My wonderful neighbor, Kristy, took these lovely photos for me one day at her house, using some curtains and wrapping papers as backgrounds. We didn't really know for sure how they'd turn out but I'd say pretty dang good for two stay-at-home moms just messing around!!! Here are some of my favorites! Thanks Kristy!!!
I realized I never showed any pictures of Avery's nursery. I have had a lot of people ask to see it it because I made a lot of the stuff in it when I was on bedrest. (There wasn't much else to do...) So here are some pictures of Avery's nursery! It has kind of a birds/trees theme. I painted the wall behind her bed a darker brown and then painted the tree on the wall behind her crib and made the letters for her name out of scrapbook paper and modge podge. Other things I made were a mobile, a throw pillow, her curtains, two lamps, and I painted a mirror. I really got a little carried away... but I think on all these things I spent a total of about $20, between thread, spray paint, and materials. It just took time... which I had plenty of on bedrest! :)
Wow, time flies. I haven't blogged in a month! I kept wanting to, but at night once I have gotten everyone to bed I usually just want to sleep! There is a lot to report though.....
We had two weeks at home with Avery at the end of July. It was a pretty relaxing time because Josh had off from work all except about 3 days between the time she was born and the time we went to Wisconsin on August 2nd. Those first two weeks were a lot of poopy diapers and trying to figure out when and how to feed her. I was nursing her for the first week but when we took her to the doctor for the first time when she was about 5 days old, they said she only weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce, which concerned them because she was 7 lbs 14 oz when she was born. It is normal for babies to lose weight, but she had been home for a few days and they said she should be gaining by now. So the doctor told me to bring her back in 2 days. I kept doing the nursing only thing and two days later... still 7 lbs 1 oz. So then the doctor said I should start supplementing with formula or try pumping and giving her it in a bottle. So I did the pumping and giving her it in a bottle to make sure she was getting a full 3 ounces per feeding. Then at her 2 week check-up (so about a week later) she weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces. So that was pretty good.
So we went to Wisconsin - three days' drive each way - and I was pumping and giving her bottle all along the way! (Not the most fun...) Now that we have returned back to Idaho, I am thinking it is about time to give her formula. I was hoping to make it at least until 2 months but I am pretty exhausted from trying to pump every three hours, feed her every 2.5 to 3 hours, and take care of 2 little boys. It's especially hard at night when Josh is working and I'll finally get the boys and Avery to sleep, then wake up to pump at 1 am.... sleep an hour... she wakes up at 2 am... finally get her back to sleep at about 3:00.... pump again at 4:00.... back to sleep for an hour.... she wakes up again at 5:00.... I end up getting about 3 hours of sleep total some nights. Now we have started giving her formula about every other feeding to get her used to it slowly. She seems to be doing pretty good with it though. But onto other things!
The Wisconsin trip was really good. We did a lot of eating out and SHOPPING!!! (Josh had a hard time getting the car top carrier to close on the way home...) Avery has a lot more clothes now than she did 2 weeks ago! While we were there we also had Avery blessed, went to a Wisconsin Dells waterpark, went to the Fond du lac waterpark, and saw lots of friends and relatives. The boys' favorite park is always all the swimming we do when we are there and getting to see their cousin, Jasmine.
