This post is from from my other blog here

I’m visiting the folks right now and just realized that, hey! Guess What? I have a blog! Just kidding - I didn’t forget. I just don’t have much disposable time. Everything’s going really well with the girl. (We have GOT to do the naming thing. I’m tired of using the girl and [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

I’m visiting the folks right now and just realized that, hey! Guess What? I have a blog!

Just kidding - I didn’t forget. I just don’t have much disposable time.

Everything’s going really well with the girl. (We have GOT to do the naming thing. I’m tired of using the girl and the boy. I just need to decide what the prize(s) will be.) She sleeps through the night. Ahem. I can’t believe I just risked screwing it up by telling you that. She sleeps at least 6 hours (midnight to 6 am) and often 8 hours. Crazy stuff. We thought people were lying when they said their babies slept, but it turns out that that’s not so. You can understand why we thought that, I’m sure, because our 21 month old still doesn’t sleep. He has only had one or two proper naps in two weeks and the other days he just plays in his crib for two hours. And he’s still waking up at night with his dog damned freaking teeth, so he’s not getting enough sleep any way you look at it. He has bags under his eyes, but there’s nothing we can do about it. A two hour time out in his crib does seem to take the crankies away and he comes out ready to rock again so I suppose it’s all he needs. As long as I get my two hours, what do I care whether he sleeps or not?

The BG goes back to work on Monday and I still haven’t figured out how I’m ever going to leave the house without him. I’m sure I’ll figure it out quickly when I actually have to do it, but it might be…interesting, to say the least.

Thanks for the tips on the scabbed nipple. With two pumping sessions it kind of healed itself and her lip just fixed itself too so it’s all good. I think I have enough milk to feed a small country (and no time to pump it so it just sits in there) because she often gets a mouthful and let it run all over my clothes because there’s too much there for her to swallow. She’s growing like a weed so she’s definitely getting what she needs.

Speaking of eating…Have you read this? It’s American, not Canadian, and our standards and inspection blah blah things are much higher and we don’t even have “school lunches” here, but still. I’m totally for the vegetarian thing. Ugh.

This post is from from my other blog here

How is it that I’ve gone from having a daughter 16 days ago and having “Not one thing for her to wear!” to having an armoire full of newborn to 6 month clothing most of which she’ll not even have a chance to wear before she outgrows it? Hmmmm…

(E-naming contest coming soon! You’re consumed by thinking of creative online names for my kids, right?)

This post is from from my other blog here

How is it that I’ve gone from having a daughter 16 days ago and having “Not one thing for her to wear!” to having an armoire full of newborn to 6 month clothing most of which she’ll not even have a chance to wear before she outgrows it? Hmmmm… (E-naming contest coming soon! You’re [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

Mwah!

This post is from from my other blog here

Mwah!

This post is from from my other blog here

(I started this yesterday but with the constant interruptions of life it wasn’t ready until today! She also didn’t want to steal the thunder of her brother’s 21 month birthday.) So, actually…eleven days already? My dearest little daughter, I can hardly believe that you’ve been in my arms instead of my belly for ten days [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

(I started this yesterday but with the constant interruptions of life it wasn’t ready until today! She also didn’t want to steal the thunder of her brother’s 21 month birthday.) So, actually…eleven days already?

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My dearest little daughter,

I can hardly believe that you’ve been in my arms instead of my belly for ten days now. We waited 42 weeks to finally meet you and even then had to coax you, and now only ten days later it’s like you’ve always been a part of us. You’ve fit into our family, our home and our lives so easily that I can’t imagine life without you, and yet it seems like you just arrived.

I’m really glad I took a few minutes to type up your birth details when I got home because we’ve hardly had a moment since. (Not because of you - you sleep like an angel, but your brother is having some teething issues that keep him from sleeping and that on top of your nursing all day long just makes things busy. Wonderful, but busy.)

I’ll never forget the moment you left my body and somebody shouted “It’s a girl!” I immediately broke down into hysterical tears of joy because I couldn’t believe our luck. God has given us a perfect little girl in addition to our perfect little boy and made us the perfect little family.

