Midwife update (week 38 appt)

Ok, I wrote this once and my computer erased it because I was disconnected from the net...GRRR! So, here we go again...

Last night I went to bed with some sharp pains in my sides of my belly. My midwife attributed them to ligament pain. But all night last night, I had a lower back ache and crampiness. Not fun! Talk about making it hard to sleep! So, I got up this morning and the pain was still pretty constant that I really couldn't do much of anything. So, Superhubby told me to go take a shower and he'd make breakfast. So, I drank about a glass of water and got in the shower and relaxed for a while. The shower helped quite a bit and when I got out, Superhubby had made omelets! Yummy! Breakfast felt good on the starving belly! I managed to accomplish a few things before going to my midwife appointment this afternoon.
I had her check me for dilation, just to ease my curiosity. She usually doesn't check until week 40. She said that I'm 1-2 cm dilated, 50% effaced and the baby's at -1 station (which means it's pretty low!) I've felt like I was going to go about a week early for most of my pregnancy, but now I wonder if it'll be earlier...especially after what's been happening with the baby dropping 2 weeks ago and all the discomfort and pain lately. I told Superhubby that I hope I can at least make it until after my shower, but only God knows. Wouldn't that really spoil plans? I'm really looking forward to the shower on Saturday! It seems like everything is going to be so nice!

Well, talk to you later peeps!

Update, update....

Ok, ok! So I'm getting super bad at this blogging thing. Last week on Monday, I had my midwife appointment (weekly now) and took the test to see if I have what they call "Group B Strep". It's something that 1 in 4 women have, but it doesn't affect them and it can come and go. So they test every pregnancy for it because one can have it one pregnancy and not the next. The reason for testing is that it can be passed to the baby through birth and can cause all kinds of problems from blindness to retardation to death if not cared for. So, the way they care for it is just this: during labor and delivery, they give you an IV of antibiotics for 15 minutes every 4 (I believe) hours to "block the strep" from getting to the baby. Supposedly, this protects baby from having any problems at all. Well, this last Monday, I got the big news...I'm Group B Strep positive. :-( Man was I bummed! So, I really was wanting to avoid having any kind of IV during labor and delivery, but looks like I'm forced into it this time.
Last week on Thursday and Friday (and partly on Saturday even though Saturday turned out to be a lazy day at the Potter house) I caught the nesting bug. I'm still caught up on laundry and dishes!!! I'm so proud of myself! Superhubby and I have tried to work on the house: moving furniture...(even though he won't let ME move ANY of it...) and basically, well...nesting in the evenings when we don't have anything else going on this week. Mom is coming over on Saturday to help me work on the nursery because of my lack of motivation in previous months. And things are starting to shape up. Part of why things haven't gotten done as far as the nursery is concerned is because I need help moving said furniture OUT of the nursery to turn it from my wreck room into a nursery. So, both Superhubby and I have needed a slight kick in the rump from Mr. Motivation. I think with me being 37 weeks and 1 day along, motivation has finally kicked in.
One night this last weekend (don't remember which) at 2am, I think I had my first contraction. It was so weird! But not as bad as I had thought it would be. I know....they get worse...but I'm just praying that my labor will go smoothly. I think my biggest fear is the fear of the unknown, and labor is a BIG FAT unknown!
Mom and company is going to throw a shower on the 23rd (Jan) at the church annex. If you don't go to the church and haven't received an invite by mid-next week, let us know and we'll get you the info. She's actually doing a collection to see if we can get some cloth diapers that we really want to use. I think the plan is to get the money collected at the shower, then make an order (you can only get them online) and have the package sent to my house after the shower. That will be such a wonderful blessing! We want to use cloth diapers, but there's no way we can afford this kind right now.
Well, I think I'll end this book for the time being and see ya on the flip side.

Ok, get this thing outta me!

