Happy 2 Months!

I thought I would be one of those mothers who document every "new" activity.  However, what I didn't realize is that with a little one, coupled with breastfeeding, I have NO time to do anything optional.  Any downtime the past few weeks (meaning Hank's nap time) has been used paying bills, insurance analysis, Christmas shopping, naptime of my own, etc.

However, there was a marked change in little Hank this past week, and it made my heart melt and break that I wasn't documenting it all.  So from now on I will make an effort to post more updates.

A lot of friends told me that things change around 6 weeks.  Indeed, I saw Hank becoming more alert, cooing more, able to lift his head better.  However at about 8 weeks - he became a little person.  He was doing all of the stuff I mentioned ALL the time, not just in snippets.  His little voice is so sweet and lately he seems to be talking all the time.  Amongst the cute singsongsy coos, he also grunts a lot of beefy man grunts.  I wonder if girls do the same?  He also now really SEES me, daddy, and his mobile toys.  He makes eye contact and smiles and laughs when you talk back to him.  Its simply heart melting.  The past two months have been worth it!

Maybe one of the best developments for this tired mama, is that his latch/breastfeeding has become much more effective.  The first month or two, I literally fed him for over an hour every two hours.  However, as of a week or so, he is only nursing 15-30 minutes and can go atleast 2.5/3 hours now as well.  Woo hoo, party time!  Also, in the past, the only things that would calm him down were burping, farting, feeding and sleeping.  However, now he usually just wants to be held.  He can last a long time without being fussy if you just hold him and walk around with him.  He is interested in the world!

Happy One Month, My Dear Son!

1 month

This last month has literally been a roller coaster of emotions: from high, to low, to high, to indifferent, to high, etc.  I'm happy to report that today, at one month old, I feel like I am FINALLY getting the swing of things and head over heels in love with my little boy.  I am learning to respond to my sweet son's cries and whimpers and also teaching him to adapt to our family.  The last month has definitely been a blur, as everyone warned me it would, but surprisingly its gone by super fast.  We've had a flurry of visitors including his babcia (grandma), my aunt and his aunt (my sister) -- all who have taught invaluable lessons on dealing with a baby.   I love my little man with my heart and soul and feel like he is the best baby we could possibly have.  I love EVERY little thing about him.  I can't wait to get to know him even better.  I can't imagine ever having to stop smothering him with kisses.  It will still be okay to do that when he is 30 right?

1 week

2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks

Happy Birthday My Dear Son!

Our son arrived yesterday into this world with a high-five at 1:56 p.m., weighing 7 lbs 4 oz, measuring 20 inches long.  

My water broke (literally a gush of water like in the movies) soon after I woke up from sleeping in until 9:15am.  He csme into this world just about five hours later.  It was my first day of maternity leave and I was planning on spending it reading all the workbooks we received from our baby classes, laying at our pool, lunching with friends, and getting a Mani/pedi.  Henry had other plans.

Hubbt and I are so in love and happy with our little pumpkin.  More to come.

Decreased Fetal Movement

Baby Mac has taken after his parents in one aspect throughout most of the pregnancy: he can't sit still.  He is always moving around, kicking, sucking is thumb, shaking his head -- which is very reassuring for me.  Its the sign of a healthy baby.  In the last few weeks of pregnancy however, the baby starts running out of room, and sometimes oxygen.  Pregnant women are told to monitor these kicks more frequently and consistently.  In my case, because my amniotic fluid has been consistently low and because of our two vessel cord, my doctor has stressed that should I feel any decreased fetal movement, or any sort of change in pattern of his movements, that I should notify her immediately. 

So yesterday, after a good 10 hours of not feeling ANY movement, I knew it was time to give her a call.  I did everything she told me to do beforehand: drank gallons of cold juice, ate, changed positions and laid in a dark room on my side waiting to feel and monitor kicks -- all to no avail.   I finally called worried, and she asked me to come to the hospital, again, to get the stress test done.  And so that's how my hubby and I spent our last Saturday night without baby, back at the hospital.  You win baby Mac, you are the boss.