From the moment I held you in my arms you have been nothing but sweet perfection. You latched on perfectly and actually ate within two minutes of hitting my chest, and with no help needed from me. I spent the first 48 hours of your life wide awake and wired just holding you - you never were out of arms for more than a few minutes for a diaper change or other necessity (I really didn’t want you in the plastic bucket that the hospital so kindly provided us with) and I wonder if that early skin to skin bonding helped with your peaceful nature or if you would have been that way anyway. Either way, I’ll take it. You pretty much sleep through the night - you nurse only once or twice and go right back to sleep. Last night you slept from midnight until 8 am when I finally made you eat to ease my exploding boobs. You’re co-sleeping with your Daddy & I - right between our heads in a very safe little co-sleeper - which makes it very easy to respond to your every need immediately and makes us all sleep more peacefully. You sleep more than any baby I’ve ever known, only waking to nurse or study your surroundings every so intently. You have the most thoughtful dark brown eyes and they captivate your daddy and I every time you look at us.

You were named after your maternal great grandmother (your first name is her second middle name) and also after me. (Your middle name is my name, which is pretty obvious I suppose.) Your great grandma is one of the kindest and most genuine people to ever walk the earth so we were honoured to be able to name you after her. She is 97 years old now so you can imagine how thrilled I was to have a daughter to name after her while she’s still around for me to tell her about it!

Your brother loves you more than you can possibly imagine. He wants to hold your hands and rub your back and is always excited to see you. When you make even the tiniest peep he tells us to “Cuddle!” you or tells me that you need “Milk. Boobie. Bra.” He often wants you to sit on his high chair tray while he eats so that he can hug you, and we do put your little bottom on there for a moment because it’s just so incredibly cute. We have two dogs that love you too - they love to give you big wet smooches and you don’t seem to mind at all. Chloe, our cat, just watches you from a distance and finds you rather entertaining.

At your one week checkup you had already surpassed your birth weight at 7 lbs 11 oz and you had already grown 3/4″ to 21 1/4″ long. There’s no concern about your health at all! Not even so much as a plugged tear duct, which is pretty cool. Even your skin is perfect.

We’re so lucky to have you and can hardly wait for all that we’ll experience together as a family of four!

Love, Mommy
xoxo

Today is your Grandma Betty’s birthday!

Ready everyone?

Happy Birthday Grandma Betty!!

This post is from from my other blog here

Dear Boy,

Happy 21 months kiddo! You continue to amaze me daily and I love you more with every passing moment! This past three months have been a challenge and a learning experience for all of us, and you’ve come out the shining star as usual.

Mommy was hugely pregnant for the last while and it was hard for me to play with you with my usual energy. I did my best and we even went tobogganing when I was 39 weeks pregnant but it wasn’t easy and I’m sure you wondered why your mother was such a lazy slug sometimes. You learned to pull my hand to help me up off the floor and were always very sweet. I went back to work for just two months, September and October, before going on early maternity leave and you missed your friends at your babysitter’s house but we certainly enjoyed having that special time together before becoming a family of four. We had almost daily play dates, went swimming every week, went on lots of walks and trips to your two favourite places - Costco and the grocery store!

We celebrated your second Christmas at our new house and had most of our family here. You were utterly spoiled and loved every minute of it. Grandma Betty & Grandpa Jack were here for over two weeks and you got so close to them that you freaked out whenever you couldn’t see one of them and even cried hysterically when you and I drove past Grandma’s car on our way to the pool because you thought she wasn’t coming with us. (She was - she was just bringing Grandpa and meeting us there.) Grandma Jeet came for a few days too and played with you a ton. You also have had a couple of opportunities to wrestle and play with Grandpa Kent over the last month which you enjoyed to the fullest extent of your abilities. So much so that mommy and daddy actually got to sit still for a few minutes! We also had Auntie Sasha, Grandpa Roger, Grandma Cecilia, Uncle John, Ashley & Jessie for Christmas dinner so it was quite the packed house and quite the amazing day. We all enjoyed every minute of it and you were the special attraction. It took you almost a week to open your presents because we just let you open them whenever you felt like it so as not to overwhelm you with the quantity. I highly recommend that strategy as we were able to enjoy each gift with you as you opened it and it was great entertainment!