Yesterday, late afternoon, we had our "long appointment" for the 36 week appt. We were able to ask questions about labor & delivery, etc and she talked to us about all different kinds of things. I'm now insured! Yay! So, the hospital bill won't be NEAR as bad as before insurance. So, last night was the worst night for sleeping for me. It's been getting bad, but I'm pretty sure that the baby has dropped at least part ways and I'm miserable! My hips, pelvis & thighs have pretty much begun their "loosening" in preparation for labor and now, rolling over in bed or any kind of movement at all is horrible! I'm definitely waddling now! This really stinks because I still have so much to get done and the nesting instinct has NOT kicked in at all...FAIL! Just that good ole' fatigue, no energy here... :-( That and the freezing cold is not helping matters much! Trying to keep this house warm is like pulling teeth sometimes. As I type, I know the next thing I must do when I'm done is re-stoke the fire in the wood stove...again. Well, I guess this will be it for now...way too many things to make myself get done today. Later peeps!

It's getting so close!!!!!!!!!

So, Monday I went to my midwife appt again. Turns out...baby's heads-down! I couldn't believe it! It's kinda facing sideways right now. Its back is on the right side, so the pressure I've been feeling to the right of my belly button has been either its shoulder or elbow.

Saturday we took our child birthing class from 8am-4pm at the hospital here close by. What a gruelling day! When it came to the part about all the pain killers and stuff, I started feeling sick...then light headed and got the cold sweats! I almost passed out! I guess my mind and body have been focusing so much on the natural birth experience that it couldn't take in all the mind-boggling stats. At the end of that section as the Q&A was winding down I started feeling better, then she started in on the C-section portion of the class and I felt it creeping back up, so I told Superhubby that I'd be in the hall until she was done with that part. I couldn't believe it! I know that I don't have a high pain threshold, but I think needles and junk like that makes it worse...I'm preparing myself for the natural pain, not something brought on by others.

Last night at church, I was sitting beside someone and I took a deep breath and exhaled, she looked at me and I said "Look at this!" and she watched my belly move like crazy! I can't believe how much it's pushing on my right hip bone now! Because of all the movement last night, I had a crazy dream! The baby was moving so very much that I started to actually see appendages go across my belly. I saw a hand an arm, so I reached down to grab it and my skin just got really thin and I pulled the baby right out! It was a long, skinny baby and I looked at it and said "It's not ready yet" and just slid it right back in! Talk about BAZAAR!

On Monday evening we are going to the hospital to take a tour of the birthing and maternity facilities. I'm looking forward to knowing what to expect when we get there.

Can you believe Christmas is so close!?!?! We've basically got 15 days left! I spent a lot of time online today shopping because I had only bought one present...now, I'm up to 4! It really crept up on me this year! How 'bout you? You ready yet?

Appointment update

Ok, so Monday afternoon I had my midwife appt and it went well. The gestational diabetes and hemoglobin tests came back perfectly normal. Yay! She said next time (in 2 weeks, well, week and a half now) she's going to check to see if baby is heads down. Wow! I can't believe how quickly this is going by! She also said that at week 36 we'll have a longer appt to meet and talk about my wants and desires as far as birthing goes, basically, we'll talk about my birth plan. The heartrate of the lil' one was 120's-140's this time. Dunno, maybe a boy? Perhaps. :-)

As far as the baby moving is concerned...WOW! IS HE/SHE MOVING?!?!?! I can just sit back and watch my belly roll and jump and jive with every movement...so crazy! I can't believe how big my belly's getting! I'm really lookin' preggo now! Here I go again...using exclamation points all over the place!

Anyway...we're supposed to be getting together with my family tonight for Thanksgiving. I got my work schedule on Monday and she has me working tonight, so we're going after I get off work at 8pm! That's ok though, because mom-in-law is doing the soup kitchen meal tonight from 5:30-6:30 and Superhubby is helping her after he gets off an hour early (I'm helping until I have to go to work.) and then he's going to help with clean-up and then come get me from work and then we'll go see the fam. They'll have already eaten, but that's the only way we could work it out this year. Between crazy work schedules and everything else, there was nothing else to do. Lil' sis is in the hospital with an absess and a really bad infection that they are afraid might be MERSA. They've been cleaning it out and giving her antibiotics through the IV. I feel awful for her! I wanted her to get out of work tonight, but not like this. Please pray for her? The cultures for the infection won't be back until today or tomorrow. She's going to be in the hospital for at least 2 days, they said. She needs your prayers.