Now we are home again and school is starting for Gabe already this Wednesday! Only two days left of Summer for him! Sad! I think he is excited but after the first couple days of it being all day long he will be a little sad about not having the freedom to lounge all day! Caleb will be doing preschool at the same school as Gabe but only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. So that will leave me and Avery alone (and Zoe I guess!) for a few hours each week! I plan to sleep during those hours... :)
Also, yesterday Avery was officially 1 month old! We took her in to weigh her and she was 9 pounds, 6 ounces! Time for those 3 month size clothes and size 1 diapers! She is already starting to try and keep her head lifted up and look around when we have her up on our shoulder. She loves snuggling into me on her tummy, up on my shoulder when she is tired and done eating. Although I think she is starting to figure out she can cry to get me now, because last night I fed her around 9 pm and tried to put her in her crib (she looked totally asleep) then about 5 minutes later she was wide awake and crying again. I picked her up and walked around with her up on my shoulder and she fell asleep really fast. I laid her down... toptoes out... two minutes later, "Waaahh!" again! This happened about 8 times. Finally at about 12:30 am she was asleep in her crib and stayed asleep till about 4 am. Then it was time for a bottle and she was back asleep by maybe 5 am in her crib. Then she woke up at about 8:30 again. So that is probably a pretty typical night. She is most awake from about 8 pm to midnight... the time she is supposed to be going to sleep! But that was the case with her even when she was in my belly. I could always feel the kicks the most from those times. I think a lot of babies are that way. So that is the Avery update. She is very cute and still has lots of dark hair. I even dyed my hair yesterday back to it's dark color so we could match. :) We love finally having a little girl in out family! Even the boys say, "She is the cutest baby ever!!!"
Final news.... it is Josh and my 8 year anniversary today! Happy Anniversary, Honey! Eight years, three kids, two dogs, and a house... I would say we are doing pretty good. Now I just need a trip to Hawaii.... maybe for our 10-year... :)
I remember in my blog last week Thursday, after getting my stitches removed, I wrote, "If I am still pregnant one week from now I will be in shock!" Well I just barely missed the one week mark by about 8 hours. Avery Marie Rhodes was born one Wednesday, July 18th at 11:59 pm. She was 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. She has a full head of black hair and is of course, super adorable. :)
Here are the major events leading up to Avery's birth.
Thursday, after getting my stitches removed, my cervix was already dialated to 3 cm and probably about 90 percent effaced (thinned out). I started having contractions, but they weren't really painfu. They gave me a pill to stop them and "ultimately" they sent me home from the hospital, thinking labor may start soon after, probably in the next day or two. I was totally expecting her to come over the weekend. I was having little contractions but they were nothing regular and I couldn't ever time them. So on Monday, I ended up calling my doctor's office and saying, "I don't think anyone expected me to still be pregnant, but I am. So I guess I should make a weekly check-up appointment for this Wednesday." I purposely picked Wednesday thinking, "Then I will be exactly 37 weeks and if my check-up starts my labor, they will consider me full-term and let me deliver." I know with both Gabe and Caleb I had a check-up the day previous or the day of their birth, so I was hoping it would speed things along!
Monday and Tuesday I was still just thinking, "I can't believe I am still pregnant." I got a lot of calls wondering if I had had her. But no. It was just the usual... taking Caleb to gymnastics, taking Gabe to soccer, seeing our weekly Summer movie in the cheap seats (it was Megamind this week...). I was beginning to wonder if she would stay in there till my due date! I started telling Gabe to pray she would come so that we could go foreward with our plan to go to Wisconsin for a visit in August. I said, "if she isn't born this week we probably won't go." That really got Gabe worried! He started including in his prayers at night that "our baby will be born soon."
Well, that must've done the trick! On Wednesday at 3:00, Diane (Josh's mom) got to our house to babysit the boys while we went to Idaho Falls for our appointment. I took my hospital overnight bag just in case. I told Diane, "I hope they check me and see that I am dialated to a 5 or 6 and decide to send me straight to the hospital to break my water." I think she thought I was dreaming because most women are in immense pain if they are dialated to a 5 or 6 and are actively labor in the hospital. But we told her we would call her from the appointment and let her know if we thought we would be back that night or not. I had a backpack for the boys to stay overnight at her house packed and ready at the top of the stairs in our house. I had this pretty planned out in my head for it to happen!