Your speech is truly exceptional! You speak in three word sentences regularly and are rather easy to understand for a 21 month old boy. You are a total parrot and copy everything we say and do so we are sure to be on our best behaviour at all times! You are a demanding little guy trying to gain some control over your world and we’re doing our best to give you as much control as we can while maintaining limits and teaching you manners and compassion. You love to shout “OPEN IT!” and “HAVE IT” but you also ask for “Cuddle please” and want to “Help Mommy” with whatever I’m doing. I can’t count the words in your vocabulary anymore. You are WAY over 400 words and it’s a lost cause trying to keep up with you. You love to disect the intricacies of our language. For example, you want to know why your buddy Liam’s dad is named Matt and the thing on the floor by the door is also a mat. You want to know the phonetic differenced between your trains “tains” and your jeans “deans” and will ask me to say them both over and over again until you understand. Seeing (and saying) the world through your eyes is the coolest thing I’ve ever done.

You have always loved our pets and now your love has grown to include any animal you see, whether in real life, in a book or as a toy. You love to play with our animal puppets and know the names of them all as well as the sounds they make. You also love to point them out in books and want us to take them out for you. To your endless frustration, we have not yet figured out a way to remove items from books for your to play with.

Your problem solving skills are developing in amazing ways. We love to watch you play with your MegaBlocks and see how you’ve gone from banging them together to turning and manipulating them to fit the way you want them to. You love to sort things and put singles, doubles and triples into their own towers. It’s so cool to see you manipulating objects in your mind before you put them where you want them instead of relying just on trial and error like you did a couple of months ago. Of course, all of this is dependent on you being well rested, which doesn’t always happen. You cut three eye teeth in one day after suffering with them for two months and are now working on the fourth one. It wakes you up about 4 of 7 nights a week and sometimes prevents you from napping too. On those days you just freak out when something doesn’t go your way. It’s easy for us to get frustrated with you but we really try to just hug you instead so you know that we love you even if you’re being a stinker. We’re trying to verbalize your feelings for you to help you get a grasp of them. You haven’t said anything about your own feelings yet but you’re starting to get the idea when I act them out with you. And it’s pretty fun! We’re also working on “relaxation breathing” when you get a little worked up when you’re tired. It makes you laugh which in turn makes me laugh and it’s all good!

You have become a hockey addict over the past few months. In fact, the only thing you’ve ever watched on television is hockey so every time you see a tv you shout “Hockey!” You can spot a hockey picture in the newspaper from across the room and you love to go downstairs and play hockey with Daddy with your new net, sticks and balls that Mommy & Grandma Betty bought for you. Daddy often takes you down to watch a little bit of hockey after your bath before you go to bed and you love it. You recognize the flaming C and have claimed ownership of the Flames towel that Auntie Sasha bought Daddy for Christmas as your own.

Probably the biggest event in your life so far happened ten days ago. You became a big brother! Baby girl was born on January 11th and came home on the 13th. For those two days you were at home with both of your grandma’s tag teaming you and you soaked up the attention like a sponge. We thought you were no worse for wear but it was evident as soon as you saw your daddy after 24 hours away that you missed him terribly and it took you a few days after me coming home to totally forgive me for being gone and to hug me without being asked. Ten days later you’ve totally recovered and mommy’s feelings have recovered too. From the moment we brought her in the door you have loved your sister with everything you have. You shouted her name when she came in the door and latched onto both of her hands with a death grip. We had to pry you off to bring you both up to the living room and you spent the next while holding her hands and trying to sit in her carseat with her. You love to rub her head and her back & tummy and you don’t like it one bit when she fusses. You tell me to “Cuddle” her or tell me she needs “Milk. Bra. Boobie.” You often want her to sit on your tray while you’re eating. We put her little bum on there and you give her a kiss or a pat in between bites. You love to take her dirty diapers to the “garmer” and put the tags from her new clothes in the “kie-cling” (two of the only words you still don’t say perfectly, but they’re perfect for you!) You haven’t really shown any signs of jealousy yet. I hope that’s because we are trying really hard to make sure that you still get tons of one on one attention from both daddy and I and we also try to include you in caring for your sister as much as possible. Daddy took six week off to help us all get settled and the girl was so late in coming that three weeks were gone before she came home. That gave you lots of time to hang out with just Daddy and I which was a real gift for all of us.

Daddy and I love you so much babe. We’re so proud of you for everything you have learned and done in your little life so far.

I can’t imagine loving you any more than I do today but I know I’ll love you more tomorrow because that’s just the way a mommy’s heart works. You’ll always be the person who made me a mommy and don’t you ever forget it.

