For my non-facebook readers...

I'm still here. No baby. However, I'm being induced Monday morning!! Can't wait to meet little Jackson. Pictures and details coming soon:)

Please pray for a smooth delivery, a healthy baby and for our transition to a family of four!

Thanks!

They're trying to put me in a bubble...

So last week I blogged about my fall. Well, just as my leg was finally starting to not be the most painful thing ever, I had another little accident. Seriously.

Last Friday, Kraig had the day off. We didn't do much in the morning, but when Kate went down for her nap I ran to town. I was just going to drop Kraig's check at the bank, so I didn't even bother to shower. After finishing up at the bank, though, I decided to run to Target. We had a friend at the hospital in labor and I had a joint baby shower on Saturday (for me and another friend), so I needed some gifts. Not long after I got into the store, a huge storm started up outside. It was so loud even from the inside that you could barely hear yourself think. I finished my shopping and decided to walk around more and hope that the storm would let up if I killed some time. Finally, I'd had enough. It was still raining, but I was ready to go home. My leg was sore from the walking and I was done. I checked out and ran to the car. I happened to have Kraig's car at the time. I threw the bags in the passenger seat and attempted to get in the driver's side. The person beside me was so close that it was a struggle to get my ever-growing belly inside without damaging both vehicles. But I managed.

I left the parking lot and headed home. As I neared the area where we lost our piano during the move, someone in front of me made a last minute decision to turn and came to a very quick stop. No turn signal. I managed to get stopped in plenty of time, but I could see in my rear view mirror that the car behind me wasn't slowing down. Right about the time that the car in front of me turned, the car behind me hit me. I was shocked. I saw it coming, but it was still shocking. I put my car in park and sat there for a few seconds, shaking uncontrollably. The driver of the other car got out to see if I was okay, and we decided to pull off the road into a nearby parking lot. As far as I could tell, I was okay. I didn't recall any of my body parts making direct contact with the steering wheel or anything else. The other driver was okay. His car looked awful, but he was okay. Kraig's bumper is pretty messed up, but that's what insurance is for! I called Kraig when I got into the parking lot to tell him and I also told him that he couldn't come help. I had the keys for both vehicles with me for whatever reason. He called Josh, one of the minister's at our church, and he came over to make sure I was okay and that the situation got handled right. The other guy called the cops. Kraig called my doctor. The cops came eventually and handled the situation. The doctor told me to head to the hospital. I was already having contractions from the accident or the stress of the situation, so I figured it was probably best.

I got to the ER around 4 p.m., after stopping at McDonald's for a snack. I was hungry! I sat for probably 20 minutes before they called me back. The doctor checked my neck and back and they performed and ultrasound before sending me to labor and delivery. The ultrasound looked good--no tearing or damage was detected. Once at labor and delivery, they hooked me up to the monitors where I had to stay for four hours. I was having consistent contractions every 4-6 minutes. They weren't the most painful things ever, but it was a little scary. Half way through the four hours, they checked my cervix. Fortunately, the contractions weren't causing any dilation. Because of this, they finally let me eat dinner. At this point it was like 8:30 and I was beyond hungry. I sat for another two hours and they checked my cervix again before releasing me. The "doctor" on call from my practice was the midwife that I was originally seeing. I love her, so I was very glad she was there. She offered to let me spend the night there since I was still contracting, or she could send me home with a sleeping pill. I opted to go home.

The sleeping pill didn't help much. The next day, I continued to contract. It was exhausting. Once the evening rolled around, they started getting closer together and more painful. I laid down. I drank more water. I got up and cleaned the bathrooms. Nothing was making them let up. Finally, about 10:30, I decided I needed to head back to the hospital. At this point, the contractions were every 2-4 minutes and they were lasting at least a minute each. I had one that lasted four and a half minutes. Didn't know that was possible. I called Sara to come stay with Kate, who was already in bed. Once Sara arrived, we headed out. We got to the hospital a little after 11 on Saturday night. The same nurse and midwife from the day before were there, so it was nice to not have to explain myself again. They checked my cervix again. It was soft, but not dilated. They hooked me up to the machines for another two hours, and the contractions finally started to slow down. By the time we left, they were coming about every 10-12 minutes. Much better! Over the past few days, I've continued to contract, but so far they don't seem to be doing anything. I have an appointment tomorrow for an NST and they'll check my cervix again then. Yay.

I really don't think Jack's going to hang out in here much longer. Kraig's hoping to make it through a week of camp when I'm 37 weeks, but we'll see! At this point, I'm 35 weeks 2 days. We'll see how far we get!

Oh the drama!