So, we got to the doctor and I had still been having little contractions but not too painful, just like my stomach was tightening. When we got to the doctor, we went in and saw Nicole because Dr. Huggins was really busy with other deliveries and stuff but I guess she was in and out of the office. Nicole checked me and told me that, guess what, I WAS dialated to what she said was "about a 5 or 6." I instantly thought, "Yes! Let's go to the hospital!" But Nicole was still reacting like, "Well, if you're not having contractions.... you can just go back to Rexburg until you're ready." And I was like, "Uh... no... I want to have my contractions monitored because I think my labor is starting and as soon as my water breaks she will be out in minutes." She finally was like, "Well, we have a room where we can monitor your contractions for a little while if you want." And I was like, "Uh... duh!" no just kidding. But seriously, I was thinking "Yes, that would be a good idea. I am glad I am telling YOU what needs to be done." So then I went into that little room where they hooked my belly up and watched me for about 30 minutes. At the end of that time, Nicole came in and got the print-out of all the little hills and valleys, indidctaing contractions, and said, "I need to go talk to Dr. Huggins and she what she thinks."
When she came back this time, she said, "I am going to strip your membranes and that will probably get your contractions going..." but then when I went into the little regular exam room again it was Dr. Huggins who walked in and checked me. She said, "I would say you are dialted to more like a 7. I am going to send you over to the hospital and come over and break your water because I am afraid if I send you home to Rexburg your water will break and you will have this baby in the car." I was thinking, "Yes, I am glad someone else recognizes that fact!" It made me really glad that I had kind of pushed it with Nicole and not just been like, "Okay, thanks! See ya next week!" and gone home.
If I would have, that could have been a totally different birth story - and a very scary one!
Then we went out to the lobby again and Dr. Huggins was trying to locate the results of my Group B strep test. I told her she wasn't going to find them because Nicole had just barely done the swab like, 30 minutes prior. They usually do that test at about 36 weeks, but I guess when I got my stitches out they all kind of forgot about it because I didn't actually go into her office that week, just the hospital.
The crappy thing about not having done it earlier was that they didn't have the results back yet, therefore they had to treat me like I DID have it, just to be safe, and put some antibiotics into my IV for at least 4 hours before my delivery. I guess Group B strep is no big deal to the mom but if the baby gets it during delivery, it can develop into a serious problem. But they can treat in by giving you penicilon for at least 4 hours in your IV before you deliver.
This was kind of a bummer because I got to the hospital at about 6:00 and Dr. Huggins was going to break my water right away, but then she realized I needed to delay it for 4 hours. So I had to just kind of lay there and wait until 10:30 when she could come in and break my water and send baby flying out! In that four hours, I was like, "Time for my epidural!!!" I really wasn't in much pain when I got checked into the hospital but I was like, "I know it will get worse, so let's get this rollin!" The epidural man came in at about 6:30 and I sat on the side of the bed while he got it going into my back. Getting an epidural isn't super fun, and it's kind of scary to be putting so much trust into someone who could make one wrong move and potentially parylize you forever, but let me tell you, this labor and delivery was so easy it was crazy. That epidural man is a genius. And God is a genius for making man create the epidural. I had told him about my experience in Wisconsin where only half of my body went numb and he was like, "Well we're going to make you a believer in Idaho medicine." He totally did. He was really funny. When it was about done I was like, "I heard some women have this special button to push when they are in pain and want more drug pumped in..." and he was like, "Yup! Here's your button!" I was so excited. I have never had a button. :)