I love you right up to the moon and back!
Mommy
xoxo

This post is from from my other blog here

Dear Boy, Happy 21 months kiddo! You continue to amaze me daily and I love you more with every passing moment! This past three months have been a challenge and a learning experience for all of us, and you’ve come out the shining star as usual. Mommy was hugely pregnant for the last while and [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

Oh my God! My daughter is a week old and I am still not even unpacked from the hospital. Every day I think “I have to blog this!” and then it’s 1 am and I fall in to bed crying from exhaustion. Sorry for the crappy blogging but here’s the best I can do for an update for now…in no particular order because my brain is not yet capable of order.

-We had our 1 week well visit today and the girl has surpassed her birth weight by 3 full oz. Apparently I make breastcream. She’s 50th percentile for weight and head circumference and 95th percentile for height. Another child with the BG’s body type. Lucky kid.

-My left nipple is scabbed over and hurts like a mofo. She has latched well from the beginning and I think I got over confident in latching her in the dark. The BG bought me a nipple shield (which the boy has now lost…) and she wouldn’t go near it. How are they supposed to work? Today I pumped once to give that side a break and will again in the evening. Also using lanolin and air drying whenever I can. Any other tips? She sucks her bottom lip in and doesn’t fish lip like she should but I don’t know how to fix that. Help? The right side latch looks the same but doesn’t hurt.

-I am a postpartum hormonal mess occasionally (read: “Overwhelmed Psycho Bitch From Hell”) and my good old bubbly self the rest of the time. I forgot about that part. I cry at the drop of a hat over nothing but feel normal 95% of the time so it’s all good, right?

-I went the the mall two days post-cesarean because the girl? She has no clothes! There are lots coming but she needed a few outfits to get her over the next few weeks. Apparently I love pink, purple & yellow just as much as I love blue, orange & lime green. God, my kids are fun to shop for. It’s a good thing it hurts to walk or I’d shop all day long!

-We have another baby group going (started as a pregnant group actually when we all went on leave again) and there was a baby girl born 3 weeks before the girl, a baby boy born 2 days before the girl, a baby boy born 3 days after the girl and there are several more on the way. I hosted the first post-birth group yesterday and it was fantastic to have a houseful of moms, toddlers and babies. Thank God the BG was still on holidays to help with the boy, though. And another friend brought her husband too. It was great to feel surrounded by people. I’m SO not a recover alone in silence kind of girl. I HATE when people say “I won’t come over because you need to rest.” Just come, already. I need people around all the time and get lonely easily so I’m really glad we have that group once a week because it can make up for the other days.

-I hope to do a post all about the boy’s reaction to the girl coming home. It’s adorable. And sometimes scary. But mostly? It’s adorable and deserves a space all it’s own.

-The BG has 2 more weeks off to help me…thank God for him…and then I’m on my own. He had actually taken 6 weeks but 3 were gone before the girl made her appearance so it’s been cut in half. I’m kind of scared to take both kids out alone because the boy is still in the “hold me or I’ll run away and get hit by a car” phase and she, obviously, needs to be held. How do I do that exactly? We got a stand & ride stroller but it doesn’t accept our carseat so we can’t use it until she’s old enough to sit upright in the front so he can sit in back. So, do I have to stay home until August?

-I’ll leave you with the product of a photo shoot I did when the girl was 4 days old. God, I love my new lens! Please excuse the crappy watermark. Photoshop isn’t working on my laptop and I couldn’t get downstairs so I just used Paint to plaster something on. I’ve been finding my pictures on various other blogs so plan to start watermarking most of my images.

This post is from from my other blog here

I have loved playing Cranium since I got it for Christmas a couple of years ago. I’m a total dork and I love board games - especially when I get to act goofy, draw and make things with clay all in the same game. So when I was given the opportunity to try out some of the children’s games from Cranium I jumped at the chance.

Cranium Bloom is ‘a new line of preschool games, books, puzzles, and toys.’ According to the website, “this product line’s unique development approach, Create-Discover-Perform-Connect, cultivates the full range of your child’s natural abilities through a wide variety of playful activities.”

There are currently 14 products in the Bloom series (including games, puzzles, activity toys and activity books) and they’re available at Target for you American folks and in Canada they can be ordered by phone.

I was sent samples of the Let’s Go To The Zoo Seek n’ Find Puzzle and it’s fabulous! A perfect fit for our family because our son is just getting into puzzles, loves animals and loves to write on things that he’s not usually allowed to write on! It says it’s for ages 3 & up but at 21 months he already loves it. I’m sure he’ll get even more enjoyment out of it if we pack it away and pull it out again in 6-8 months, which is what we intend to do after playing with it a few more times. It’s just $10 and includes 24 puzzle pieces, 30 cards and an erasable pen. You build the puzzle with your child and then the cards tell you what to do next. Hop like a kangaroo, circle something yellow, find the flamingo…you get the idea. It’s a great twist on the old puzzle and doesn’t every kid love animals?