I've decided Jack is going to be the dramatic kid. I ended up spending three hours at Labor & Delivery last night. So exciting. I've been having mild Braxton Hicks off and on for the past day or two, but yesterday they got worse. They tell you to call if you have more than four in an hour, and I had six. I called the doctor's office a little before 4 and they told me to go to the hospital to be monitored and examined. I quickly packed a bag for Kate and found a friend to watch her (thanks, Erica!) and we headed to the hospital. It took forever to actually get there, but I was still contracting the whole time. They took me right in and hooked me up to the monitors. We did this twice with Kate and both times the contractions had stopped by the time they got the monitors on. This time, however, they just kept going. They were coming between every six and ten minutes at this point. Super exciting. After about an hour on the monitor, the doctor came in to examine me and perform and Ffn. Fortunately, I'm not dilated at all, so they're not productive contractions at this point. The Ffn is a test that can predict preterm labor. It came back negative, which means that I have less than a 1% chance of going into real labor in the next two weeks. That's good. Once that test came back, they sent me home and told me to come back if the contractions got more painful. They still hadn't stopped yet. They also gave me a shot of steroids to help develop the baby's lungs faster, just in case.

Thankfully, things seem to be okay. I'm still contracting, however, which is a little confusing. I have an appointment with by doctor today at 4:15, so we'll hopefully get some more information and I'll find out whether or not they're going to let me travel next week. Travel, you say? Yep. I'm supposed to be leaving with the youth group on Sunday to head to Tennessee for the CIY Move conference. We're going to be in a bad place if I can't go! Kraig and I are the only adults going that are old enough to drive the vans. Yay. Guess we'll see what the plan is this afternoon and hope for the best. I need to do what's best for Jack and I, and I know God will tell us what that is through the doctor's advice today. Good times. I did get Chipotle for dinner at nearly 9:00 last night. That helped make up for the long evening:)

Update coming tomorrow!

Quick update

Kate and I had a great trip to Ohio. I'll post more on that with pics eventually.

I had my 30 week checkup yesterday and finally got to meet my new doctor. She's okay. Not bad, but I wasn't impressed. Anyhow...I'm down 6 pounds from my appointment two weeks ago. Guess the gestational diabetes diet is good for lots of things. The doctor said that weight loss was actually a good sign, because it means I'm losing any excess fluid. I officially weigh less than I did when I got pregnant. Too weird. At my last appointment, I was measuring 31 weeks but was only 28 weeks along. Yesterday, I measured about 31 1/2 weeks at 30 weeks. Seems like things are slowing down, thankfully. We talked about induction. Gestational diabetes babies can have slower lung development, so they won't consider it until 39 weeks unless there are other issues. She did say, however, that once we see how big he is via ultrasound, we'll be able to discuss what we want to do (aka vaginal vs. cesarean). She acted like this was a "we" decision, not a "her" decision. I'm thankful for that. Hopefully the growth will continue to slow down to a normal rate and size won't be an issue. I'm also hoping I go into labor on my own earlier than 39 weeks. Who knows.

My fasting sugar levels when I wake up in the morning are still high. All the others are fine, regardless of what I eat, but not when I get up. It's a hormone thing, I guess. But we tried adding extra exercise, snacks and even eating in the middle of the night, but nothing helped. So, I'm starting insulin tonight. Everyone tells me it's not that big of a deal, I just know it's going to be hard to work up the nerve to actually do it. Prayers, please!

All in all, things are good!

The Things They Don't Tell You, the FINAL part

As I've written these posts, I just keep thinking of more and more things to include. I never imagined this would take five segments. But here we are at number five! These final ten will be specifically related to after labor & delivery and through the postpartum period.

41) Standing may be difficult for the first time, particularly if you've had an epidural or C-section. Ask for help! You definitely don't want to end up on the floor. You've had enough trauma for one day.

42) Going to the bathroom may be difficult for the first few times, even just urinating.

43) Take any and all stool softeners the hospital gives you. If they don't give you any, find some. Take as many as you can, drink plenty of water and juice and eat lot of fiber. It's important to do as much of this as possible to avoid hemorrhoids, if you don't already have them, and anal fissures. Trust me, you don't want to go there.

44) You will have period-like bleeding for several weeks (up to 6!) after the baby is born. Believe it or not, everyone doesn't realize this in advance.

45) Use the pads and panties the hospital provides you. They are much more absorbent than ones at home and when you're done with the panties, you throw them away. You don't want to ruin anything nice of your own if you leak.

46) If you tore and now have stitches, the hospital should provide you with ice packs and/or a numbing lidocaine spray to help ease the pain and swelling. My hospital had pads with ice packs built into them and they were amazing. Using the two in combination was very relieving.

47) Standing for extended periods of time after you've given birth may lead to pain in the vaginal/perineum area. In my experience, this lasted for nearly a year. It's a rather dull pain, but it's there.

