just before 5:00 p.m. Samara moved off to the side and the nurse took over on that leg. Now I got to push hard again. Her head came through and then things got a little crazy. Instead of having me stop pushing for a moment, everyone kept telling me to push more. I was running out of steam, but they just kept telling me to push. Then they had Eric move out of the way and the nurse jumped up on my bed and started pushing on my belly. The doctor apologized, but said they needed to cut me. Grace's shoulders had gotten stuck and they needed to get them out. Somehow, they made it through and Grace was born. They put her up on my chest and I just remember that she seemed purple and slippery and slightly sticky.

Then they took her over to the baby warmer to check her out. Eric went to the warmer to see her and the doctor started working on me. I still needed to deliver the placenta and get stiched up. They were immediately concerned about the shoulder dystocia. When she first came out she wasn't moving her right arm. The nerves can get pinched when the shoulder gets stuck and sometimes cause temporary or even permanent damage. They told us they were going to have someone from the NICU come to check her out. Otherwise she had Apgar scores of 7 and 9. By the 5 minute mark, she was beginning to move her right arm and they were less concerned about her shoulder. I was getting really impatient as I couldn't see the baby, but Eric took a couple of pictures and brought the camera over so I could see them. They weighed and measured her and said she was 8 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 inches long.

A few minutes later the NICU doctor came to check her out. By this time she seemed to have regained full use of her right arm. She had a good grip in both hands and everyone was pleased that there didn't appear to be any damage. Grace must have been crying during this time, because during her exam, the NICU attendant found out that she had a cleft palate. She had a dime size whole in the back of the roof of her mouth. They came to discuss it with us and said that it happens early in pregnancy (the first 8 weeks) and sometimes the palate doesn't completely close. It should be easily repairable with a surgery or two at Children's Hospital and we'll find out more about that part when we have our first official pediatrician appointment.

After checking her out, they wrapped her up, gave her to me and let us just hold her for a while. They let Donna come in and everyone got to see her. My parents arrived in from Iowa and got to the hospital around 7:00 p.m., just before they transferred us to our post-partum room.

Grace is beautiful and healthy for the most part and I felt very pleased with our birth even though we did have a few complications. When I have more time, I'll try to talk a little more about some of the consultations regarding feeding in the hospital, but overall, we just have a beautiful baby girl and couldn't be happier. Here's one more picture for you.

Grace Ellen Marie

Well, we did it.

Now we are remarkably on Day 3. I'm very tired, but very happy. I'll get my birth story on here later, but for now I just wanted to provide the stats and just a couple of pictures.

The labor went smoothly with a slightly more challenging delivery. Grace was born on Sunday, December 12, 2004 at 5:13 p.m. She weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. So for our guessing contest, Heather would be the winner being off by 1 day with a guess of 12/13/04 and 2 ounces with a guess of 8lb. 9 oz. She is beautiful and keeps getting prettier by the day.

Our current challenge is feeding. Grace was born with a cleft palate, I'll provide more info on that later, but it means she has a hole in the back of her mouth that makes it very hard to get good suction to nurse. We have been attempting breast feeding, and she latches on well, but doesn't really have great suction, so we don't think she's actually getting much. I've been using a breast pump and pumping and now my milk has come in, so we supplement with a bottle after each feeding attempt to be sure she gets enough to eat. She has to use a special bottle that we can squeeze to help her draw the milk and luckily it works well and she's able to get enough by bottle.

Ok, I heard her wake up upstairs, so I'm going to just post a few pictures and will attempt my birth story tomorrow.

Grace at Birth

Grace & Mommy in Delivery Room

3 Days Old & Sleeping

After the First Bath at Home

My Water Broke

This time I think I mean it. We're heading to the hospital to confirm. Another update in a couple of days!

Update on Friday

I'm going to try to post everyday now, mostly for the readers that I don't actually know or coorespond with in my day-to-day life. We're in the home stretch now and Grace could be here literally any day.