We also received a sample of the Count & Cook game which retails for $13 and is for 2-4 players (again, age 3 & up). It takes only about 10 minutes to play and is great for kids who love to help in the kitchen. As I said, my son is only 21 months old but has a learning tower and helps in the kitchen every day so even though he can’t take full advantage of this game yet he did enjoy the parts we shared with him (and apparently loves to roll dice!). The box includes the game board, 20 ingredient tokens, 4 chef movers, a recipe book and a die. The idea is that you “Count your way around the board. Gather food for the recipes in your cookbook. Add your secret ingredients — then pull the tab for something funny to do!” I know many parents who often discourage their young children from helping in the kitchen regularly because, admittedly, it makes a bigger mess, takes more time and is sometimes just plain annoying. However, it’s also one of the greatest learning opportunities for kids in mathematics & measuring, taking turns, following recipes and so much more. I have a feeling that this series of games might have a positive impact in the cooperative playtime of many families and I love it for that.

Many thanks to Mom Central and Cranium Bloom for the great activities!

This post is from from my other blog here

I’m home, but completely stoned so not really able to blog much yet. I figured I’d kept you waiting long enough, though, so here’s a quick update…

Friday, January 11, 2008

7 am - water break. 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced, -3 station, anterior cervical position.

9 am - still nothing to speak of in terms of labour, and not much water either. Some concern with colour indicating possible meconium, but primarily clear after the first bit. NICU team notified, just in case.

9:30 am - start the oxytocin drip, mild labour begins.

11 am - after several increases in oxytocin, hard labour starts around this time.

11 am - 3:30 pm - contractions get way worse, but it’s really nice to experience labour the way most people do it. Like, in the front. Very painful, but NOTHING like the back labour I had with the boy. I didn’t actually hope I would die this time.

After several checks and lots of hopes, I only go from 3 cm to 4 cm dilation in 4.5 hours of hard labour. Some of you may remember that last time when I got an epidural I went from 2 cm to 10 cm in three hours. We decided to try it again. Got the epidural around 3:30 pm and two hours later there was still no progress. To make me feel good, she stretched my cervix from 4-5 since I couldn’t feel it anyway. Now I can stay I got stuck at 5 cm instead of 4 cm. Woo hoo.

Through the entire afternoon, baby’s heart rate dropped with every contraction. This is the first sign of potential uterine rupture with a VBAC, but my OB wasn’t concerned because it was only happening with the contractions and therefore was likely from head compression. Baby’s head was elbow shaped and was trying to get out even at 3 cm dilation so there was a lot of pressure there.

6 pm - with contractions getting longer and harder, baby’s heart rate drops lower and for longer periods and begins to get risky. Still no more dilation. We are given the choice to keep trying with the likely outcome of a rushed emergency cesarean when baby’s heart rate continues to drop since there’s no more dilation at all, or to go for a non-emergent cesarean a little slower and make it a little less stressful on everyone. We elect door number two and start prepping for surgery.

Strangely, I’m totally okay with this because I knew it was a risk and didn’t want to put my baby in harm’s way at all. I just wanted to say I tried, wanted to experience “normal” contractions and wanted baby to get squeezed for lung health etc. I got all that so it’s all good.

6:25 pm - We have a daughter! 7 lbs, 8 oz. & 20.5 inches of perfection.

I didn’t actually believe it until I saw a vagina. I had no preference and was 50/50 on my guesses but apparently my subconscious thought I was having a boy. In fact, I called her “he” for two days. I think it has sunk in now, though.

(I’m not publishing her name, but will have a naming contest soon. Start thinking of good e-nicknames for her and also for the boy. There will be prizes!)

So, I’m having trouble moving, my incision is weeping and I’m completely stoned on pain meds. But - I’m HOME! With two healthy kids and a fabulous husband. What more could a gal ask for?

I’ll be back when I am somewhat more coherent. I’m reading, but only while nursing so am not commenting much. I’m still contributing to your stats though - I promise!







Oh…you wanna see pictures? Okay then.

