How It All Shook Out

On Sunday night, I noticed that I was possibly beginning to lose my mucus plug. Pretty gross stuff. Then I noticed a dampness to the undies, and wasn't able to conclude if this was just me weeing on myself or of my water had broken. I called my OB and his partner returned my call and told me to go in to determine what the case was. I didn't really think anything was happening since I wasn't having contractions. I was convinced we'd be told to just go home. Lo and behold, after a couple of exams (one of which was with a speculum--ugh), turns out it was my water that broke. I was relieved to know I wasn't just peeing on myself.

I was started on Pito.cin around 0130, and I finally had some contractions. I lasted until around 0700 and then I really wanted an epidural. The oncoming nurse, bless her kind soul, talked me into some Stad.ol to relax since I hadn't slept at all. She was worried that I would be too tired to push when it came time for that. It really helped with the epidural placement also, because I had quite a bit of anxiety about that (stupid nurse-y fears of complications and all). After that it was rather smooth sailing, in terms of pain. I was able to watch my contractions and the baby's HB on the monitor. There were a couple of decels that were noted at certain points of the day. I could see a concerned look on my OB's face despite the pleasantly stoned feeling that I was experiencing.

About 1900, the decision was made to deliver via C-section for several reasons. My membranes had been ruptured for 24 hours, I was + for Group B strep and I had not progressed past 7 cm. I was very cool with it, as I was pretty ready to meet my Ben. Since it turns out that he was an enormous baby (the biggest baby on the postpartum floor, turns out), I am glad I was sectioned because I am pretty sure my vagina and bladder would never be the same.

In what felt like mere seconds, they showed me my son. He was/is gorgeous! Big healthy cry, and looks just like dada. He had tons of scratches on his face though, from his supersharp little nails. I'll have to post a more recent pic of him, since he is much cuter now with his clear skin.


To be continued....

Introducing...

Benjamin Edward was born on 11/17/08!

Vital Stats:

9 lbs, 7 oz.

21 1/2 inches long

delivered via C-section

I'll have to give you all the rundown later, but he is a dream come true.

In short:

• Epidurals are from Heaven.
• Breastfeeding is effin' hard, even if you are hypermammiferous.
• I've had all the assvice I can take.
• I am really ready for my own personal space to be mine again.

Still here (40w3d)

Am still incubating. Am still not having a lot in the way of contractions, but just some lower abdominal stuff. I do think I lost a little of my mucus plug though. Hopefully at this late date that is a sign things will come sooner than later?

Does he know it's his due date?

So much for that full moon theory. Bunch of bollocks. Like I knew it was.

So I have called the doc's office to schedule my induction for next Thursday. Am awaiting instructions.

Yesterday, I could hear my husband on the phone with his mother. On his end, I heard things like, "No it's based on the doctor's advice," "They know more now than they did back then," and "He will only let us go one week past the due date" in the tone that he uses when he is talking to his mother (caring, but slightly exasperated). So, I go downstairs and jokingly ask him if she wants me to go to 45 weeks. He said no, but she was wondering if we could schedule the induction for Friday instead of Thursday.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comfy little bugger

Baby boy is apparently very happy right where he is. Nice and active, plenty of amniotic fluid to swim in. Still head down. I am still not effin' dilated, and no more effaced than I was last week (50%). Thursday is my actual due date, and if I am not in labor by then, I am to call the office to schedule an induction date for the following Thursday, 11/20. If nothing else, I know that I will meet our son on that day. I would certainly like it to be before then, though.

My husband actually made his first real misstep the other day.

A: Are you going to stop walking like a penguin after you have the baby?
K: (Silence. Eyes narrow to slits, secretly thinking,"Gawd, I hope so.")

Looks like I've got a lot more penguin walking to do and mercy sex to be had before this kid comes out. Guess I'd better get cracking.