First of all, I am sorry to report that the contractions I had all day Thurday, pretty much amounted to nothing on Friday. I had a couple in the morning, but they weren't in the 20 minute apart range and then by lunch time, nothing was happening. The upside was that I made it through a meeting/conference call that I've been working on putting together for the past couple of weeks and now my fill-in person will be much better prepared to work on my renewal while I'm gone. I'm actually really happy about where I am at work, except that I've been waiting on this one piece of information from one of my clients for the last month or so. I'm working on a project for them and can't really do much more until I get this information. Well, they decided to send it finally at 4:30 p.m. on Friday. That's nice. Now, I will have something else to try to finish up if I go back on Monday.

I also called the doctor again yesterday morning. This time the nurse called me back in a timely manner. She said that Dr. D is fine with scheduling an induction next weekend and wants to do Saturday 12/18 (which is what I requested). The only problem is that the hospital won't allow scheduling more than a week in advance, so they have to wait until Monday to book it. My parents are going to go ahead and book their flight for Thursday afternoon and will just change it if we end up going sooner. So, now that I know at the very least, we'll be going in on Saturday, I could pick a last day of work. I still have 2 personal days that I haven't used for 2004 that won't be carried over to next year. I requested that I use them on Thursday and Friday next week (assuming I could otherwise work). I got the ok, so at the latest Wednesday will be my last day of work before my maternity leave. Yeah!

Friday night we had a decent evening. We were trying to get things moving a bit. I was really achy yesterday, so afterwork I came home and took a hot bath and then a 30 minute nap. Eric didn't get home until almost 7:00, so when he got home we went to the mall. We took back the jeans I bought for his birthday that were too small. Then we found some other jeans, bought him some new shoes for work, he got 2 new Colt's hats, and we picked up our final gifts for Eric's family and are now officially done Christmas shopping. We were at the mall until 9:00 and they shut down. Then we went to Chili's and had some dinner. After that we came home and I sat on the big exercise ball that Eric bought me for Christmas. He gave it to me Thursday because I couldn't get comfortable sitting on the couch and mentioned that I wish I had one of those balls they had in our childbirth classes to sit on. He bought if for exercise purposes, but it was nice. Then before we went to bed we tried one more old trick for getting labor started, but we don't need to share the details here.

So now it's Saturday morning, my water still hasn't broke and no contractions to speak of. It's hard to believe this is my last Saturday to just sit around and be lazy. This time next week I'll either be a Mom or at least at the hospital working towards that goal. All I have planned is to write the receipts in the checkboook, do a couple of bills, and when Eric gets home we're going to attempt to install the carseat base. Other than that, I may just be sitting with my feet up crossstiching or bouncing on my exercise ball.

One last thing to write about. My feelings keep sort of flip-flopping about the induction and when I want to have this baby. I've been thinking I wanted it to happen this weekend, but now with nothing really going on in the contraction department, I'm thinking that may not happen. Now I'm thinking maybe it wouldn't be so bad for her to wait a bit longer. I still would prefer to go into labor naturally, but it would be great if that happened on Thursday or Friday. My parents will be here by Thursday night. If we wait that long, I could have my Mom present for the birth. She could be at the hospital with me. I'm sure you ladies understand, how sometimes you just want your Mom? I've been preparing myself for the likely possibility that it would just be Eric and I and she probably wouldn't make it in time, but now she really could be here! So I'm a bit torn. I want Grace to come as soon as possible, but if she waits just a couple more days, I could have my Mom here too. I suppose it's good that it isn't my decision. She will come when she's ready and the rest of us will deal with it when it happens.

Ok, I'm going to go do a little minor cleaning and those bills. I'll update tomorrow with anything exciting that happens today or just to say I'm still here.