After an hour or so of monitoring, it turned out baby Mac was just as healthy as ever, but that since my fluid is lower, its possibly I am not feeling the kicks as much.  Its still not low enough to deliver though, so we are hoping he hangs in tight and stays in utero until Friday - his scheduled C Section date.

On a positive note, since we were only in the hospital a couple of hours, we were able to salvage part of last weekend night together, and managed to go to dinner and a movie after the hospital, Captain Phillips (which was excellent).  We figured if we are going to hire a sitter, we'd rather go out somewhere with friends, so most likely it would be a while since we saw a movie in the theaters after the baby comes. 

So it begins, our last week child-free.  It is seriously terrifying.  I am savoring every last minute of sleep I get, every moment of silence I have, and every movement of freedom I feel.  D-Day is fast approaching.

FINAL Pre-Natal Appointment!

One more week until my scheduled cesarean section.  Never thought I'd have that - a scheduled cesarean.  I'd been preparing myself with books, videos and classes for a vaginal delivery since the beginning.  But at this point, I get it,  the BABY is the boss.  He is already ruling this mama.  And that's okay.  I am finding peace with it.  There ARE benefits.

Just got back from my 38.5 week appointment, and of course he is still breech.  But more exciting is that I am 80% effaced and 1.5cm dilated!  His bum is down, and the nurse said she felt it when she examined me.  Anyway, this means my body is working and preparing for delivery, which is exciting.  There is a chance I'll go into labor on my own before the cesarean, but I do hope he waits -  I'm a bit of a planner and would like to see this well organized Baby Mac.  Work with me here and wait until Oct 18th :) 

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is my husband's birthday, his last before Baby Mac arrives - and we spent it assembling strollers, installing car seats, and getting the guestroom ready for our mothers.   On the flip side, he also is out with his guy friends all night, with no nagging from me.  I love him more each day, if that's even possible, and I have no doubt that love will grow even more seeing him with our son.  Happy birthday to the best thing that's ever happened to me, my wonderful husband!  He always tells me that my dreams are coming true with the impending arrival with our baby, but what he doesn't know is they all came true the moment I met him. Everything else is icing on the cake.

Cesarian is Scheduled

Friday, October 18, 2013 at 12:30 PM. 

OUCH! My Unsuccessful External Cephalic Version

I've known that my son is breech for months now.  In fact, not only is he breech (head up) but he's been stuck in the same exact position the whole time, with his big head (90th percentile) stuck under my right rib.  Sometimes, this causes me great discomfort and even bars me from walking.  So I've been acutely aware of his placement for quite some time.

My doctor recommended that she perform an external cephalic version (or just "Version") to try to manually turn him around to help guide his head toward the birth canal, or down.  This procedure is performed around 36-37 weeks and as I am already 37 weeks she scheduled it right away, and it was yesterday.  My doctor was optimistic:  in fact, she has one of the highest successful version rates in Houston, and told me that although my amniotic fluid was still low, it was plenty enough to perform this procedure.  I on the other hand, just KNEW, it was not going to work.  This little stinker is already stubborn like his daddy, and I just knew he was not going to let us push him around. 

But we went for it.  In hopes of a vaginal delivery, my preferred delivery method, my husband and I checked into the hospital yesterday at 5:30 AM and waited for the doctor to arrive around 7am.  She explained the risks one more time (rupture, delivery, etc), and then proceeded to give me medicine that relaxed my uterus.  Please note, this was NOT pain medication.  In fact it was the opposite.  Although it "relaxed" my uterus, it totally made me crazy.  Within minutes, my whole body was trembling, my teeth were chattering, my speech was shaking.  I felt like an addict on recovery - my heart was beating out of control.  All the while, my doctor was telling me to take deep breaths and relax.  It was IMPOSSIBLE.

