Un-plugged

Those easily grossed out need not read further.

One of the goals of the membrane stripping came to fruition this morning. My mucous plug has left the building. I've always wondered if I'd know what it was, even before I got pregnant I wondered. The answer is yes, I knew what it was:) This pre-labor stuff continues to be super sexy, huh???

So we're one step closer! Thanksgiving plans will continue to go as planned, as long as I am feeling ok. I'm dreading the ride to/from my parents house, which is almost 1 hour each way, but we'll eat quickly and then get back home. I'll be much happier once we are closer to home/hospital.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

stripping

My membranes have been stripped. Sounds sexy, huh? We went for our 38w5d OB yesterday and she gave us 3 options.
1) Stripping cervical membranes which, if it works *should* start labor in 48-72 hours.
2) Letting things continue to happen naturally. This wasn't such a great option for us, b/c we want Dr. S to deliver Sophie and she'll be out of town 3 days next week.
3) #2, plus scheduling an induction for NEXT Friday should she not cooperate.

I immediately started shaking, I guess b/c everything seemed to really be happening. Or, at least the planning for everything to really happen was happening, if that makes any sense. I REALLY didn't want Option #3, but I wasn't sure if I was ready for #1. Dan's choice was to "get things started" so as soon as I heard that it sealed the deal.

The actual stripping was painful b/c of the pressure. No knife stabbing pain, but MAJOR pressure and cramping. Dan held one hand and I had the other dug into the exam table. It didn't take long, but things certainly felt different after she was done. The goal was to 1) loosen the mucus plug (again, SO sexy) and 2) detach the bag of water from the uterus.

Leaving the dr office was very surreal for me. It was like ok, we'll meet her soon. It was exciting and scary all at the same time.

This happened about 3 pm yesterday, so we're at about 27 hours so far. I've had cramps, and some back pain, and my girlie parts are really sore but not much else.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I've been told to stay close to home if my contrax are 1) fairly close together or 2) fairly painful. I don't think she'll actually arrive until at least Friday, if not Sat or Sun. I know this sound selfish, but I don't really want her to be born on Thanksgiving anyway. To be selfish for her, I don't want her to have to share her b-day with a turkey, although I realize that it wouldn't happen every year. However, what better day of the year to be born, after the struggle we went through to have her.

Passing the time...

Still here. Nothing to report really. The knife stabbing feeling in my cervical area was pretty strong last night, but still nothing but a bunch of contractions that didn't do a darn thing. So here we sit.

I thought I'd pass the time taking/posting a few nursery pics so here we go! I love how it turned out. Girly but not too girly/feminine; you definately wouldn't mistake it for a boy room (I hope). There was a lot more I planned to do, but really just got too tired. The walls are still bare for the most part, but that's on purpose. I'm hoping to have some pictures to hang, and wanted to give those priority over shelving and other decorations.

We had some maternity pics taken a few weeks ago, so I'm hoping at least one of those will go in there. Plus, we're scheduled to take Sophia for a newborn professional photo session in her first 2 weeks--hoping I like those and will be able to use at least one in the nursery.

THe walls are a caramel-y/cafe au lait color. Furniture is Bonavita Peyton. The crib converts to toddler and then full size bed.

I was hoping this would show the dust ruffle more, but not so much. I made it, and it matches the curtains.

Changing table that will hold a hutch if we want to buy it down the road. Yes, I got a wipe warmer...against my better judgement. Seems silly to me, but I needed things for my registry and I got it. It certainly can't hurt. The nursery is the draftiest room we have, so at least Sophie's bum will be nice and warm this winter:)

Chest of drawers with the beginnings of stuffed animal/book collection:) Oh and scissors...yes I'll move those. I took the tags of the stuffed animals right before I took the picture. Yes, I'm still de-tagging.

A not so great pic of the curtains I made. I really should have taken these earlier in the day-the light is really crappy. And my lampshade project was a big FAIL so the lamp is compliments of Target.

Framed initials I made on the farwall. I wanted to take that project further, but ran out of patience.

Rug compliments of Target. I really struggled to find one I liked and just happened upon this one a few weeks ago.