Like, as I was laying there, watching TV and kind of dozing in and out of sleep while I could see the monitor was registering my huge, mountain sized contractions, I was thinking, "Pioneer women would hate me if they could see this labor. This is insane how calm and relazing this is." Gabe and Caleb's births were both sooo painful. Gabe's was the worst. Caleb's hurt but not as bad and for not as long. Avery's was like, 4 relaxing hours that ended with pushing a baby out in 2 pushes and no pain. So crazy. When Dr. Huggins broke my water at about 10:30, she checked me and said, "You're really close to being ready to push but lets give you some pitocin to just speed it up a little and get you there." So then I guess she had to go perform an emergency C-section on someone else nearby and I didn't really mind anyways because I wasn't in any pain. When she came back in the room it was exactly 11:55 pm and she asked, "Well, do you want to have this baby on the 18th or the 19th? Do you like evens or odds?" And I was like, "I just want this to be done so I can have something to eat!" (I hadn't eaten since lunch time! So my only pain was hunger pain!) So, we got into position (they had to lift my leg into the stirrups because they were so numb) and she told me when to start pushing during the first contraction. I did like, 3 big pushes. Then I waited about a minute for the next contraction and did about 2 or 3 more pushes and they told me she was out! I seriously would not have even know it unless they told me. Then they set her up on my belly while Josh cut the cord and nurses buzzed around getting things ready. She was covered in the white cheesy stuff and looked kind of gross but of course, I was still so excited to see her! She did cry a little bit but not a ton. I think they just needed to suction her out a little bit. They didn't seem concerned and then they took her over to the other side of the room and wiped her off and weighed her and everything. Dr. Huggins was pretty surprised at how big she was. I wasn't though. :) I grow'em big. Also, I was born at 38 weeks and weighed 8 lbs 3 oz. Josh weighed over 9. Caleb weighed 7 lbs 15 oz at 36 weeks. It was about what I expected.
Josh was sooo exhausted because he had been working night shift and then a few things during the day between court and K-9 training, so I think he was running on something like 8 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours. When the sweet little old lady nurse asked Josh if he would like to come help give her her first bath, I could see on his face he was thinking, "No... I want to sleep now..." but he lied and said, "Um... sure..." and went to help her. By the time she was all clean and things were all kind of wrapped up, it was about 2:00 am and they moved us into a different, smaller recovery room. I had fed her for the first time and she did pretty well. She nursed for about an hour but I think she was half asleep the whole time. The nurses asked me if I wanted her to stay in the room with us over the night or if they should take her to the nursery so we could get some sleep. Josh gave me "the look." I said, "I think it would be best if we got some sleep. Just bring her in to me when you need her to eat."
I will admit, I wanted some sleep too. And food. We had stopped at Subway at 6:00 on our way to the hospital so I was finally able to eat my sandwhich. So then we slept from about 2 to 5 am. When they brought her in again at 5:00, we had a little trouble getting her to eat because she just seemed so tired (like me!) But over the next couple of days, the lactation lady helped me a lot and I am hoping we continue to get the hang of it in the coming days.
We ended up coming home from the hospital on Friday at about 4:00. The hospital food was nasty and I was ready to get home so our kids wouldn't have to be babysat by Diane anymore. Josh had slept at the hospital with me that first night, but the second night I told him to stay at home with the boys and get some sleep. Funny enough, Caleb peed in the bed next to him and Gabe woke up with a bad bloody nose everywhere so I guess he still didn't get much sleep!
The first time the boys met Avery was on Thursday morning at about 11:00 and Diane brought them down. They thought she was "sooo cute!" and Caleb is prone to poking her and loving on her - but a little too much sometimes! Gabe is able to hold her with a pillow on his lap without giving me a heart attack. :) She really is a cute little girl. I was kind of worried in the ultrasound when the lady told me she had daddy's nose, but she looks very feminine and sweet. Even the nurses said, "We see a lot of babies... and she is really very cute!"
We are so happy to have her here now and I am so excited to be done with the pregnancy! I have had some soreness and some swelling, especially in my feet. My boobs have felt like rocks that past couple of days as my milk has come in and my belly is still looking about 3 months pregnant. I asked Josh, "How long do you think it will be once we get hime that one of the boys asks me why I am still fat?" Caleb asked me about an hour after we got home, "Is there another baby in your tummy?" Yup, about as long as I expected. But I know soon I will be back to normal! (I hope)
Here are some pictures of our sweet baby girl!
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Another week down.... hopefully only one week left to go!