Doctor's Appointment - 38 weeks, 5 days

I had my "39 week" appointment today. My doctor was back and as usual didn't give me quite as much info as I would have liked. I got there a little early (8:45 a.m.) and they let me go back and leave my sample, plus take my weight (up 3 pounds! for a total of 32), blood pressure and pulse. Then I went back to the waiting room because Dr. D wasn't even in the building yet. I brought a book, so I just read while I waited. At about 9:15 a.m. Dr. D came in. Then they sent me to the room to remove the bottoms and wait. She came in a few minutes later. I was measured and we listened to the heartbeat. Apparently I had sugar in my urine this morning, so we discussed my choice of Lucky Charms for breakfast. Maybe I'm glad I haven't had morning appointments throughout this pregnancy.

She checked me and now I am at 3 cm! Yeah, progress. She didn't give me the other numbers. She had me sit up and asked if I wanted to do it next week? I confirmed she meant a scheduled induction and then told her I wasn't sure about that, I kind of want to go into labor on my own. She said that is fine and if I do it myself that's probably better, so she'll see me for a regular appointment on Thursday (12/16). Then we can discuss options. The next week would put me at 39w5d on 12/23. She said there wouldn't be a problem with doing the induction that day, but she is also on call next weekend, so we could maybe do it next weekend too. We'll
discuss that next week. I think if I'm still around I'll have Eric come to that last appointment.

Then I asked her about stripping my membranes. Her reply was, "I just did." I asked her if that meant anything and she said it does for some people, but not necessarily. I've heard you should go into labor within 24 to 48 hours afterwards, but also know people who have had it done and not went into labor. I guess we'll wait and see.

I also thought I may have been having contractions this morning, though I didn't mention it to the doctor. I'm not sure though and so many people have said that I'll know when it happens, so I'm not getting my hopes up. The pains either feel like gas cramps (causing me to head to the restroom, but nothing coming of it) or
period like cramps that spread to my back too. I started timing things this
morning and had some type of pain every 20 minutes from about 6:45 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Since then, it's been much less regular, so I just don't know. I guess we just wait. Nothing else to do.

I tried to pay attention this afternoon and again was back on the every 20 minute cycle, but I haven't had any for an hour now, so I don't know what that means. I'm going to try to just hang out tonight and see if anything happens. Wish me luck!

I also called the doctor's office back this afternoon after talking to Eric and my parents. Eric is ok with doing the induction next Friday or Saturday and a definate date would allow my parents to go ahead and book a flight (which could be moved earlier for a fee, if needed). I had to leave a message and I asked if I could schedule an induction for Saturday 12/18 or even 12/17. I never got a call back. I'm guessing the nurse had to discuss with the doctor. Hopefully, she calls me tomorrow, or I may leave another message in the morning (that is, if I'm not on my way to the hospital!) I shouldn't get my hopes up, but I'm really hoping this is it. I'm ready to meet my daughter.

38 Weeks, 2 Days - The 39th Week

My Symptoms
I resisted the urge to clean out the refrigerator, but I still think I've been nesting. Saturday had me cleaning all day. I even washed down the walls in the dining room. My house is nice and clean (except for the refrigerator) and now I won't feel bad when my parents come out. Before I would have been humiliated had they seen my bathroom. I'm looking forward to this weeks appointment. I don't think I've dropped yet, but I still feel like I could go "any time." I kind of think I've been losing my mucus plug slowly. Meaning no big chunks, but I've had lots of really gross gooey stuff showing up. I know it's common for more discharge, but this is really ridiculous. I can't think of much else. I have trouble getting comfortable, I'm always hot and I can tell my hands are swollen. I feel better about work now. I brought home a project this weekend that I got mostly finished. I've now accepted that I probably won't get everything finished at work and I just do the best I can and make sure everything is in it's place when I leave at night and I have notes everywhere! Sorry friends that I haven't been e-mailing, no good excuse really, except I really am working constantly. I stayed until 6:30 p.m. tonight. No one can say I've been slacking off because of this pregnancy.