Precious nekkid baby. Such a miracle!
And such a girl. Keeping everyone waiting already.

Mama and baby having a snuggle.

Meeting her big brother who loves her uncontrollably.
So much so that he wanted to amputate her ear and take it with him to bed.
It didn’t come off, but he gave it his all. A for effort.

This post is from from my other blog here

We leave tomorrow about 6:30 am to grab some Starbucks drive-through and head to the hospital where they will stick a glorified crochet hook up my va-jay-jay and through my 3 cm dilated for 3 weeks now cervix to poke a hole in the amniotic sac surrounding child 2.0.

I should be back to blogville - enough to tell you about baby anyway - early next week.

I’m very sad to be leaving the boy at home and have done my fair share of bawling over it, but he’s in the capable hands of both his grandmas who will be tag teaming him over the next few days along with the BG who is going to try to be home for bedtimes at the very least. In 21 months I’ve never left him for more than 9 hours and never overnight. I’ve only not put him to bed with my own two hands twice - once for a school BBQ and once to go to a friend’s house when she was fighting cancer.

So yeah, it’s going to suck but it’s for a very good reason. We get to bring home another one! Wheee!

Merci beaucoup for all the emails, prayers & positive thoughts. Y’all rock and every single word means a lot to me. Really truly.

This post is from from my other blog here

My parents have headed home until Thursday night for my dad’s chemo and a bunch of other stuff. They stayed for over 2 weeks and it was awesome! The only way it could have been better is if we were able to give them a new grandbaby before they left. My mom cooked, cleaned, walked our dogs, did my laundry and looked after the boy. I’ve had so much rest that my feet aren’t even swollen anymore. It’s like I’m getting un-pregnant.

So now, to pay them back, I need to put a plug in it and keep this baby in until Thursday night when they get back.

Which? Would be perfect timing.

Because if baby doesn’t arrive of it’s own accord before Friday at 7 am my water gets broken. If nothing happens by 9 am I get a slight induction drip. Then if nothing happens I have a cesarean. Which could happen even if I labour because we don’t know for sure that this baby can get out through my pelvis because the boy got stuck so hard. At 42 weeks this one’s probably bigger than he was too. We’re still hoping though!

At least we know now that this baby will be born no later than Saturday, and that’s if I have another long labour. We’re going to go for Thursday night or Friday before supper.

My mother in law is coming tonight and staying until Saturday so I’ll still get some rest because she kicks butt and will help with everything. It’s great to know that no matter when everything happens the boy will have a Grandma with him when we’re not here. We have many friends who offered to help as well, and we certainly would have taken them up on it if we needed to but it’s great that we likely won’t have to. (Except Leah, who is going to have a slumber party with me at the hospital if I have to stay over Sunday night after my parents go back home. You wish you could be there, right?)

Let me leave you with some incredible cuteness. I picked the boy up a jersey on Boxing Day and yesterday my parents & I got him a new hat, ball, sticks & net for driveway/basement hockey and he’s addicted. Here’s a pic from this morning of the two biggest hockey fans I know.

This post is from from my other blog here

And nothing.

Well, a mucous plug. Which I had never seen before and it’s actually pretty darn cool. That was Saturday at 10 am and all I’ve had since is more goo and lots of BH contractions last night. Nothing today.

I feel lots of strange pressure in my scar so I’m going to the hospital later today once we’re all showered etc, to get it checked just in case it’s not safe to labour with that tension on it.

I’ll let you know as soon as I can.

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Update:

Didn’t go to the hospital - went to Costco instead.

What? That doesn’t make sense to you?

This post is from from my other blog here

UPDATED below with yet more useless information you probably don’t want to know.

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In case you’re one of the people my mom and I haven’t called and you’re not my real life friend on facebook, here’s the deal from my OB appointment today…

1. I’m 2-3 cm dilated but my cervix is still fairly long. And no labour yet. I assume the same 50% that it was on Christmas Eve, but I didn’t ask for the details. And what does it mean if your cervix is anterior? Because mine is.

2. I’m 6 days overdue (we know my dates are correct) but she’s still very optimistic, and realistic, about my VBAC provided my pelvis will allow baby through.