I sort of feel like a ticking time bomb right now, so I am just trying to squeeze in as much fun stuff with the boys as possible lately and get done any last minute little projects that have been on my to-do list around the house. We also had lots of notable things happen this week! Here is the list:
1 - 4th of July fun
2 - New trampoline
3 - Caleb got his training wheels taken off
4 - Gabe started soccer
5 - Caleb is loving gymnastics
6 - Dad and boys went fishing down the river
7 - Mom had her last doctor's appointment before stitches come out
Josh had off on the 4th, except for he had to work the Rexburg parade from 8 am to 12:00. Which I don't really mind because he takes our lawn chairs and claims a good spot for us and we just have to show up at 9:55 and park our car right behind his police car and sit down in our good spots. :) No one gave me dirty looks either. Maybe the big pregnant belly scared them off. Then after the parade, we went up to Ashton and ate lunch at Ben and Heather's (Josh's sister). After that, we went over to Egin Lake and let the boys and Zoe cool off in the water a little. By about 5:30 we got home and relaxed for a bit, ate dinner, washed all the sand out of our clothes... Then that night we decided to just go up to the temple and watch all the fireworks we could see from the hill. It's a pretty casual, easy way to see some fireworks, without having to worry about getting in and out of a crowded location and getting home really late with cranky kids.
Hey everyone! I am still pregnant for those who were wondering! I am officially about.... 34 and a half weeks now. I count on Wednesdays we decided (going off a due date of August 8th) so that would make me 35 weeks next Wednesday (in 4 days).
This past week or so I have definitely been more mobile. After I wrote that last post about seeing the perinatologst, I sort of started jusrt trying to do a little bit each day. I slowly started doing things like loading and unloading the dishwasher, picking up the boys' little toys that were on the floor here and there, etc. The first few days of doing those things again after not doing ANYTHING for the past 6 weeks were pretty rough. I swear I got winded just unloaing and putting away the dishes. It was like I was so out of shape, AND then I also weighed an extra 20 more pounds than I did 6 weeks ago. Not a good combo.
Now it has been about another week and a half and I am doing more and more each day. Except now I am feeling sooooo huge and it has been soooo hot that I am just really tired and cranky all the time. Gabe even said to me after the end of this day, "You have been so mean since this baby was in you!" and I have to admit today I was pretty mean. It was like, 90 degrees and the boys and I were outside all day and I swear the second they would get out one thing, they would play for 3 minutes then leave the mess and run to a new station to make a new mess. I was constantly following them, waddling around, squating down, picking up chalk, spilled bubbles, sandbox toys, bikes, rollerskates, balls, setting up a sprinker, opening popsicles, etc. I would be exhausted after a day like today even if it was WASN'T super hot and I WASN'T the size of a whale! But those factors just made me all the crankier. Plus I swear all my neighbors are gone out of town doing fun things this weekend and Josh is just at work every single day AND I don't even fit into a swimsuit right now! I actually BROKE the straps off of my tankini today trying to squeeze into it. That is how fat I am. I have now passed by the 150 pound mark (yes, that puts me about 5 pounds over the recommended weight gain of 25 pounds during a whole preganancy...and I am only 34 weeks. (P.S. I love how most people blog and it is like, "Look how amazing and awesome life for me is right now!" and I am all grouchy and hormonal and....well...HONEST!. That's me! Just keepin' it real!)
So, the other big news I was going to write about is that at my last appointment (June 26th, this last Tuesday) we officially scheduled my stitches to be removed on July 12th. I will be exactly 36 weeks and 1 day. The doctor was going to set it up on July 11 and I told her that was my birthday so let's wait one more day. I would be okay if she was born on the 12th but the 11th is MY day. :) I was telling my friend about all the future joint birthday plans I have in my mind already and we were laughing about how this girl is going to be like, so annoyed with me and telling all her friends, "My mom is sooo living vicariously through me! She needs to get a life!!!" ahahaha... It will be great. I can't wait! I am going to smother her so bad! :)
Anyways, this is a long post. I will post some pics of the boys at Egin Lake. We went there the other day. It was our first time this Summer. Oh! And I also had a baby shower! I totally forgot to post about that! Thank you Kristy for the amazing shower! She made all these special decorations that even said "Avery" on them and got Cocoa Bean cupcakes (my fave) and it was great! I will post a picture of all my neighbors at the shower too. It was all the "Summerfield ladies."
