Doctor's Appointment - 39Wks 4Days

Another day another doctor's appointment.

My dad took me to this one!  Which was great of him to offer.  Especially since we had to leave at 7:45am to get to my 8:45am appointment.

After having to be monitored at an appointment for the baby's heartbeat being a little high a few weeks back, and going to that appointment alone, no one wants me to go by myself anymore.  So everyone has been taking turns, lol!  My mom, Aunt Linda, dad, and Steve.  Steve get's the next appointment IF I need it.

Update from the Doctor:

I'm now 3-4 cm (doctor said she could stretch me to a 4)

Cervix is very thin and head is very low (like they've been saying)

They said my bag of water is right there too and could break anytime (but it didn't with Alyssa, so I doubt it will on it's own)

Belly is measuring at 35cm (4 weeks behind...)

And I am still at 137lbs. (17 lb weight gain)

Baby's heart rate was in the 140's and he's doing great!

They say anytime, which they have also been saying.  Contractions are still hanging around, but I'm not in active labor as of yet.  They did say to head to the hospital pretty quickly when active labor does start though, because I could "go" very fast.  And if I want an epidural, WHICH I DO, that the sooner I get to the hospital the better (which is about an hour away).

So I have ONE MORE appointment scheduled for next Tuesday 4/16/13, and at that point I will be OVERDUE...  I hope I don't need it!  Baby Carter - TIME TO COME OUT NOW!

39 Weeks

Here I am - in all my pregnancy glory.

You don't get much more preggo then this.

1 Week till my due date!

2 Weeks or less till we get to meet our Baby Carter

Baby:

At this point, he's as big as a watermelon.  He's fully "cooked" and ready to meet the world... or not, well not today anyway.

If I had to guess, based on my last ultrasound - when he is born I bet he weighs 8 lbs 3 oz. and is 21.5" long

Guess we will find out soon enough :)

False Alarm

I don't know what to blame this one on.

Dehydration, my body hating me, psychologically everyone telling me this week was the week...

But here's what happened:

Wednesday night contractions started at 9:30pm.  I fell asleep at 10:30pm, but woke up at 2:00am still with the contractions.  I laid in bed till 4:15am and moved to the couch.  I fell back to sleep at 5am and woke up at 7am to get Alyssa off to school.  Still having contractions the whole time.

Steve was going to go in to work when I started having very low pains and was swaying from my contractions.  I thought it best that he NOT go in at that point.

He took Alyssa to school, came home, and started getting the car packed with our hospital bags, car seat, diaper bag, and boppy pillow.  We grabbed all those last minute items (chargers, hair brush, glasses, etc.).

Contractions were still coming and I decided to start bouncing on the yoga ball in hopes that it would help them pick up.  They were about 5 min. apart.  They weren't super painful, so I thought, let's go for a walk.  We were out for about an hour walking.  I figured the beautiful weather and walking outside was better then walking the halls of a hospital.

When we got home it was lunch time and we were ready to eat.  So we left the house, hospital bound, but stopped to get food on the way.  We got to the hospital about 12:30pm.

Once I was hooked up for awhile the nurse said contractions were about 6-8 min. apart.  The doctor came in to check me and said I was 3 cm and 80% effaced.  Because my contractions weren't consistent enough and they weren't progressing me, they sent me home by 2pm.

All the while I was still having painful contractions.  They said, drink a bunch of water and rest... ok yeah right.

On the plus side, after we left the hospital Steve and I did a little bit of errands together and enjoyed some time alone.  Which was nice.

We came home, BBQed, did Alyssa's homework outside on the deck, and my parents came over to join us.  After dinner a friend and I took an hour long walk around town.  It was nice to be outside, exercise, and have the girl time.  When I got back home Alyssa and Steve were outside - Alyssa was learning how to ride her bike without training wheels.  I got there just in time to see her do it all by herself with NO training wheels for the first time ever.  I was SO PROUD!

We got her off to bed and Steve and I watched the hockey game (GO BLUES FOR BEATING THE BLACK HAWKS!) before we passed out from sheer exhaustion.

So a I disappointed I am not holding my baby in my arms today?  Yes, very actually.  However, I am thankful for how my day ended yesterday.  If I were in the hospital having Carter I would have been missing out on some pretty important things.

As for today, contractions are just about non-existent.  I've kept up on drinking lots of water and trying to take it easy.  And now at this point, I am in NO HURRY to have this baby.  I know I only have 2 weeks AT THE MOST left and that is something I can easily deal with.

Cheers to being 39 weeks today

Date Night

Will we get ONE LAST DATE NIGHT before Baby Carter arrives?

Friday nights have always been "Gramma Nights."  In other words, Alyssa has spent the night at Grandma and Papa's house, most Friday nights since she was probably 2 years old (she's almost 7!).

