Saturday, April 27, 2013

Post birth: surprises


So, while I'm working on typing up Miles' birth story, here are some things that suprised me about post-birth life. Miles' face in the photo above represents how I feel about them.

1.  My feet look/feel like hippos.  I can't believe how swollen my hands and feet are. They feel heavy!I'm also hoping once they go down, a few more pounds slide off.

2.  Cravings.  I didn't really have any while pregnant, but now it seems all I want is food! I'm thinking it may have something to do with the fact I was on the 'clear hospital diet' for 2 days straight.

3.  Downstairs-  I figured that I would be miserable from birthing the little dude, but I have no physical symptoms to prove I just gave birth.  I feel great.  That was certainly a surprise, and not gonna lie, I'm glad that I'm not dealing with ice packs, creams, sprays, pain meds, etc.

4. Swings- I knew that I may have some mood swings, but I didn't expect my body to go from one extreme temperature to another.  I'm rational enough to notice when I may be feeling more overwhelmed about something than I normally would and talk myself out of it, but I have no way to control the huge range of temperatures my body seems to be going through.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

truth at 37 weeks 4 days

Disclaimer: I'm thankful for a healthy baby, supportive husband, and relatively uneventful pregnancy.


that being said: i'm SO sick of be pregnant.
Sick of not being able to breathe
Sick of the endless heartburn
Sick of sitting around and thinking of all the things I need to do
Sick of thinking about plans B, C, and D should my labor not start naturally
and  i'm ready to meet our little man.

It was a welcome distraction today when I recieved a bundle of cards made from my students.
They used more construction paper, staples, tape, glue, etc then I would have ever let them have.  It made me smile to think of them enjoying that freedom of using my stapler, going back for that 4th piece of construction paper, cutting the paper to bits.  God bless that substitute. 

They all said they missed me, but their personalities shined through so offered parenting advice, some drew cartoon pictures I fought so hard to keep at bay during instruction.  So next week while i'm 'resting' I'm going to write all of them back.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

An after pregnancy list

While I'm trying my very best to soak up the last 20 days of my pregnancy there are some things I'm truly looking forward to after pregnancy.

1. Eating the foods I want, like a medium rare steak
2. Wearing pants with zippers
3. Sitting up in bed without having to roll and push off
4. Standing for more then 3 minutes without my feet tingling
5. Attending the annual swimming party/teacher meet up, hopefully with some sangria.
6. Cuddling with Trevor without having to prop my belly up
7. Being able to shower without getting out of breath
8. Sleeping on my stomach
9. Walking at a normal pace, running if I want to
10. No heartburn!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

thoughts from bed rest

Yesterday at my routine doctor's appointment my blood pressure was still high.  I already knew it would be because we have a variety of sphygmomanometers at our house.  I had been checking it throughout the day.  My doctor did, as I knew he would, and sent me immediately for more monitoring.  I later learned that it's called a non-stress test.  So, just like last Monday, I got admitted.  This time I got to see a real live delivery room! It was bigger than I expected.  I got all hooked up and started up my fight with the TV remote. 

Miles had other ideas, he DID NOT like that monitor at all,  he could barrel roll from one side of my stomach to the other to escape the heart rate monitor.  At one point he was trapped and started to hiccup, my guess is so they couldn't hear his heartbeat.  This boy is a punk if there ever was one.

Like last week, Miles is doing swimmingly, it's my health they are concerned about.  There was trace amounts of protein in my urine.  So for my safety, I get to have another Non-stress test Thursday. My doctor made the comment that up to this point it's been better off that Miles is inside, but we are quickly approaching a time where he would be better off on the outside. I would be better off too, because the only cure for high blood pressure is delivery. 

So, with my teaching career on hiatus for the foreseeable future, a baby approaching possibly faster then we thought, I'm on bed rest. It's boring.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Week 36

Where did the time go?  I've been busy with school and busy most weekends.  Busy is good because it makes time go by quickly. Busy is bad because it makes me swell.  Week 36 brought on some excitement on the baby front.  At our routine appointment Monday, my blood pressure was high.  We were admitted to OB for further testing just to make sure Miles (and I) were still doing good. After 3+ hours of being hooked to my bed and machines via monitors and blood pressure cuffs they decided we could go home.  The main thing this did was solidify my already made-up mind that I will not be strapped to a bed for my labor. UN-Comfortable! 


So, Wednesday we met with our doula.  I met her at the baby/child expo I went to the weekend before.  I had read about doulas in a book my friend Carissa gave me, and they made a lot of sense for mine and Trevor's situation.  However, when I looked online I didn't see any in our area.  I had kind of wrote it off as not going to happen, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard them say they were willing to travel to me! 

The main reasons we hired a doula are:
1. A person who is experienced at birthing. This is mine and Trevor's first time (ha)
2. A person to offer a wealth of knowledge on how to carry out our birth plan, and Miles' birth naturally (such as pain management techniques/birthing positions)
3. A person to support Trevor in coaching me through labor. I think this suits his personality better than him just taking charge.
4. A person who is familiar with medical jargon/birth procedures who will be on our team should something arise that we feel is unnecessary. 
5. Plus, she's really cool.
6. And our families live 6+ hours away so we are just hoping they make it here before Miles does.


Friday Trevor's friends from Pharmacy school threw us the best baby shower!  I laughed harder than I have ever laughed before. NO JOKE. Games with $5 prizes make sleep- deprived college students play hard. Or it could be their pharmacist personalities... anyway it was super fun and totally worth the purple swollen feet I had at the end of it.  Here Trevor and I are with our wonderful friends who hosted the shower.

This Friday (19) is my last day of teaching.  I'm going to miss my kiddos...but I'll be glad to have a week or so to ready the house for my mom's arrival (for real) and put my feet up.  It's also state testing week, so I'm sure that will help my blood pressure.

The most common question I've been asked lately is if I'm having contractions.  If I am, I'm completely unaware of them and they don't hurt.  At my blood pressure scare last Monday they said I was having them (based on the monitor I was hooked up to) I was also 1 cm dilated, but I could have been that way for weeks they said. It made it more real that this guy is on his way and that makes me excited to meet him, and introduce him to all the awesome people that will be in his life!

oh, and according to Trevor I've started snoring. :)