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving day, we're going to the in-laws and my parents are coming as far as I know. Then, Black Friday...get up at probably 3:45am, get everything together, go to Staples and set up shop to pass out coffee, hot chocolate, doughnuts and snacks to those standing in line. No shopping for us this Black Friday, just enjoying the spirit of giving. Then I'm headed back home at 6am to hit the sack! I won't be able to function if I don't!

Well, gotta get ready to head out and help mom-in-law with the hot meals for the soup kitchen this afternoon. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Needles & Saws

Ok, so an update from my last midwife appt a week ago:
On my way to the Dr. office, I drank a nasty sweet drink and then when I got there, they were behind on everything because the main Dr. in the office was away at a delivery. Thankfully, not only my midwife Becky, but the used to be intern, now turned certified nurse-midwife, Emily was also there taking care of anyone who didn't want to reschedule. So, Becky didn't have the bulk of the load. My appt was with Emily this time and she was very nice. You all know my hatred of needles, well...this appt didn't help matters much. When they went to take my blood for the Gestational Diabetes and Hemoglobin tests, they had to poke me three times! She first poked me on the left arm at the elbow bend, then the right arm at the wrist, then finally got blood from my left hand. I've only gained 6 lbs during my pregnancy, so I don't know what the prob was...it's not like I ballooned up like the Hindenburg or anything! So, anyway, they took the blood with me laying down this time because of what happened last time and once she finally was able to get blood, it was over in no time flat! She only took 2 vials instead of the 4 that was needed last time, so I was good to go! Baby's heartbeat was 130's-140's...it's what it has been the entire time. I'm really starting to show now, belly's gettin' bigger by the day I think. ;-)

A week ago, my dad gave Superhubby his old chainsaw and bought himself a new one. Superhubby is so happy to have another chainsaw and he calls it his "monster". It's a lot more powerful than the one he had and he's very pleased. So, now we're on our way to replacing all the stuff that was stolen, but it'll take a while.

Well, I have another midwife appointment in a week...we're down to every other week now. It's gone by so quickly! I really need to get the motivation to work on that nursery! Organization is not my forte...unfortunately. Later y'all!

We need an update, huh?

Ok, so I have yet another (now we're at every 3 weeks) midwife appointment on Monday. Not looking forward to getting my blood drawn one little bit!

I think the baby has been having very short spurts of hiccups, like 4-5 hiccups then it's done. I just thought that they were rhythmic kicks, my baby's got rhythm! But I guess it's possible that they're hiccups, who knows!

I had a terrible headache invade my body on Tuesday overnight into Wednesday. I eeeked (sorry Superhubby, it's a word to me!) through the day on Wednesday while going to work and to the previously mentioned non-profit organization that helps with pregnancies before going home and practically crashing for the rest of the night. I hate skipping church services, but I would have been worthless and gotten nothing out of the service whatsoever! It was such a sickening headache that I didn't even eat supper! That's bad for me...now that I'm prego, I can't seem to skip a meal at all. But it's all over now, thank you Jesus!

I can't believe I'm already into my third trimester! Time has just flown by! I'm hoping that over the next few wintry months, I'll have time to get the nursery in order. I've not really worked much on it so far, been trying to keep up with everything else.

Well, I think I'm going to try to make some banana nut muffins for my Grandpa that I'll probably see tomorrow and then gotta get back to the laundry and dishes. Later all!

PS, thanks for all the wonderful comments! Love ya!

New baby stuff!

Ok, so a lot has happened in the last week-ish. Last weekend, Superhubby's cousin who has sworn she is done with bearing children gave us a bunch of her baby stuff. She gave us: a Pack'nPlay, high chair, swing, jumper thing that hangs from the doorway, exersaucer, boppy pillow and a few other small tid bits. I was blown away by her generosity. Thanks cuz! So, now on top of that, we have our crib & mattress and dresser too. We have been promised a slightly used bassinet also. I'm so excited! Now I just have to get the time and energy to really start working on the nursery! Mom-in-law has said that sometime she will come over (I need to get the paint first) and paint a mural of a jungle or something to that effect on one of the nursery walls. I'm pumped about that too! Yesterday I went to a local non-profit organization that helps with pregnancies and preparing for the coming of baby and signed up for their Baby Bucks program. Said program allows you to go once a week and take a lesson about childbirth or raising a baby, etc and you earn "baby bucks" for each lesson and if there is a homework assignment that is completed. There are other things you can earn the bucks for too, ie: OB appointments (midwife in my case), signing up for WIC and others. Once I earn 5-6 baby bucks, I'm going to get a new infant car seat! I'm so excited! I also went home yesterday with some very nice, very desperately needed maternity clothes: 3 skirts & 4 shirts. Most of which came from Motherhood! I'm so excited!