That gives me and Steve a date night, nearly once a week.  If we don't do a date night, it's more like a BREAK night.  It is something that I really think has kept our marriage strong.  We have always had a great understanding of each other, but every marriage needs time to be focused on outside of the everyday family focus.

We are nearing the end of that segment of our lives :(

I know with this baby things are going to be WAY different.  Our "alone" time will turn to Mommy, Daddy, Carter time while Alyssa still gets her Gramma nights.  Going out alone, well that probably won't happen often if ever.  And our marriage will end up taking a backseat for awhile.

So will we get this one last Friday Night date night?

(It's Wednesday night now, just a week and 1 day away from my due date)

Maybe we will get 2 more date nights?  (If I don't go on or before my due date)

I'd really like to have ONE LAST DATE NIGHT so lets hope he can hold off just a little bit longer :)

Then after Friday, I'm so ready to see, meet, and hold my baby boy!!!!!!!!

Back to School and Work

After a week off school for Spring Break and a strep throat - Alyssa headed back to school today.

With the majority of my TO DO list finished - I was all for a quiet lazy day at home alone.

Instead - I went back to work (in my home studio).  It's just too easy to work when it's in your house.  On the plus side, I was able to make some extra money, and that's always welcome.

Unfortunately - the "labor" I was wishing I was doing today didn't take place.  My contractions were actually very very spaced out.  Everyone is calling and texting, checking in on me every chance they get.  It's nice, but I have to remind them that I will call them if I think anything is going on.

As far as bloody show - it is very light now.  Just tinged and streaked mucus now, instead of globby.  Sorry for the TMI...  I thought maybe having that yesterday meant something, but I guess not.  Nothing means a whole lot till labor starts up.

Many people are hoping for this weekend - we shall see!

Doctor's Appointment Update

I had my 38 Week appointment yesterday.  My Aunt Linda tagged along.  After last week's appointment (baby's unexpected high heart beat), I thought having the moral support in case something else unexpected popped up was good to have.

Luckily it was a pretty easy appointment.  Doctor did an exam to see where I was at.  I had been having very mild contractions that morning.

She said I was 2-3 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and baby's head was at 0 station.

She also said I had a "favorable cervix."  I need to good that!  She seems to think I may not make it to my next appointment and that I could go at any time.  However, that was the thought with Alyssa too and she was 6 days late.

After the appointment I took my aunt to lunch and we stopped by a couple of places for errands.

Alyssa was sick with strep throat at my dad's so I picked her up after getting back to town.

When I got home I went to the bathroom to find bloody show.  I figured it was probably from the exam, but I hadn't had that last week after my exam - so it was a little bit of a shock.

Today already I've had some of the same, but not as much as yesterday.  But it's still a surprise to see red blood a day later.  So we shall see what happens today!  I've had a few contractions today already, maybe they will pick up?

Interesting Easter Sunday

We did the normal Easter celebrating yesterday

Church

2 Egg Hunts

Easter Lunch with family

The Easter Bunny was good to her!

Alyssa and Daddy at the Church Egg Hunt

Fun at the church egg hunt

Sunday School

Goofy Easter Family Photo

Family Photo at my parent's house

Me and my big belly taking pictures of Alyssa hunting eggs, my dad recording her

All the while, I'm having contractions...

Even at the dinner table eating lunch.  That's about the time I said something (4 hours into it)

My mom and dad decided to ride their motorcycle, it was a beautiful day!  So we went home, changed, and went for a LONG walk.

We stopped and talked with Steve's aunt, his grandparent's, and my aunt, around town before going back to my parents house (we live in a very small community with lots of family).  All in all, we were gone 2.5 hours, walking in between each stop.  Contractions really started picking up and becoming painful.

When we got to my parents house, we ate some left overs for dinner, and I started timing the contractions.  It was 6:15pm by this time.

Here's the history snap shot from my iPhone app:

So I'm not the best at using this app - but they averaged out to be 2:45 seconds apart and lasting about 40 seconds long.

I stopped timing them after an hour - went and laid down for another hour, and was able to cat nap.

We went home, I took a shower, and jumped on the yoga ball about a half an hour before calling it a night.  I took some cold medicine so I could rest and luckily I slept pretty good the first half of the night.  Once the cold medicine wore off, it was a different story - but only because of my cold, not so much my contractions.

So today I had high hopes of laying low and keeping this baby in for another day at least (It's April 1st - April Fools Day).  I was already sick of seeing all the nonsense and lies on Facebook.  I honestly couldn't handle having a baby today.  The poor guy wouldn't get a normal birthday for the rest of his life.

But change of plans.  Alyssa is sick and i'm trying to get her into the doctor's office.  But I hope to get her better before her brother comes.  Last thing we need is a sick newborn.

I have another Doctor's appointment for me tomorrow at 10:15am.

Will I make it?  I kind of hope so at this point.