Picture Time

We decided to try and keep the camera, and it seems to be working so far! We talked to some guys from the Geek Squad about some modifications we can make and it seems to work with the pics we have taken thus far. So, I guess I'll do some sharing here.

Dresser/Changing table/Supplies

Crib with Mobile (bumper will come off soon)

Chair for mama to rock and feed (and nap)

Funny, it doesn't look like it was taken with a high definition camera. Huh. it does look fabulous on y computer and on our tv, though. I think I did read something that picture quality is shoddy in low lighting. Whatev. We'll see.

And, just so you can see what condition my feet are in. I used to have pretty feet. Hopefully they will be again in a few short days!

Threw in the Towel (39w1d)

I have officially thrown in the towel and am no longer at work. My back was hurting me badly at night, during the day and more or less all other times. I had to take Tylenol before I went to bed and before I went to work to get through the day, and even that wasn't helping. My doc had offered me Vicodin, but of course, that is not compatible with patient care at work (or maybe it would make it more tolerable!). So I figured it was time.

To celebrate, we went to purchase a camcorder to record Ben's entrance to the world for all of posterity (with a view only from behind my head, of course). We thought we would buy an HD camcorder/camera since we have an HDTV and all. Once we started reading instructions, I realized that this is probably a little too much technology for us. My laptop doesn't have a big enough CPU to handle the HD stuff, and my husband's is frequently traded in at work. Not to mention, if I want to watch the videos we record, we'd have to buy a Blu-ray disc to do so. So we are looking at additional several hundred $$ just to buy stuff compatible with this camera. Oy. We will likely take it back tonight and get a lesser camcorder and a better digital camera, probably one of those SLR types. I think I am more of a picture person anyway. I suppose we should have put a little more thought into it beforehand, but oh well.

To help expedite Ben's entrance into the world, I went to the Galleria today to waddle around. I went to Nordstrom, which I didn't realize had a children's section (or more accurately, never really cared before) and I found such delights as $119 True Religion jeans for toddlers and $240 Juicy ensembles for older girls. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Yikes! It wasn't all quite that bad, but B won't be wearing any True Religion jeans unless a grandparent decides to spring for them (and that likelihood is pretty close to nil).

Off to get a bit more waddling in and get this baby out!

Progress!!! (38w5d)

I am now 50% effaced, although not really dilated. He has dropped a little bit from last week. Doc seems to think that when I start to dilate, things will go quickly. He may even be here within a week! He is estimating his weight to be 7 lbs 9 oz right now, so within another week he can gain anywhere from 1/4 to a whole pound. So we are looking at an 8 pounder.

Hopefully I am not jumping the gun, but I am seriously considering saying Peace Out, see you in 3 months! starting on Friday. Or maybe Thursday. We shall see.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Yesterday, we celebrated our fifth anniversary. I consider it to be a great little milestone. We had always talked vaguely about taking a little trip at this point, but seeing as I am not up for a lot of activity these days, we kept it simple.

When I was getting dressed to go to dinner, I began to look for the necklace A gave me on our wedding day. I began to completely lose it when I could not find it anywhere. A kept telling me non-chalantly not to worry about it, but I continued to freak. That was the point at which he confessed he got something for me. When I opened the package, inside was the missing wedding day necklace with a new stone placed in the middle. It is a citrine, the stone for November. I was so touched, as he is not the creative type or the type for surprises. So the citrine is surrounded the original circle of diamonds. I blubbered uncontrollably. Then of course, I had to get my act together because we were late for dinner.

We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant known for its charming outdoor patio. The only problem is that the outdoor patio is in Houston, and I had about 5 mosquito bites before we had to relocate indoors. A had a nice half bottle of wine, and the sommelier made me a non-alcoholic martini. We also had a nice little dessert trio, and they wrote Happy Anniversary in chocolate on our plate. It was a great evening.

Then we went home and watched the Texas vs. Texas Tech game had our hearts broken. Absolutely crushing. So much for the #1 team.