SHE's HERE! - Part 2 - Labor

When we got to the hospital, we went up to the Labor and Delivery floor, and they took us to our Labor and Delivery room. Then we waited for our nurse.

The Nurse - It felt like we were in high school. And this girl was too-cool-for-school to talk to us. SO WEIRD! She really wasn't too interested in getting-to-know-you chit chat. She always seemed to be on the defense. She just seemed very I'm-the-nurse-you're-the-patient. Her attitude was a bit of "*I* do this everyday and know what's going on, so you just need to do what I tell you." We really should have asked to switch out for another nurse (but I guess the hospital was having a TON of peeps come in that "waited till after the weekend", and so they were pretty "booked").

Changed into a gown, got in bed. Nurse hooked me up to the IV. Monitored my contractions for a bit. SHE measured my cervix to be 3-4 cm dilated and 70% effaced. Hmmm... Well, I guess it ended up being for about 4 hours (but it went by quick). Our doctor actually had a family emergency up North, but was able to stop in and say Hi. The doctor actually wanted to get me on Pitocin at about 11am so that maybe she'd be able to get there (before heading north) to deliver the baby. But I wanted to hold out. The doc said we could walk around a bit, so we made two rounds around the floor, and some "steps" onto a stepping stool. At about 12:40, I decided to start Pitocin and got it going at about 1pm.

The contractions started becoming closer and more regular, but not unbearable. It was actually pretty cool listening to my HypnoBabies tracks and getting through the contractions. I would actually almost fall asleep between contractions because I was so relaxed!

It started getting "harder" as the contractions became stronger. I changed positions a couple of times that seemed to help at first. Sat on the exercise/birthing ball, stood and rocked with Tim...
The nurse checked me at one point...7 cm dilated.

After "rocking" with Tim a bit, and trying to find another comfortable position (like squatting), it was probably about 3, 3:30ish. The contractions were really strong. It just felt like really STRONG cramps right in my pelvis. I started feeling like I needed to pee... or that I needed to poop. The "cramps" were getting so strong that I decided maybe I should get the epidural. The nurse checked me to see how far along I was... she had a hard time determining... it was either 9cm...or gone. She called the doctor the see what she wanted to do, and I think (if I remember correctly), the doctor said I could start pushing if I felt the need.

I tried pushing on my side for a little bit, and then on my back. It was hard to do! Pulling my legs back, pushing through the contractions. The nurse yelling push push push... Some of the contractions were easier than others... some of them, the pushing felt good... some of them were so tough that I really didn't know how I would get through it.

It was a really interesting sensation... at one point, the nurse called the on-call doctor in, and other nurses. Ugh... maybe it's too close to the event for me to be thinking-back on all these things. :) Taking a break now.

Elephant

I totally feel like an ELEPHANT! hahaha...

Even though I measure myself each week, the numbers don't seem to be increasing very much... but my belly feels HUGE! And so do my thighs! Hahaha! Strangely enough, I don't think my boobs have gotten any bigger. According to Tim, maybe it's because I "milk" myself. J/k.

I'm still lounging around a bit... but my feet and hands are slightly swollen. My ring HURTS to put on AND to take off...so I leave it off.

I purchased an exercise/birth ball the other day from TJMaxx... but I think it might be too soft. How soft/firm are they supposed to be?? I tried pumping it up with more air, but that doesn't seem to help...I think the plastic itself is just soft.

Today I go in for another appointment...I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh! Have had regular BM's all week. Nice! :)

This is how I still wear my "normal" clothes...

Look how far my belly is sticking out! My sister asked me if I'd be taking me pics of myself... Don't know yet. Maybe... it just takes some time and thought, and slight work... but then again, I guess I don't have TOO much to do...just wait...

See how big I am?!? Rolling over in bed is starting to get annoying...well, REALLY annoying. :)

More Belly Dancing

This is a really short clip that I captured of some slight belly dancing (note: the "clicking" in the background is me "fishing" for Tim's character in WoW):

This is a better video... I'ved edited so just the "dancing" is in the video. (This reminds me of watching those ghost-hunter/paranormal shows on T.V....)

30 Week Appointment

Yesterday, we went in for my 30-week appointment. We actually got in to see the doc an hour after the scheduled time...


The nurse got my:
Urine sample. Good.
Weight. Woah! 131! (After she left the room, I took off my boots and weighed myself again... 128...phew! I'm guessing a lot of it is water-weight, too.) The doctor later said that because I started so light, it wouldn't be terrible for me to gain a total of 40 pounds by the end of the pregnancy...but she said that after this next month, I most likely will not gain anymore weight...something about a "baby growth spurt" that she's seen in a lot of her patients.
Blood pressure. Check.
Baby's heart beat. Strong and loud.