3. Tomorrow morning I go for a non-stress test (pretty much just baby on the fetal monitor for 20 minutes to check movement, heart rate etc) and an ultrasound to check my fluid levels. Low amniotic fluid would indicate a failing placenta and we’d have to do something right away. If there’s no problem then we’re okay to wait another week and see what happens. (But remember, my parents have to leave…)

4. Induction with a scar is a very risky procedure so my options there are limited. The cervical gel is contraindicated due to increased risk of uterine rupture but I could have my water broken and/or have a very low level oxytocin drip if necessary. Both of which? Would completely suck.

5. My next appointment, which I’d better not freaking need, is on Tuesday, at which point we have to choose a day to have a baby if nothing happens naturally. Probably next Friday morning. I’m afraid that if that happens my parents will be unable to get back in time to be here for the boy/there for the birth because my dad will be in chemo and my mom has appointments that will tie her up for a couple of days. They can get back Friday morning but have no choice but to be gone for Tues/Weds/Thurs.

So what we really need is for my labour to begin naturally, progress “normally” and have this baby born before the weekend is over. Otherwise we’ve got some situations on our hands that we don’t want to deal with.

Why, oh why, do I have such a comfortable uterus? (That sounds totally ungrateful coming from the girl with a bazillion friends undergoing fertility treatments and I totally don’t mean it that way.)

Come out, little baby! We can’t wait to meet you!

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Update:

1. Non-stress test revealed that baby is under absolutely no stress and is happily lying on my sciatic nerve. You know, just chillin’. It did not, on the other hand, measure my stress levels.

2. Ultrasound revealed several large, healthy and colourless (i.e. meconium free) pockets of amniotic fluid - more than enough to leave baby happily in my uterus for another seven days should s/he choose not to exit voluntarily.

As per #5 above, we get to choose a day to just have a baby already. I tried to get this Sunday to alleviate any concerns about my mom caring for the boy, but my OB is off Sunday & Monday so it can’t be before Tuesday (unless it starts on it’s own, in which case I get the on call OB but they won’t induce me or schedule anything). May I remind you that Tuesday is the absolute last day my mom can leave if she takes 2 extra days of leave before having to get my dad home for chemo etc.? So we picked next Friday and just have to hope to hell that it happens before Monday or waits until Friday. What do you suppose the chances are?

So far, not so much as a cramp.

This post is from from my other blog here

I suppose I still have four hours but what are the chances?

My mom and I took the boy swimming and then had one of his friends over for a play date today. The BG and I went out for a spicy dinner - our third date in a week and only the sixth in nearly two years.

Even though I wanted this baby out a while ago, it’s been really nice that the BG got to relax for the first 2 weeks of his vacation and super to have my mom here to help out while I have a hard time moving around and to let us get some breaks together. It’s going to suck when she has to leave on Sunday. I sure hope the baby’s out by then or we’re screwed!

I see my OB tomorrow at 1 pm so if nothing has happened by then we may have to have a non-stress test, ultrasound to check fluid levels, schedule an induction (ouch! I’m taking the epidural if I have to be induced.) or who knows what else. It’s apparently riskier to labour every day I go over because of my rather fresh scar but I will insist on at least a little labour even if baby can’t get out and I end up with a cesarean because babies need to be squeezed and all that. Plus, I don’t want to cheat. On Christmas Eve I was 1 cm dilated and 50% thinned (have I told you that before? I’m having déjà vu…) so I sure hope I’m more than that when I get there tomorrow. Actually, I hope I’m in labour or have already had the baby so I don’t have to go there at all, but you know. Anyhoo, she said she doesn’t anticipate me having any trouble getting to 10 cm easier and faster than last time because I’ve done it but it’s the passing of the baby through the pelvis that might be an issue since the boy got stuck and had to be taken out surgically so we don’t know if this one will fit properly through my gimpy bones.

Ah well. I’m past the point of being picky. I just can hardly wait to meet our baby!

This post is from from my other blog here

Nope.

Nada.

Nothing.

I’m still here.

I’m now answering the phone “Hello, I’m still pregnant,” just so people will stop asking.

I woke up at 5 am with some mild (like, really mild) PMS type lower back stuff - similar to the way my first labour started - and that continued for 7-8 hours but is now gone. By this time in my first labour I was just 45 min away from an amniotic fluid leak in the van while out shopping for last minute things (like granny panties) and my contractions were already about 5 minutes apart and fairly strong.

Bags are packed, laundry is done, toenails are cut (heh) and all we need now is a baby. That’s my New Year’s resolution. Have a baby. Hopefully I can accomplish it sometime this year.

My brother says it must be a girl because it’s making everybody wait. What do you think?