Well, just a quick update. The visit with the perinatologist proved futile in my attempt to convince someone to remove my stitches. Everyone seems to be way more concerned with the baby's health than with mine. I guess there's officially a new princess in town...
The nice little Asian doctor lady told me that the stitches are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing and "to take them out now would be malpractice." I told her to give me some strong drugs then so I can't feel the pain of the baby's head pushing down on the stitches in my cha-cha all the time. She told me I would have to get Dr. Huggins to prescribe them for me. So then I tried to find Dr. Huggins but her office said she was in Labor and Delivery and when we walked over there we couldn't find her, so I have just been taking Tylenol for the past 24 hours, which the nurse lady told me was okay.
Oh. and I forgot to mention the highlight of the appointment. When I went into the bathroom to change into my robe for the ultrasound, there wasn't any counter to set down my pants or underwear while I changed. So I thought, "I will just set them in the sink for a second while I put this robe on..." but ooops.... it was an automatic sensor sink and the water instantly came on and soaked my pants and underwear. Awesome. Me and the ultrasound tech had a good laugh about it. After the appointment was all over she's like, "Well, I'll step out so you can change back into your soaked pants and underwear now!" Then when I waddled over to Labor and Delivery to look for Dr. Huggins with my big belly and my soaked pants I am sure the nurses were looking at me instantly thinking, "We've got one in labor here! Her water's broke!"
Nope... just the old pants in the sink mishap.
So, it looks like I have at least another few weeks before these stitches are coming out! Then at 36 weeks they will take them out and I think they are just assuming she will practucally fall right out at that point because she is so low and her head is like, on top of my stitches. My cervix is even opening on both ends but it is just staying closed where those stitches are... hence the pain and pressure I assume. This is such a pleasant and TMI post! :) I hope the next 3 weeks goes fast!
Happy Belated Father's Day! I feel kind of bad because I didn't really do anything for Josh this year. I told him I was sorry about that but I think he was secretly happy because he's so cheap he gets mad even when I spend money on gifts for him. He said he just wanted to buy himself a fishing license and that was it. So that's his big present! I also told him I am growing him a present in my belly right now and that is the best Father's Day present of all. :)
But here's the little update. Basically... I think she wants to be born. She is trying to kick her way out of my body every day. Today is Tuesday and starting on probably last Friday I was getting this pain in my lower abdomin. Sometimes it was worse than others and I wondered if it was just normal "practice" contractions or if it was just muscle pain because it wasn't on a regular pattern or anything, but with every day I think it got worse. So I kind of just stuck it out over the weekend and decided to call my doctor's office first thing Monday morning.
They got me in at 10:45 for an ultrasound and I found out that my cervix had thinned from 2 cm down to 7 mm. There was also some major "funneling" again (gotta love that word by now!) So that was not good, but yet I was not surprised given the pain I had been in all weekend. I also had her check the baby's weight: 5 lbs 4 oz! Not bad! That would mean if she would continue to gain at the normal rate of 1/2 pound per week she would be about 9 pounds on my due date. Ouch.
Then I went in to see the nurse practitioner. Unfortunately, my doctor was in a different office that day so I couldn't talk to her. I spent about 20 minutes arguing with this lady about why I think the stitches in my cervixe need to come out because I think that is what's causing the pain while my cervix is still thinning and trying to pull against it. Also, in my opinion, taking the stitches out does not necessarily even mean I would go into labor. With Caleb I was dialated to 3 cm (right now I am not dialated at all, just thinned to 7 mm) but I still waited 2 more weeks to go into labor. She told me that chances are, it would start labor, and that a 33 week baby would probably still need to spend 7 weeks in the NICU and basically made me feel bad for thinking of putting my own pain above the needs of my baby. Josh said later that he thought he was going to have to come between us at one point so we didn't hurt eachother. But ULTIMATELY (Stacey has met this lady and calls her the ULTIMATELY lady because she starts every sentence that way...) she told me that they weren't going to take the stitches out of my cervix until at least 36 weeks no matter what.