Later, the doctor:
Measured my uterus. Measuring at 29. Very good.
Checked my cervix. Still thin... she said that according to their literature, anything 25cm and smaller calls for extra care and bedrest... I had measured at 26cm at the last appointment, and was still the same at this appointment. Note: when she was checking my cervix, she was like, "Woah, she's really low." Yeah, baby girl (seems to me) has ALWAYS been low. Remember when we tried to get those nice ultrasound pics? She was ALWAYS squishing her face down below...


She advised that I continue to "rest" when I can, and to take things easy. No exercise, no heavy lifting, etc. We'll see how my cervix is in two weeks... she said that she'd be very happy if the baby will stay in for at LEAST another 3 weeks.

Running out of room?

This weekend we had some nice "relaxing and rejuvinating" time at home (while the rest of my family and extended-family were in the NW for my uncle's funeral). :(

The weather was beautiful! Saturday morning, we had warm blue skies (that turned into clouds and wind by the afternoon), and Sunday it was sunny and breezy all day long.

Between conference sessions, we went out to the pool and laid out in the sun for a little bit. While laying in the warm sun, the girl-in-my-belly totally kicked/punched/pushed me up near my ribcage! What?!? This was the first time I felt her up so high... "Uh, can't you just stay down lower in my belly?" It was wierd...but cool, I guess.

So this whole weekend (probably because of all the "lounging around" we did), the little-girl-in-my-belly kept moving around and pushing OUT. Ouch!

Even this morning, after being awakened by a passing train, she was kind of pushing around. STOP! Oh boy... I don't know how much more of this I can take. ;) I hope she doesn't grow TOO much (so that she has room in there to move around), otherwise... 2 more months is gonna be way TOO long!

29 Week Appointment

So yesterday was another doctor's appointment. We went in early for an ultrasound. Surprisingly, the office was NOT busy that day, so they got us in pretty fast!

The nurse was really nice and friendly. She did all sorts of measurements of our girl--head, arms, chest, legs, etc., and of my cervix. Then she went and brought Tim in to see.

Unfortunately for us, baby girl was having a grand 'ole time hiding her face from us... she was head-down-feet-up, and pushed her face down so we couldn't get a decent 3-D pic of her. :(
She's TOTALLY taking after me! :P

Here are some of the ultrasound pictures... one nice thing: they didn't charge us for the CD this time!

Looks like a "Nuttall Foot" to me!

I think that's her arm and hand up to her face...

It was SO COOL to see her moving around! She's so big! (Well, about 2 pounds). I don't know if you'll be able to see it from the following video, but she had the hiccups. Her head is on the right, and her chest is to the left... you'll see her chest "spasm" out a bit...that's the hiccup. We have another video of just her chest hiccup-ing, but I like this one better b/c you see her head.

So now I know what it feels like when she has the hiccups... I had felt them the other night, but we thought maybe my stomach muscles were spasming b/c the "movement" had a beat...they were consistent. It was cool to feel the same sensation during the ultrasound, and to see them correspond with her hiccupping chest.

After the ultrasound, we went upstairs for my doctor's appointment. Weight and blood pressure--check check. Urine sample--check. Then the doctor came in and went over the baby measurements.

Baby Girl is doing fine! She's just a little small, but perfectly normal (I guess she's in the 41 percentile for her current size/weight). The doctor showed only slight concern at the length of my cervix (the opening of my uterus). She said it measured slightly smaller in the ultrasound, so we did a quick checkup in the office... I guess my cervix is about 20% shorter than "normal" at my stage.

From what I've read on the internet, your cervix shortens, thins, and dilates just before going into labor in preparation for delivery of the baby. SO, ideally, my cervix would NOT be shortening. But it is... so she advised that I should stay off of my feet for long periods of time... on the weekends I should just sit around... I shouldn't exercise, or walk too long, or stand too long, etc. etc. etc. BOOO! She doesn't think I'll need bed rest (at least not yet) but just wants me to be careful. Boo hoo hoo! I was enjoying my (occasional) long walks around the block, or my yoga stretches.

After the appointment, we went back home and hung out for a little while before heading back to work. . I was feeling a bit down for the rest of the day...no more exercise. :(

Relaxing Sunday

This past Sunday, we finally took Mom and Dad to the nearby dog park. It was such a nice day!
We sat in the grass for a little bit watching all the different dogs run by. It was so relaxing!