48) Your bladder control will take a while to return. You've probably heard your mom say that she still pees every time she sneezes. You may have this problem and you may not. It got better with time for me, but returned again about as soon as I found out I was pregnant again. This may be a problem during vomiting, as well.

49) You're going to have the "baby blues" for a few days, at least. With all the rush of hormones and the time it takes for them to level out, you're probably going to feel emotionally unstable for a while. For some people, it's a few days. If you have any of the following symptoms, you need to contact your doctor:

• Your depressed feelings haven't gone away after two weeks.
• Your depression symptoms are getting worse.
• You've developed strong feelings of anger or sadness.
• It's hard for you to perform daily tasks.
• You are having trouble caring for yourself or your baby.
• You are having thoughts of hurting yourself or your baby.
• You are seeing or hearing things that aren't there, or you are feeling confused.
• You are having rapid mood swings.
  

Remember, these feelings are normal, but you may still need help.

50) Breastfeeding is not easy. If you're planning to breastfeed, take advantage of the lactation consultants or knowledgeable nurses at the hospital to make sure things are going well. This is the best opportunity you're going to get for help, so make the most of it.

51) It's okay to not allow a thousand people to come visit you at the hospital or at home. You need this time to adjust and get the hang of things. People can wait. Sometimes, this means not answering the door when someone knocks or not picking up every phone call. I've read others suggest changing your voicemail/answering machine to a message that reflects your need for some privacy right now. That's okay!

52) If you have visitors but it's time to nurse your baby, it's okay to ask them to leave or wait in the waiting room until your done. You're new at this. You don't need to feel like you have to nurse in a room full of people and you certainly don't want to miss a feeding time. It's important to keep nursing regularly, even before your milk comes in, to help establish your supply.

And one last piece of "knowledge": Everyone has different experiences when it comes to pregnancy, labor & delivery and the recovery period. If you have questions about what's going on, ask someone! Sometimes it seems embarrassing to discuss things related to this, but you need to get the right information to help you in the process. Don't be afraid to ask!

And with that, I think we're done!! I'm sure there's plenty more that could be said, but this will have to suffice. I hope you've enjoyed reading them.

The Things They Don't Tell You, part 4

Continuing the series, here's another ten things about the end of pregnancy, labor & delivery and postpartum that don't always get talked about.

31) You won't necessarily get to have your doctor deliver your baby. Generally, their goal is to deliver their own patients, but if your doctor's not on call and you deliver at a non-business hour time or if someone else is delivering at the same time as you, you may get the on-call doctor. Trust me, by the time you're ready to deliver, you won't care!

32) All epidurals don't work. Some people have wonderful experiences where they feel little to no pain. For others, the epidural doesn't work at all or only works on one particular side or the other. Many people recommend doing at least some form of birthing class, even if you're choosing an epidural, so that you'll be better prepared to deal with the pain if pain control isn't effective for you.

33) If you're being induced, it doesn't always work. Some mothers end up requiring a C-section after hours and hours of labor that proves ineffective.

34) If you're being induced or in labor without an epidural, getting up to go to the bathroom is quite a chore. For me, it involved throwing something at my husband to wake him up, unhooking the baby monitors, unplugging the IV unit from the wall so it could be wheeled, taking off the pulse/ox monitor and taking off the blood pressure cuff. Once the deed is done, everything has to be plugged back in or put back on. We could never successfully put the blood pressure cuff where it needed to be, so I also had to call a nurse.

35) Some women feel lots of pressure when it's time to push. My epidural was very successful, however, so I was completely surprised when my nurse told me I was completely dilated, the baby's head was very well descended and I was ready to push. I had no idea.

36) Pushing doesn't always come naturally. I've heard it referred to as a "learned process" many times. Some women are great at it right off the bat, others take a lot more guidance. Don't be frustrated if you don't get it right away. You're new at this!

37) Pushing out the baby can lead to pushing out bowel movements. Yes, it's disgusting, but it happens all the time. When you're induced, they don't let you eat and you've had time to clean out your system. If you go into labor on your own and it progresses quickly, fate is in the hands of your digestive system. You can, however, very specifically ask for the doctor or nurses to not tell you if this happens.

38) Pushing is very strenuous work and will leave you exhausted. If you need to take a break and get a drink, ask! You've got to keep up your strength until the baby is delivered.

39) The placenta is generally not difficult to deliver. It is, however, nasty to look at. If you don't want to see it, don't look. They're probably not going to shield you from it.

40) Once they take the baby away to clean it off and weigh it, etc, it can take a while to get the baby back. I sent my husband with the baby because I couldn't stand the thought of her being "by herself." By the time they were done with her, I was completely stitched up and the doctor was gone.

Next? The final post in the series, which will focus on the postpartum recovery period.