I resisted the urge to not call her the B- word as we left the building... which was lucky because she was outside making a phone call as we passed her on the way to our car.
Like, on the one hand, I can understand her opinion. Yes, it is important to get your baby as far as possible in utero. But at the same time, 33 weeks and over 5 pounds is not a tragically scary preemie. Gabe was 29 weeks and weighed 3 and a half pounds and spent 6 weeks in the NICU. That is why I kind of rolled my eyes when she said that whole 7 weeks thing to me. Then she was like, "I worked in labor and delivery for 10 years I know what I'm talking about." I was like, "Wow, good for you lady." I know it is possible, but I also know it is not likely. They also gave me these magic steroid shots at 27 weeks that were supposed to rapidly develop the babay's lungs in case of an early delivery.
So anyways.... ULTIMATELY I ended up calling my doctor on her cell phone later that day (which the nurse lady told me I could do, "But she's not going to tell you anything different..." thanks!) and Dr. Huggins said she wanted to schedule me to see a perinatologist today and get a second opinion on everything. I take this as a positive step because a perinatologist is more specialized in high-risk pregnancies and early babies and I am hoping maybe he/she will agree to take my stitches out soon.
It's not that I want a baby born at 33 weeks. No one does. But I feel like I am laying here in bed, in pain when I just roll over from one side to the other, in even MORE pain when I have to stand up or go to the bathroom, and something is just not right with these stitches inside of me. There are times when she just kicks like a normal baby does and I feel like I have to grab the bed and tense up in pain because it sends such an instant sharp shooting pain through my down-there area that I feel like I need to scream! That is not normal baby kick feelings. I'm worried the pain is only going to get worse if the stitches don't come out because my body still seems to want to contract and dialate regardless of what it has to pull on or tear out in the process. I am pretty much wishing I wouldn't have gotten these stitches in the first place. They didn't keep me from bedrest, they are causing me pain, and now I feel like I am going to have to take a knitting needle and get them out myself because no one else will due to the possible risk to the baby!
So, does that make me a selfish mom? I hope not. But we'll see what the perinatoligist says. If they don't take them out soon they better give me some dang good drugs that are waaaay better than Tylenol extra strength. Otherwise I may die.
I also had to do another post because Gabe hit a milestone this week. He lost his first tooth! I should look in his baby book because it may have also been the first tooth he got! It is one of the bottom middle ones. He had started mentioning that his tooth hurt early last week, then he said it was feeling loose. For a couple days it just kind of looked normal but then by about Friday, I felt it and it was hanging by a thread. I asked him if he wanted me to pull it out (of course he said no!) and so I told him it would probably fall out on it's own in the next few days. Then on Saturday, June 9th, when he was with his grandma Rhodes in Ashton running around at the school gym, he said he felt a hole in his mouth and it was gone! He found it on the floor and picked it up and grandma sent him home with it in a plastic baggie. It was nice that Josh got home that night so he could be a part of the first tooth fairy visit in our house! :) He got a dollar from the tooth fairy under his pillow the next morning. Is that pretty standard these days? I don't know. I think I got that when I was a kid, but you know, with the economy being what it is, they say there's not much inflation over the past few years, so I figured it was still about the same. :) Here is toothless Gabe!