Mom made a delicious meal for lunch/dinner using psuedo-"Cafe Rio" recipes she had gotten from Tim's sister. It was delicious! Tortillas, Pinto Beans, Sweet Pork Barbacoa, Cilantro Lime Rice, Lettuce, Pico, and the Creamy Tomatillo-Ranch dressing. Mmmm... I made an extra batch of the dressing later b/c we went through it so fast.

Another day at the rodeo...

I was the last to wake up this morning. But we were able to make it out the door to run an errand before hitting the rodeo. (Mom's cell phone was on the fritz, so we headed to a nearby Verizon store to get it looked at. Image on left).



Here's Mom and I in the blue parking lot, just before walking over to buy tix into the event (right image). Note to self: next year, we'll just take the trax...for some reason, I had read that parking would only be $7...but it ended up being $12! Plus it was a long walk through the parking lot!



We walked through different areas of the livestock show...saw horses (dressed up in cool "superhero" like bodysuits), a donkey-pulling thing, a Llama at the animal races, some heifers (sp?) and a heifer show.

We also stopped to get some BBQ... I got a burger, and everyone else got a sausage. We picked up a funnel cake afterwards. Yum!

After eating and walking around, we walked through some of the exhibits/shopping-areas, and Dad got his scuffed clogs polished. Nice! And not too bad for $7.

While Mom and Dad waited for a personalized item they had purchased, Tim and I rode a "golf cart" back to the parking lot to pick up the car...except we didn't have the car keys. Darn! So we waited for Mom and Dad to make their way back over to the car. :)

See my cowboy boots? Got a lot of good exercise walking around...the first time we went, I was so sore afterwards! This time I was fine. Yeah! Plus, my occasional Yoga sure helps!

What a fun day! Once we got home, I ended up taking a long 3 hour nap! Whoops! Luckily, I was still able to fall asleep at night.

Yee-Haw!

Tim and I finally made it out to the Rodeo. Some of our friends called us up, said they were headed over, and invited us to come along. So we did! It was a rainy day, so we had some fun with our huge umbrella.


Tim getting some cashola out of the ATM.

We went and watched some herding dogs "herd" some sheep. SO COOL! I'd LOVE to have a dog and some sheep one day. :)

Then we went and grabbed some grub... My $5 corndog, and brick of fries (which we shared with our friends), and Tim got some BBQ. Yum!

We walked around and looked at some shopping booths and livestock. We did a LOT of walking! (By the end, my hips/legs were SORE!)

Here we are with some cows. (Aw man! My cowboy boots got cut out of the frame!)

Me and a smiling pig. :) Ooh, and you see the toe of one of my cowboy boots. Did I mention that a shoe shiner at Tim's work fixed the soles and heels of my boots (and polished them) for $18! Awesome!

Tim LOVED petting the pigs. But it's not like they were very soft or anything!

In line for some FUNNEL CAKES!! We shared one. Yum! And we didn't stand in line for 3 hours for it! (Remember our 4th of July experience last year??)

Tim's parents will be driving through town again at the end of this week...so I think we'll go again. Maybe we'll go watch some bull riding this time!

Gymnastics

No, I am not trying to do gymnastics. But the little baby in my belly sure is!!
As we were heading out to Florida for our trip, I started feeling much more movement from the little thing. Tim couldn't feel it.

Then, once we were on the cruise, she started moving even MORE, and Tim felt her! :) VERY cool.

But NOW, she seems to be doing lots of turning and twisting. Sometimes, I'll tease and tell her (so Tim can hear) to STOP MOVING! Tim will then say, "HEY!!"

I think it's really cute how much Tim loves the little thing. :)
But she DOES move a LOT!

OH! And did I mention that my stomach is TOTALLY starting to grow?!? On the cruise, Tim was like, "Woah! Your belly button is gonna turn inside-out!" :) hahaha... sick. So above is a picture of my growing belly...and shrinking button. Ugh.

Growing Belly

So I finally had Tim take a pic of my growing belly on Saturday... I needed something to compare it to, so I found an old pic I had taken a few months ago when Tim and I were exercising everyday (trying to win some buco-bucks from a contest...we never finished it).

So the first picture (left) is pretty accurate of how I was BEFORE getting pregnant... and the second picture (right) is my growing belly from just this past Saturday. GROSS! :P

I can still squeeze into my pants, but I'm finding that my blue jeans fit SO much better if I just do the rubberband (or a ponytail) trick on the button.

Random story, so this past Friday was my first day using a stretchy ponytail thing. Once I got to work, I went to the bathroom. When I stood up to "button" my pants, the ponytail disappeared! I shook my legs, and checked my pants to see if it had fallen into them, and also check the floor. Nothing. So I had to get a rubberband from the receptionist.