The Baby
Your baby weighs a littl more than 7 pounds. By this point in your pregnancy, crown-to-rump length is about 14.4 inches. The baby's total length is 21.5 inches. Your baby continues to gain weight, even up to the last week or two of pregnancy. It doesn't have much room to move inside your uterus. At this point, all organ systems are developed and in place. The last organ to mature is the lungs.

Birth could happen at any time. The baby's bowels are filled with meconium, a black, tarry substance which will become baby’s first bowel movement.

Your baby's ready to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) Your baby's organs are fully developed and in place, and the outer layers of skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

Did you know that the amniotic fluid is continually replaced, even in labor, at the rate of every three hours? Pretty amazing stuff! We really don't know where amniotic fluid comes from, although it is partially comprised of urine, sweat and other fluids from the baby. Your baby has been practicing breathing the amniotic fluid for many weeks in preparation for the big event! The meconium in the baby's intestines will be shed as the first movement that the bowels make after birth. Meconium is a black, thick, tarry substance that is hard to get off of their rear ends! About 30% of the time, the baby will actually pass this stool before birth. This can cause problems if the baby swallows the meconium, however, that is not likely if the proper suctioning is done at birth. This can be done by a doctor or a midwife, even in a homebirth situation.

The Mom
If you measure from the pubic symphysis to the top of the uterus, the distance is 6.4 to 8 inches. You're almost at the end of your pregnancy. Your weight should not increase much from this point. It should remain between 25 and 35 pounds until delivery. It would be unusual for you not to be uncomfortable and feel huge at this time. Your uterus has filled your pelvis and most of your abdomen. It has pushed everything else out of the way. At this point in pregnancy, you may think you'll never want to be pregnant again because you're so uncomfortable.

Use this time to rest, prepare for baby, and consider the future. Long slow walks may help to bring on labor. Many women lose their mucus plug a week or two before delivery (though for others it doesn’t happen until right before delivery). If the mucus is pink or streaked with blood, it is known as the "bloody show" and usually means labor will begin within the next day. You may feel more fatigue or increased energy. Both are normal. With that heavy baby lodged deep in your pelvis, you may be running to the bathroom every two minutes! Notify your care provider immediately if you pass amniotic fluid!

At each visit, your midwife or doctor will do an abdominal exam to check your baby's growth and position. She might also do an internal exam to see whether you've started effacing (when the cervix thins out) or dilating (when the cervix opens). If the week passes and your baby stays put, don't panic. Only 5 percent of babies are born on their scheduled due date. And your baby can't make you wait indefinitely for his arrival. If you go past your due date, your provider will schedule you for fetal testing (usually a sonogram) after 40 weeks to ensure that it's safe to continue the pregnancy. If you don't go into labor on your own, most practitioners will induce labor when you're between one and two weeks overdue. Pregnant women on television sitcoms always have their water break dramatically — in the middle of a crowded room, of course — just before going into labor. Don't worry about a similar scenario happening to you. Membranes rupture before the beginning of labor in less than 15 percent of pregnancies, and it's not normally an enormous gush — usually a small gush or a slow leak. In any case, if your water does break (or you even suspect you might have a leak), call your doctor or midwife right away, but stay calm — it may be hours before your first contraction. (If you're a GBS carrier, you'll be asked to go to the hospital so you can start getting IV antibiotics and will likely be induced at the same time if you don't start contracting on your own.) Also call your practitioner right away if you notice that your baby's movements have slowed, whether or not you're leaking fluid. There are more common signs of impending labor than water breaking. You may notice your mucus plug — the small amount of thick mucus that blocks your cervical canal — in your undies or in the toilet. It might be tinged with a small bit of brownish, pink, or red blood (which is why it's called "bloody show"). (If you have vaginal spotting or bleeding other than mucus tinged with a tiny amount of blood, call your caregiver without delay.) Labor usually starts within a day or two of seeing the mucus plug. Another sign of labor is contractions at regular — but increasingly shorter — intervals. If you've been having Braxton Hicks contractions, you'll now realize that these were just practice. Your doctor or midwife will tell you when to give her a call, but it will likely be once your contractions last about a minute each and arrive every five minutes for about an hour. (Time the contractions from the beginning of one to the beginning of the next one.) If you're unsure about your progress, go ahead and give your practitioner a call. Your practitioner may have you count fetal movements. Even if you aren't asked to formally count movements, call her immediately if you notice a decrease in your baby's activity. Your baby should remain as active as ever right up to delivery, and a decrease in activity could be a sign of a problem — meaning that you need to deliver now rather than later.