Last but not least, our rocker/glider from Best Chairs. It's from the Story Book collection, but I honestly have no idea which one. My one regret is that I didn't flip the upholstery and get the chair in chocolate brown and piping in the sand color. Oh well. I LOVE this chair and it hasn't even been used yet!

So there it is. All that furniture in a tiny little room where Sophie will reside and play for the next few years.

No news from uterusville yet

Just thought I'd post about NO news, in case I don't get a chance to post with NEWS. I have to admit, I really thought last night was "it." I was contracting alot all evening, but then when I went to bed they all stopped. I also had this CRAZY shock-like pain in my cervical area (I can only assume). Dr. S said when I feel something like that it's typically her dropping even more, or increased dilation. Until last night, this pain has only come with walking, and is enough to stop me in my tracks. It's very similar to the sciatic feeling, only in my cervix. I was laying in bed, talking to Dan when it happened and I must have gotten a crazed look on my face, which caused him to have a crazed look. I just told him that I might be waking him up, so not to sleep too soundly:)

However, after that it was uneventful. My sleep continues to go downhill though. I took a Tylenol PM at 9:30 and slept from 10-1:15. I was then wide awake until about 5:30, and then alarm went off at 6. Lovely. The funny thing is, I'm not kept awake by anxiety or any ruminating thoughts. I just lay there. Completely.wide.awake. Thinking about nothing really. So annoying.

After work today I'm off to Target to stock up on some last minute things like nursing tanks and other "fun" items I'll need post-delivery. Dan's home today taking care of some last minute things on our to-do list, and we have new living room furniture being delivered today:)

So for now...I'm just going along minding my own business. I have noticed a major decrease in her movement today. Is she finally out of room???

OB appt and progress!

I had my 37w5d OB appt yesterday. I wasn't expecting much in the way of progress, since I haven't really felt any different over the last week than I have over the previous.

WRONG-O.

2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. She didn't tell me station but did say that her head is extremely low. So low that it's rare that she sees this unless the woman is in active labor. HOLY CRAP! So, it really could happen any time. Dr. S is out of town this weekend and told me (jokingly of course) to try to keep her in until she gets back. She is predicting before Thanksgiving, but if for some reason Sophie hasn't made an appearance we'll discuss induction, now that I'm making progress. That would be sometime during the 39th week, just to make sure she doesn't get too big.

So bag is packed and in the car (although of course throughout the day today I am remember MANY things that I forgot), but it's a start.

On my morning walk with Sierra this morning I had a very focused cramp (not like the period-like cramps I've had so far) on my right side, stomach area. That was a very new feeling for me, so hopefully she's working overtime in there so she can come meet us sooner rather than later.

People keep asking if I'm scared and the answer is no. I'm not scared at all of L and D or anything that goes with it. I am freaked out in anticipation of what will happen prior to getting to the hospital (i.e. will water break, if water doesn't break how long will it take contractions to get to where they need to be to even GO to the hospital, etc). I'm also freaked out about AFTER delivery and all the fun (NOT) things that come with that. But actually having her doesn't scare me at all...it's only exciting!

Stay tuned!

Hospital tour with a WATERMELON!

Once again, I neglected to make a Thursday post. Here's the 37 week update...



Baby's now the size of a watermelon!You' re full-term (yay!) baby is gaining about 1/2 ounce a day and getting his first sticky poop (called meconium) ready. He's also brushing up on skills for the outside world: blinking, sucking, inhaling, exhaling, and gripping (it's getting strong!).


Thankfully I have recovered from my parking lot spill, although I still have one heck of a bruise on my leg. No worries about Sophia. She was in over-drive all weekend. Enough overdrive that I was getting paranoid about the cord getting wrapped around her neck. Yes, I know...but it's me, I have to worry about something. She's been moving more than ever, and her movements are MUCH stronger than in the past. I assume poor little chunker is running out of room. I can see my stomach moving as I type. I've definately gotten used to it, but then she'll throw me for a curve and give me a really hard kick that catches me off guard. She also seems to like to bounce on my cervix as I walk. This sensation does NOT feel good, and in fact can stop me in my tracks.