Well, later, I'm walking down the hall, and my co-worker's like, "Julia! I think you dropped this!" She had found the ponytail...I guess it HAD been hiding somewhere in my pants, and fell out as I was walking around.

Guess what we did? Murphy...

Our friends just got the cutest CUTEST puppy, Murphy. So we've had tons of fun playing with him. Today, we joined them at a nearby Dog-Park to watch him play with other dogs.

Murphy seemed to enjoy himself pretty well...until some bigger dogs started nipping at him (possibly trying to pick him up?), and he got a little spooked. He crawled right into Tim's lap for protection.

See him burying his head in Tim's arm? So cute!!!

We will DEFINATELY be getting a dog one day.

Firsts

1. Today was the first time I started to have a pretty hard time squeezing into my jeans. :O

2. The first time I actually scared Tim: a few nights ago, we finished dinner and plopped down on the couch to watch some T.V. My stomach was feeling a bit squished, so I unbuttoned my pants and lifted my shirt off my stomach to air it off. After a while of watching T.V., I felt my stomach and exclaimed, "Tim! My stomach is really COLD!"

Tim played it cool, and asked why... then he saw that my shirt was up the whole time, and he started laughing. He then told me that he was really worried. Okay, probably does NOT sound funny to you at all...but it really was. :P

3. Hmmm... guess this isn't a "first time" for forgetting what I was going to type.


4. The first time I've had a really good "onion tortilla" thing in a long time! Inside there's an egg, bay leaves, and sauce. YUM!

5. I think this is on of my first "cravings"... shaved ice with fresh fruit, a scoop of ice-cream, and sweetened condensed milk on top (of course!)

6. The first guest in our "new" apartment.

7. My first time using my pregnancy-yoga DVD.


Tim angled the photo this way so that you can see (on top of the ottoman on the right) my paper plate with a slice of strawberry-rhubarb pie on top.

8. Mmm...our first time in Chinatown (for a long time) and what did we find? Some wonderful little bread dong-xi's that we'd find on the streets of Taiwan! (It's biscuit-shaped caked/bread that they fill with custard, red beans, or taro...yum!) We bought one of each flavor...the custard was the best!

9. The first full-body pic of me (taken a couple weeks ago)... trying to "capture" the big belly...obviously didn't work very well. :P

10. The first REAL meal I was able to eat (at a restaurant...this was actually right before we went home for Christmas). This is a family-style Greek meal we went to eat with some friends. Delicious!

Seven Pounds

Seven Pounds is the name of a new Will Smith movie that we watched recently. Interesting movie. Recently we've had a habit of watching movies that we have NOT seen the trailer for (or even know what it's about). This was an interesting movie to be "guessing" what was going on.
Would I recommend this for you to watch? Uh...maybe not.

7 lbs. is also the amount of weight I've gained (approximately). During my first trimester, I'd swing between about 101 and 103, 104. Now that I'm in my second trimester (and able to eat more), I've been slowly putting on some pregnancy weight. I guess I should start measuring my belly, too, so we can see how big I get. :P One of my friends at church dared me to see how much weight I can put on (I guess she had put on a TON of weight when she was pregnant). Ummm...no thanks. :)

The bigger belly I don't mind. What DO I mind? The back fat. The growing torpedoes on my chest. The extra meat accumulating on my thighs and hips. The occasional random zits on my face. Getting winded walking up stairs.

This morning was the first time (in a LONG time) that I exercised. With the Yoga DVD that I checked out, and with Tim exercising every morning, I finally did it! We woke up early this morning and did some stairs and light resistance training. (Tim worked out a little too hard this morning--he was feeling quite nauseated. He ran up and down the stairs, push ups, resistance training, etc.) I took it easy and walked slowly (to make sure I didn't trip and fall), and used the resistance band that Tim's mom got us for Christmas. Though it's hard getting up so early, it feels good to have exercised my body.

YOGA

So yesterday I stopped by the library and picked up a pregnant yoga DVD that I had on hold.
We popped it in last night to take a look... there are three women in the video--each are supposed to demonstrate different variations you can do during your different trimesters.

So I must say, the first-trimester lady in the video is HUGE! Okay, not HUGE huge...but DEFINATELY much larger than *I* am in my 2nd trimester!

I may have to go out and get a hootchie-yoga outfit so my growing belly and boobs pop out like the ladies in the video. :P Just kidding!

And what is with the lady's name?? Rainbeau Mars??? Strange mix of Rainbow Bright and Veronica Mars.

Anyway! Very excited to start yoga-ing every-other-morning with Tim.