Ok, nuf about the stuff, now about the kid...Early this week I was laying on the bed and the baby really started to kick hard on the front of my belly. So, I laid there watching my belly jump and jive with every kick. It was the craziest thing! I also had my midwife appointment on Monday and all is well. I didn't realize how high up my uterus is already! It's about an inch and a half above the belly button! No wonder I was feeling some high kicks the other day! At my next appointment I have to take the standard Gestational Diabetes and Hemoglobin tests. Yippee...*Sarcasm!* To complete these tests, they must take 2 vials of my greatly needed blood. If you weren't here for the previous blood draw, just look back a few months...I almost passed out (although, in my defense, they did take 4 VIALS!!!). I had never, that I remember, had blood taken before and I DON'T.LIKE.NEEDLES!

Last weekend I also got to go see my lil' sis! Her birthday is this weekend, but she was home last weekend, so we had her party then. It was good to see her. I feel like I never get to see her anymore. Love ya sis! And happy early birthday, since I probably won't blog before end-ish of next week.

Well, I think I'll end this book now. And just out of curiosity, I don't really know how many people read this bloggy thing, so...to satisfy a pregnant woman...leave me a comment. Even if you have to leave it as "Anon" and sign your name to it. I'm just overwhelmed with curiosity.

:-) Thanks! Hasta Luego!

The good, the bad & the scary!

Ok, without going into details...
Friday night into Saturday morning, I was afraid that I was miscarrying the baby. No severe symptoms, just enough to scare the snot out of you, y'know? So, anyway...I've taken it easy since and by Saturday afternoon all the symptoms had pretty much all gone away. I knew I had my OB appointment with my midwife on Monday (yesterday) so I called her Saturday morning to give her a heads up. She basically told me to watch it and take it easy and if anything worsens to call her or go to the ER. This all came after talking to Jana on Friday afternoon and saying that God had given me such a peace over the last 4-5 weeks that I wasn't going to miscarry and that things were going to be just fine. Because early on I really had a lot of fears and misgivings about the whole thing. Then this all happened Friday night. At 2am, I cried my eyes out and Superhubby prayed with me to calm down and for everything to be okay. It calmed me enough to stop crying, but I didn't get hardly any sleep that night.
So.....yesterday I had my midwife appointment at 1:15. Superhubby went along because we dropped our insurance and we had to set up a payment plan with the Dr. office. My midwife decided that after all the craziness of the weekend, we probably had better use the Doppler to hear the heartbeat just to make sure all was going okay. I agreed to it, even though I really didn't want to use the Doppler, because I wanted to make sure that the baby was alive and well. She asked me if I wanted to do an ultrasound, but I declined because hearing the heartbeat was enough to convince me. I do have to say though, that it was the neatest thing! When she found the baby and was pushing on my belly where he/she was, I could feel the "knot" that was the baby in my belly! It felt like it was about the size of an apricot or a plum. We heard my heartbeat right away, but then when she found the baby, you could hear the baby's heartbeat behind mine. Mine was much slower, then you could hear a faster little baby heartbeat in the background, she said about 150 beats per minute. It made us smile! THERE REALLY IS A BABY IN THERE!!! I can't wait until I can feel it moving around! I've fallen in love with a little baby inside me, what a different kind of love...what a new feeling altogether! So...SO...Amazing!