Now that you know how to tell if you are really in labor, let's talk about some of the ways your body prepares for labor. It is really neat to examine all of the changes that take place in your body as the pregnancy continues. Your baby will descend into your pelvis, sometimes called engagement or lightening, usually before labor in first time moms and during labor in subsequent births. Your cervix, the mouth of your uterus, will begin to soften and possibly dilate. Some practitioners will do routine vaginal exams towards the end of pregnancy. Contrary to popular belief, you can't predict when labor will start by the details of your cervix. Some practitioners will also strip the membranes in an attempt to "get things going." If you feel strongly about this mention it to your practitioner before any physical exams. In the days before labor begins you may also experience the following, although they are not always accurate predictors of when labor will begin: bloody show, loss of mucous plug, nesting instinct, loose stools, loss of weight, increase in appetite. Hang in there! You are almost done!

Measurements & Pics - 38 weeks

The picture is from last night 38 weeks, 1 days. The measurements are from today 38 weeks 2 day. The last measurement is from 37 weeks, 1 day.

Before = (B) Last = (L) Current =(C)

Weight - 150.5 (B), 181.0 (L), 183.0 (C) = +32.5 pounds
Bicep - 11 3/4 (B), 11 3/4 (L), 12 (C) = + 1/4 inch
Chest - 35 1/2 (B), 40 (L), 39 1/2 (C) = +4 inches
Waist (at smallest point) - 30 (B), 39 3/4 (L), 39 (C) = +9 inches
Waist (at belly button) - 32 1/2 (B), 42 (L), 45 (C) = +12 1/2 inches
Hips - 38 (B), 41 (L), 42 (C) = +4 inches
Thigh - 23 (B), 22 ½ (L), 23 (C) = 0 inches
Calf - 14 (B), 14 1/2 (L), 15 1/2 (C) = +1 1/2 inch

Here is the belly shot.

I'll try to do an update later tonight. I am feeling the uncontrollable urge to clean out and scrub down the refrigerator after a light dinner of course.

Our Water Broke

Yes, that's right. I got up this morning around 9:00 a.m. to get ready for church. I showered, did some of the getting ready stuff (lotion, contacts, teeth brushing), and then went downstairs to eat breakfast. I heard this weird plumbing type noise and then went back upstairs to see if Eric was in the shower. He was still in bed, so I reminded him that it was now 9:30 a.m. and church starts at 10:00, so he should probably get in the shower. I went back downstairs to finish my cereal. A few minutes later, he came downstairs and told me we had no water.

We went outside and found a couple of neighbors outside as well, no one has water. Apparently there was a water main break. No idea how long it will take to get fixed, but with the frequency I need to use the restroom, it better be soon. There's only one toilet we haven't flushed yet. We didn't make church, but I think I'm going to go to Wal-Mart and maybe hang out with Eric to watch football at BW3s so I'll have ready access to a bathroom at least until later this afternoon.

Oh yeah, sorry about the title. I had to do it. Hopefully, the real thing will happen soon!

Saturday Morning

I could't sleep in this morning, so I thought I'd get in a quick post before starting the rest of my weekend to-do list.