Caleb's birthday was actually one week ago today, but we finally had his little kid birthday party that he was so excited about. I did not want to even attempt to have a party while Josh was gone, but we did have some of the relatives over for just cake and ice cream on Caleb's actual birthday, so that was good. He had picked out the cake at Broulim's when my mom was here visiting and I had Josh's mom pick it up on June 6th right before they came over. It had motorcycles on it, which I think Caleb just wanted the toy motorcycles.
This past week and a half a lot (that is two words for Stacey, not to be confused with alot) has happened. My mom came and stayed for a week. She left in the wee morning hours of last Saturday. Then my two friends, Stacey and Kamrie, came to stay here. I met Stacey when I managed at Northgate and I met Kamrie through Stacey shortly after. They are definitely younger and cooler than me and it makes me feel old when we talk about things with reference to past pop culture (for example: N*Sync..... I was in eighth grade.... they were seven years old. Sad.) But other than that we get along pretty well. :) They go to their classes during the day and my neighbor or Diane usually take turns watching the boys, but then they stay here overnight just in case I need a ride to the hospital! It may also be because they are avoiding their room mate's out of town visitors for this week and a cramped apartment, but I like to think it's cause they love me. :)
So today I had another ultrasound and appointment. I never wrote about the one I had last Tuesday when my mom was here. Basically, last week I didn't have an ultrasound. Instead I got to take the dreaded glucose test. You would think there would be a better way to test for gestational diabetes by this day in age but no, they are still making pregnant women down a big glass of sugary, non-carbonated elixir in less than five minutes, then sit for an hour and prick their figure to test their blood sugar levels. Then if you are really lucky and "fail" the first one by a few points (like I did) you get to come back AGAIN a couple days later, this time fasting for 12 hours prior so your stomach is already so hungry you want to eat your own arm off, and drink the stuff AGAIN, then sit for 2 HOURS so they can just double-check. So that's what I got to do on Tuesday and then again on Thursday of last week. I have never had a problem with gestational diabetes before, my blood pressure has been fine the whole time, I am not overweight, and I am supposed to be on "strict bedrest", yet I guess they thought it was important to screen me twice. I was a little pissed about it as you can still tell.
But now that I have passed and am officially diabetes free.... I will eat whatever I freaking want! Which.... I always have done anyways so.... no big news here. But at least I don't have to feel guilty about it.
Then today I went to my appointment with Stacey and Kamrie and had an ultrasound. The baby officially weighs 4 pounds 2 ounces and everything is looking good. Well - good would be if my cervix miraculously grew back to the normal size of 4 cm, but I think it was about 2 today and she said she didn't see the "funneling" anymore so that is still really surprising and good. The only thing that I have changed in the past two weeks is that the doctor prescribed me those Niphedipine pills or whatever they are that are supposed to stop any contractions. But if that is working, I will keep on taking them! I still had to get another butt shot of progesterone today. And I think all the cervix talk made my two single friends decide not to have kids for at least 5 years. But they liked watching the ultrasound! :) My ultrasound lady said, "She's going to have hair! I can already see it!" and I jokingly asked, "What color is it?!" which made everyone laugh and she answered, "Um... from what I can tell... grey." But everything else looked good with her. Next week they scheduled me for my 3D ultrasound which is really cool because you can kind of even see facial features. I am really hoping she looks more like me. :) Everyone says the boys look just like Josh, which is fine cause they're boys, but this time it should be MY turn to have a mini-me.
I also talked for the hundredth time about my fear of the stitches tearing out my cervix, but still my doctor seems totally unfazed by that thought. She says she's had to taken a lot of cerclages out during labor and delivery and there haven't been any horror stories of them ripping a cervix. Let's hope I'm not the first!
Well, I better get to bed. It is officially June 6th now - Caleb's 4th birthday! Four years ago today I was pushing a baby out. Now here I am again getting closer! I was hoping this pregnancy would finally be the perfect, normal, boring pregnancy that most women have, but since it has still caused so much stress and I am finally having a girl, I take relief on the fact that this will very likely be my last time pushing a baby out.
Now THAT is cause for celebration!
More about Caleb's birthday later!