I grabbed onto my husband's hands, and literally squeezed them for dear life as the doctor got to work.  It was one of the most painful experiences to date.  She literally put all her body weight and fingers to dive into my stomach and manually grab ahold of the baby's head and butt through the res of my organs, applying constant pressure and molding him to turn around.  She was making progress, and finally got his head out from under the rib so that he lay horizontal, but she was having trouble getting his head down from that spot.  It felt like something was tight, the spot was tight.  She kept on asking me to breathe and told me I was doing well, but I'll be honest with you all.  I was NOT okay.  This whole time, I was SCREAMING at the top of my lungs, my legs were flailing (the nurses were trying to keep them down), I was digging my fingernails into hubby's hands yelling at him to help.  

If you Google, external cephalic version, on YouTube, you will see all these women totally normal, talking about their days, while their doctor's perform the procedure.  Either they are ROBOTS, or I have absolutely no pain tolerance. Frankly, it embarrasses me that I reacted the way I did, because if these YouTube videos are the norm, my doctor must think I am verifiably CRAZY.

The doctor tried and tried to get him down from his horizontal position, but at this point, I was so sorely bruised and in pain, I just couldn't do it anymore.  So it ended.  Unsuccessfully.  The doctor asked me to schedule a C Section with her in two weeks and that's how we got back to where we were in the beginning.  After all that work, baby Mac is just going to get his way.  There is still a small chance he could turn on his own before the scheduled C Section, but I am doubtful of it.

NOT as simple as this picture makes it out. 

I stayed in the hospital for about 3-4 more hours, as both the baby and I were monitored to make sure we were doing fine after the trauma.  I ordered breakfast, watched some TV, went home and passed out exhausted for the rest of the day.  I was hoping to get furloughed (with the Government shutdown starting today), but my Agency elected to keep on working until our existing funds run out.  No idea when that will be, so here I am back at work, sore, tired, shaken and waiting for baby Mac who we now expect to arrive within the next two weeks!
 

Nursery Reveal - Gray, Royal Blue, and Dark Wood

Nursery is finally completed right at my 36 week mark.  Here is a snapshot of it, followed by lots of photos below:

However, lease does not begin until next week, when I am technically full term at 37 weeks.  My husband is traveling to Michigan this weekend for his brother's wedding, so this little guy better stay nice and snug in my belly until daddy is back on Sunday night.  Then he is free to come out and play.

I love this room.  From the get-co, I knew most importantly I wanted this room to be inviting and comfortable.  I think I succeeded there, as and I often find myself snuggling with Tito on the glider reading baby books.  I also wanted to decorate it traditionally with modern touches, mixing light and dark, as well as making it gender neutral-enough so that in the future, a) if a girl needs to share the room, we could make some easy changes, and b) we can still use it as a spare guestroom since it has its own bathroom (the couch is a futon, plenty of space for extra air mattresses, and we can just roll the crib into our room down the hall).  There is no theme per se, however we incorporated several world/travel elements like the African mobile, globe, a tapestry from South Africa, and the alphabet art displaying cities around the world.  In addition, we also have some dog items like stuffed animals and another beautiful art canvas displaying dog breeds.  Finally, my husband insisted on tacking up Chicago sports team pennants last minute, so Chicago is in the house too.  All in all, its very similar to my original inspiration below:



Nursery in detail:

A Few of My Favorite Pregnancy Things - Care Package List

There are a few essential things I've bought during this pregnancy that I've relied on, and loved - and would recommend to other newly pregnant women.  There are also a few things I wish I had bought, and will likely buy the second time around.  I thought I would list it all out for all the newly preggos out there, for friends who want to buy something for their newly pregnant friends,  and also to remind myself for friends and future pregnancies.

1.  Long, cotton, maternity, tank tops:  Given that I was pregnant March through Oct in Houston, that's no surprise.  Its been over 90 degrees that whole time, and I couldn't have made it without tank after tank.

2.  Maternity Leggings:  Same as above, and the only thing that feels remotely comfortable in the last trimester.

3. Maternity Shapewear:  I loved this.   I had several weddings I attended during my pregnancy, and this helped me deal with my changing body.  Plus it helps support the growing belly and felt like a relief in the later stages of pregnancy.