Midwife appointment

I arrived safely at the doctor's office where my midwife works, so no problems on the road. Found it perfectly! (Thanks for the good directions Superhubby!) After doing the preliminaries in paperwork and filling out my family medical history, they took me in and weighed me. I always hate that part, why can't they take your word for it? I weighed myself yesterday morning and of course in the middle of the day and dressed I'm going to weigh five pounds more!!! Yuck! I still say I haven't gained a bit since I got prego...yet. Then, they made me pee in a cup. POSITIVE RESULTS!!!! Guess what everybody? I'm pregnant!!! As if we didn't know before. Then they took me into a room with a table and three chairs, took my blood pressure and then the midwife came in with the student midwife that they're hoping to sign on by the time my baby is born. Both were very nice! They let me ask any questions that I had after she told me about her and the practice. They also said that my self-calculated due date was right. February 2, 2010. She said as of yesterday I was 8 wks 6 days. That makes me 9 weeks today! Then she left me with the student nurse-midwife for some "education". She went through the usual dos and don'ts of pregnancy and how to get a hold of them if it's not within regular business hours. Oh! Remember all the shenanigans that I went through to get a simple question answered at Mr. OB/GYN's office? Yeah, Mrs. Midwife said that if I call and don't get a call back within 10----TEN MINUTES!!!!!------to call back because there was a miscommunication somewhere! That is AMAZING! Soooo cooool! After the "education session" the fun began. They took my blood. I've never had blood taken before. I hate needles (I think I've mentioned that before). So, I didn't look at the nurse at all once I sat down. Thought it would be easier that way. Sure, we talked, but I never looked the way of the needle. It went in painlessly and when I realized she was taking blood, I told her thank you for being a good aim. :-) She said around about the third vial is when I said "I'm feeling kinda weird." (She only took four....THAT'S A LOT OF BLOOD!!!) So, knowing me (Mom) I almost passed out. I probably would have if the other nurse hadn't come in and put smelling salts under my nose. I also gagged a few times, and when I came out of it all I was sweating like crazy! She told me that it was the coolest room in the place and to me it felt like 100 degrees! Once I cooled down and wiped the sweat from my brow, face, neck and arms :-) I left. (Mrs. Midwife said that the next appointment will be the physical and all that usually goes with the first appointment. She said the first time she meets with someone, she'd rather not see them naked! I appreciated that!) And arrived safely (with a lightheaded feeling) home. By the time I got home I needed to lie down. Superhubby was going to be home in an hour and I told him when he called what the plan was and he said ok. I felt woozy all evening long! It's a good thing Superhubby was making supper! The steak, potatoes and salad were wonderful! We even had a couple slices of mom-in-law's homemade whole wheat bread with butter! Yummy! It made me feel better, but I still couldn't stand up quickly or I'd lose my balance. I feel better today. So, much to do! Much to do!

Miscellany

I'm going to my first midwife appointment today at 1:15. The one thing I'm really not looking forward to is driving to the Big City all by my little lonesome. I don't do that kind of driving...without much persuasion! Since my appt. is in the middle of the day, Superhubby can't accompany me either way (there or home). So, even though I'll be a few miles away from him, I probably won't even get to see him until he comes home tonight. BTW-Look at the pregnancy tickers! My baby actually looks like a baby now! (That is if my calculated due date is correct...I'll find out today.) :-)))

OH! OH! We're having marinated steak (that Superhubby does on his smoker grill---WONDERFUL!), baked potatoes (with butter, cheese and salt of course!) and salad tonight!!!!! I'm so excited! We really haven't done steaks on the grill and went all out for a nice meal like this in a while. Lately, the only things that have hit the grill are burgers and chicken...both of which are lovely, but nothing, I repeat...NOTHING beats a steak a la Superhubby! We've picked out some T-bones from the freezer and they've been marinading since last night. The plan WAS to start the marinading on Friday night, but we were so busy this weekend that we kept forgetting. :-(