My sleep continues to go down hill. If I sleep on my left side, my left shoulder just ACHES. If I sleep on my right side, my right hand falls asleep. I'm only good on my back for about 10 minutes at a time. I woke up at 3 am last night and fell asleep not quite 3 hours later, as my alarm was getting ready to go off. I actually just contemplating getting up and being productive, b/c I was certainly not tired.


I am starting to look for signs of labor...but so far nothing. I continue to get Brax-Hicks, but no more so than before. I am not necessarily tired of being pregnant, but at this point we are just so anxious to meet her. We've both given her the talk that she needs to come out so we can meet her and celebrate her b-day:)


Yesterday was the hospital tour. In hindsight, it's really not imperative to take, but we're glad we know where to go, and what to expect. We'll be using Hospital M, but really wanted to use Hospital B. Everyone I know that has used Hospital M has raved about it and compared it to a nice hotel. Um...not so much. It's really a hospital room with one bed instead of two. Based on amenities, I'd still rather go to Hospital B, but Dr S pretty much made the decision. So Hospital M it will be.


We did have a "woah this is really happening" moment as we walked into the lobby yesterday. A new daddy was walking in with his camcorder, and mom and baby (and nurse) were waiting for him inside. Yes, I got teary, thinking that will be us in a few short weeks. Yikes.

Here's the 37 week picture! I finally scanned in u/s pics from last Tuesday but they are on a different computer. Will post those soon!

I fell...

last night.

This was supposed to be a post about how great our u/s was yesterday. Nope, not so much. Last night, walking through a gravel covered parking lot, I fell. I don't know how, I guess my balance is off, but I totally wiped out. Before I knew what was happening I was on the ground with my purse several feet away. Dan was about two steps in front of me so didn't see it happen.

He helped me up, grabbed my purse and we assessed the damage. My lower right leg took the brunt of the fall I think. I'm pretty scraped up from knee to mid-calf. I of course, couldn't care less about my bloody leg. It was quite a struggle to stay as rational as I did, but I tried...and succeeded, mostly.

Of course my first thought was going to the hospital, after all we were going to drive right past one. But, I fought off that urge. I just wanted to go home. No, that's not true. I REALLY wanted to go to the hospital. But I thought of all the stories I've heard about falls during pregnancy, and things are almost always fine, blah, blah. So I went home to monitor.

I did have a few contractions, which I expected, and then she REALLY started moving. Of course, neurotic me thought this was a bad sign, b/c she was moving more than normal for that time of night. But I just let it go and went to bed. I woke up once to movement and then right back to sleep. I felt like crap when I woke up, just really banged up. And apparently the fall jarred my pelvic pain (which had let up ALOT) back into action. So not only am I limping b/c my leg is so sore, I'm back to waddling too.

This morning, I loaded up on a huge bowl of sugary cereal, topped off with some cookies, just to give her a kick start. It seemed to work and she was very active by the time I got to work. I did call the nurse, who said it sounded like the worst was over, so long as I didn't start bleeding, my water didn't break, the contrax didn't start again. I did have a dream last night about my water breaking.

So, the GOOD part of yesterday was indeed the u/s. We got a few pics which I will post later. They aren't great at this stage. She's just too squished up in there. They measured her head, belly and femur and I suppose all looked normal. Right after measuring the femur, the tech said "7 pounds 10 oz." I yelled "holy crap." She said that was in the 88% percentile...awww we have a little over-achiever;)

The measurement is really partly a guess, and can be 1 pound different, on either side. Dr. S is guessing she is currently 7-7.5 pounds, and is estimating 8-9 pounds if she stays put until 40 weeks, which she is also guessing will happen. She actually thinks she may stay put closer to 41 weeks. So, looks like Thanksgiving will go off without a hitch, but then who knows really. She also tried to check for dilation but cervix was so high she couldn't reach it. We assume there hasn't been any, since I haven't had any out of the ordinary contrax.

So...the day started off well, and then went downhill. But she is moving as I type so that's a good thing.

*****And please, if you know my mother, the fact that I fell is not for her eyes/ears. I'm stressing out enough without having to deal with the knowledge that she is stressing out for me!******