4.  Detailed First Trimester Book: As a first time mom, I really appreciated this detailed book on the first trimester.  Most pregnancy books gloss over the first 12 weeks, but I was SO DAMN EXCITED about being pregnant that I wanted more, more and more information.  This book delivered.  That said, once I got into my second trimester, I stopped reading altogether and relied on iPhone apps.

5.  Iphone Apps:  I'm sure there are tons, but I loved the timeline in Sprout, and the tips of the day in Baby Bump.  They also allow you to time your contractions, list what to pack in hospital bag, etc. 

6.  Designer Maternity Jeans:  I bought one pair of AG maternity jeans (so soft and comfy yet shapely) at the start of my pregnancy around week 12 for $200 and wore them the entire time, pretty much every time I went out, through week 36.  They are still in great shape and make me look like half of me is in great shape, and I know I'll get another 36 weeks out of them next time. 

AG Jeans at Pea in the Pod

7.  Maternity online shopping:  Once I hit the second trimester, I realized the two mall maternity stores pretty much had K-Mart style clothes that looked all the same.  So I stopped going to them for new things, and just bought tanks and leggings there instead.  I found some great websites for maternity clothes though at reasonable prices.  My favorites are:  ASOS, Zulily, Gilt, Old Navy, Gap, and Seraphine (Princess Kate's favorite).

 

8.  True Lemon:  The ONLY thing that could get rid of my massive migraines the first trimester was staying hydrated.  Actually, the only thing that could relieve me of all and every one of my symtoms was staying hydrated.  I did this by drinking a TON of water every single day.  At first I started drinking Gatorade and PowerAde but then got freaked out knowing some flavors have BMO and it may not be good for baby.  So I forced myself to drink only/mostly water - which I struggled with.  A friend recommended adding true lemon packet to water, and it worked.  It's 100% natural and made the water go down easier.  Just like adding a lemon wedge.

9.  Pill reminder storage:  Blame it on pregnancy brain or not, but I could not quite ever remember if I had taken my prenatal vitamins or not during the first 12 weeks.  As soon as I purchased this, it helped a ton.  I don't think I've missed a day.  Also nice to travel with.

10.  Bikini Shaper: There comes a day when you realize you can no longer see, down there.  At all.  Its also hard to reach.  This little tool allows you to precise and safe bikini trimming without needing a mirror.

 

Ok now for things I wish I had bought.

 

11.  Memory Mattress Pad: By week 20 you are only supposed to sleep on your side and I swear I woke up with bruises on both of my hips.  It got worse as the weight increased.  My sides literally ached with pain making my already lower back pain unbearable.  I actually finally purchased a memory mattress pad last week at 35 weeks and it make a world of difference.  I wished I had done it sooner. 

 

12.  Pregnancy Body Pillow:  Same reasoning as above.  Its been extremely uncomfortable for me sleeping on my sides.  Coupled with the incessant bathroom breaks and insomnia in general, finding a way to sleep should be your utmost priority.  I ruled this body out in the beginning of my pregnancy because I thought it may be too big, and unnecessary.  I thought oh I could just snuggle up to a regular pillow.  Wrong.  Next time, the minute I find out I'm pregnant, I'm buying this as a gift to myself.  $100 is a small price to pay for uninterrupted sleep pre baby.  . 

 



Are there any other things you found useful or of relief during your pregnancies?



36 weeks - Drama! (10th Prenatal Appointment)

I went in for my last routine ultrasound this morning at 36 weeks.  Since Baby Mac has a two vessel cord, we get ultrasound growth scans monthly - and each time he has passed with flying colors.  So I expected the same this week and took two hours off of work to accommodate this final scan.   Little did I know pulling up to my appointment, that I'd be admitted to the hospital and told I might deliver today!

The ultrasound technician seemed cool, and remained poker faced throughout the scan.  However, when I met with my Nurse Practitioner afterwards to go over the results (my doctor is on vacation this week), she told me they were admitting me to the hospital for further testing.