Yesterday was a good day. I didn't get nearly enough done at work (I even decided to bring home the laptop and a project for the weekend). We closed at noon for our holiday party. We went to a place called Dave & Busters which is kind of like a Showbiz (Chucky Cheese) for adults. Lunch was ok (but free). After lunch they split the office up into 4 teams for a challenge consiting of a variety of arcade games. Basketball, Derby Downs (kind of like a ski ball race), Ski Ball, Daytona racing, and a shooting thing with a rifle. No thanks to my horrible scores (how do you only score 2 baskets?), my team did win and I got a free t-shirt. Then we had another 30 credits or so on the cards they gave us to play more games. I still made it home by 4:00 p.m. Then last night, Eric and I had our last "date." Which we also used to celebrate his birthday. We went to Champps for dinner since Eric loves it. The line was long, but we still were in and out by about 7:45. Then we decided to go to Target to kill some time before the movie. We bought a couple of unneccessary items. Then we headed over to the theater to find out that our movie started at 9:45, not 9:25, so then we went over to a used video game store to kill some more time. Eventually we saw the Bourne Supremacy (we were at the $1 theater, techinically $1.50 after 6). It was really good. We made it home around midnight.

I told Eric that I think I'll have the baby next week. I wouldn't even be that surprised if it was this weekend. I don't really have a good reason for thinking that, I just feel "different." The baby is still high, I was really uncomfortable at dinner and the movies because it felt like she was jammed up under my ribs and I could hardly breathe. I've also been having an increasing amount of discharge since my appointment and have been hoping that it's my mucus plug slowly disintigrating. My "feelings" are usually wrong though, so Grace will probably wait around until her due date. That wouldn't be so bad either. I just can't seem to get caught up at work and again have enough stuff that I think a couple more days would really help me out.

Well, I think my nesting instincts are calling me. I'm itching to get upstairs with a bucket and scrub my bathroom floor. And I need to eat some breakfast. I'll update more after the weekend.

Doctor's Appointment - 37 weeks, 5 days

Sorry for the late post. Things never go exactly how I planned.

Anyway, my appointment was at 3:00 p.m. today. I got there about 15 minutes early and they took me back right away for my sample, weighing (2 pounds this week for a total of 30), blood pressure, and pulse. The nurse said it wouldn't be long, so to lose the bottoms and get on the table.

I had to wait another 5 or 10 minutes and then Dr. B came in. I had never met him before, but he was very nice. He first brought over my chart and looked over my stats from the last weeks, etc. Then he had me lay down and measured the belly (37 cm), and listened to the heartbeat. He asked me if we knew what we were having and I said a girl. He asked if we had a name for her and I told him, Grace. By the way, Dr. D has never asked about names. He felt the belly a little and confirmed we are head down.

Then he examined me and I told him to give me some good news. He said I was 2cm dilated, maybe 2+, then he said I was about 70% effaced. Then he felt for Grace's head. He thinks were still at about a -2 station. He said last week they said -1, but he thinks it's more like -2. He said she's not really engaged yet. That was a bit disappointing as I've felt so much pressure lately I was sure she was lower. Then he was still feeling around and asked if I was "38, 2?" It took me a minute to figure out he was asking how far along I was, I corrected 37, 5. Then he said, he wouldn't get too rambunctious in there and finished the exam. All I can think of is that he was going to "strip my membranes," but figures it's still early and he'll let me go longer. Most people go into labor within 48 hours of having their membranes stripped. Then he told me that he thinks we'll be right on time and should be home before Christmas. I asked if that means I'll still be back next week and he said, yes. Of course, he could be wrong, but I'm guessing next Thursday I'll have another update to do. He also warned me that I'd probably have some spotting after this exam, which I did, so at least this time I had warning.

That was about it. I wish I had progressed more, but then again, today got crazy at work and I'm kind of glad I may have a couple more days to get some more stuff done. I really am thankful my job keeps me busy or these last few weeks would have me going nuts.

It looks like Samara's guess will be wrong, as she picked today for Grace's birthday. My Dad had asked me to wait until after today because of a class he's taking, and a co-worker wants me to wait until at least the weekend because our holiday party is tomorrow. Like I said, I've got some stuff to do at work and apparently a couple more Christmas things to wrap up this weekend, but I'm still ready any time.