Speaking of being busy...Saturday we did both farmers markets in two different towns and pulled it off! Mom-in-law and I did the one farther away and Superhubby did the normal one. This last Saturday must not have been a great market week, because neither did well at all. But, that's how markets go...great one week and poopy the next. I love doing the new market, what I hate is the getting up at 5 something AM. If you know me at all, I'm NOT a morning person. And with Superhubby wanting to stay up late to get things done for the market after getting home from Friday night pizza at the in-laws, it makes for a very short night. When we finally got home in the afternoon Saturday, we both crashed for a 3----THREE HOUR nap! We were soooo pooooooped out! That basically left enough time to feed the chickens and go back to the in-laws for supper. We usually do Friday pizza and whatever Mom-in-law gets a hankerin' for on Saturday. Since we moved out here closer to them, we've pretty much been doing it that way. It's not like a set-in-stone thing, but we like it and do it as often as we can. Who can pass up Mom-in-law's cookin' anyway?!? Nobody I know of! Well, I may come back and blog this afternoon after my appointment. Either that or in the morning. But I'll let you know if I found anything out (due date wise, etc.) that I didn't know before. Love ya's!

Not morning sickness, but what is it?!?

I think I seasoned the beef to go into empanadas on Monday night a leeeetle too much. My tummy just didn't like it...my mouth, yes...tummy, no. I basically spent all day yesterday laying around holding my belly and running to the loo. Then, stupid me...I didn't realize until after the fact what it was and I ate another empanada for lunch yesterday too! It got worse, so much worse! It tasted great! But my belly just didn't like it.

I was supposed to go to my "Meet & Greet" with my midwife yesterday afternoon. About 20 minutes before I was to leave the house I get a call from her office saying she got called in to a delivery. I should expect that, right? So, I told them to just schedule me for my first OB appointment instead of wasting more time. So, I have my first appt with her on Monday (when my original OB/GYN appt was to be anyway).

Superhubby met with Mr. Insurance and got me more Dr. visits added to my policy. So, that's taken care of. Yay! Things are falling into place! I knew they would. Now, just if I can get my belly to feeling better, I'll be doing great!

Good news and Bad news...

So, I think I'm going to be able to go with the midwife after all! Superhubby is going to call Mr. Insurance man soon and get all that junk straightened out. I got ahold of the one midwife that I thought I was going to go with, but turns out, she doesn't deliver in hospitals, only at home. So, she recommended two. I called one who works in a doctor's office, she delivers at St. Anne's and it sounds like this is probably who I'll go with. I have a "Meet & Greet" session with her next Tuesday (which is a free session!). God love free stuff! I've got so many questions! And I think I'm going to cancel my appointment with the OB/GYN. The first midwife I talked to didn't really have a lot of good stuff to say about him. I really want to try to avoid certain things, such as: ultrasounds, amniocentesis, c-sections, induction, epidural, etc. I want to do this naturally, and she said that he told her to her face that he thought "women should be managed"!!!! He calls them "managed births". Something that happens naturally does NOT need managed!!!!!!! She said he had about a 50% c-section rate!!!! DEAR LORD!!!!!!!! THAT'S INSANE!!!!!! And I told her that I was overweight and she said that if he thinks I'm slightly overweight, he'll pressure me to do a c-section! NOOOOOOO! I want to avoid this as much as possible! It's just insane how much of that stuff goes on in the OB/GYN practice. So, anyway. After getting stressed out while talking to her, I got de-stressed and called this other midwife and she is going to see me next week! That's crazy considering that it's taking me a whole month to get in with this other guy!

Oh, and I didn't tell you the best part! I decided to call Mr. OB/GYN and find out if I don't want an ultrasound if he would be willing to work with me. I first called last Thursday, they said he'd call me back by the end of the day...nothing. So, I gave him most of Friday and called back in the afternoon. Do you know what they said? Here, I won't keep you guessing: "I'm sorry, the office is closed for the rest of the day, can I have him call you on Monday?" So, I sighed and said "Sure." Monday came and gone, nothing! I called back yesterday and guess what they said this time? "You mean they didn't tell you he's been on vacation since Friday? Yeah, he won't be back until Thursday this week!" Whaaaatt?!?!?!?!??! I'm not very happy about this! This just shows me how incompetent that office really is! They don't care about you! All they care about is the money! Grrrrrr!

BUT, that's okay, because I've got a midwife! I'VE GOT A MIDWIFE! :-) I'm pleased with myself, because I didn't think I'd find one that worked out of hospitals! Yay me!