The NP explained that the results told her that a) my amniotic fluid was very low.  Normal levels are from 8-18, and I am currently at 8.3 and  b) the baby's abdomen growth was only at 5th percentile (where as in previous weeks it was in the 35th percentile), so they were concerned about his lack of growth there.  She said, "Don't freak out, but there is a possibility we may have you deliver the baby today."  My head started spinning, and my first thought was, "What?  I have a briefer to write for the Under Secretary of State today...delivery today, not ideal." 

So, I was admitted to the hospital, signed registration papers, and proceeded to get checked out by a high risk specialist who gave me ANOTHER 45 minute ultrasound.  However, upon measuring the abdomen, she said the first technician had misread it.  In fact, the abdomen was measuring FINE, at the 30th percentile, not 5th percentile.  The reason the first ultrasound technician might have misread it is because the baby is still breech (head up)!  In fact, he is sitting in the same position "frank breech" he has been sitting in the last couple of months.  See below:

And with my amniotic fluid so low, its doubtful he has enough liquid to flip.  Which is why none of my crazy breech exercises have been working!

 

Alas, crisis averted, for now.  The doctor said that because his abdomen was in fact growing fine, and that the amniotic fluid was still on the normal scale, albeit the lowest number on the scale (8, out of 8-18), I was discharged today.  

However, moving on, I will now be seen by my doctor twice a week, every Thursday and Monday.  And each time, if my amniotic fluid decreases, there is a chance I will need to deliver the baby. Plus, I am already 1 cm dilated!  He is also already 5lbs 13 oz, so plenty big enough to come out and play.  So based on my non-medical opinion, I don't think this baby is going to wait until his due date of October 23 to make his appearance. 

So in sum, the baby is already the boss of us, and takes after his daddy.  My husband was also breech which caused his mother to have a Cesarean.  And he came 2-3 weeks early, also the first week of October!  Its quite possible these boys may share the same birthdate, and the same birth story.  What did I get myself into!?  LOL.

I just PRAY that he waits until atleast Monday.  This weekend is my husband's brother's wedding in Michigan, and my husband is set to depart on Thursday.   Obviously, I'm bummed I can't make it, but now I am seriously freaking out thinking either a) I could deliver a baby on Thursday, causing hubby to miss his brother's wedding or, b) baby comes sometime this weekend while my hubby is away!  I'm going to drink an extraordinary amount of fluid from now on hoping to resupply Baby Mac's amniotic fluid, so that he remains comfy throughout atleast this weekend.  The doctor told me to remain on bed rest as long as I can, to not do anything strenuous - this will help with the amniotic fluid levels.  So I plan on relaxing and drinking water all weekend long by myself.  Fun times...  I don't care if he comes on Monday, but just hold out for your uncle Dan's wedding boy.  

One last thing, I do have a scheduled version on Monday.  My doctor will only be able to perform it if I have enough amniotic fluid, which she will assess on Monday.  A version is a procedure where the doctor tries to turn the baby manually around with her hands, so that his head is positioned down for birth.  If this does not work (50/50 chance), then we'll have to schedule a C-Section mid October.  Of course this is all if we don't have to do an emergency delivery beforehand.  

My gut feeling is telling me the doctor will not be able to turn him.  He's been stuck in the same exact position for months, and his head is really big (90th percentile), so I just don't think its small enough to fit in the pelvis which is maybe why he is not flipping.  But I guess only time will tell.  Until next time!

Please keep your fingers crossed this baby boy stays tucked away in utero through the weekend!

This month's glamour shots at 36 weeks:

Front view of baby's face.  You can see his nostrils, and his open mouth.

The white fuzzies around his skull is hair.  I wonder what color it is!?

The next two pictures are off his profile with his fist up my his mouth (he was trying to stick his fist in his mouth, atleast thats what it looked like).  His nose looks rather pointy in the first one, and more button nosed in the second one.  I wonder which one it will be?