Sometimes I end up doing posts here on Mommies Home.net that come from me researching questions this Mommie has. This is one of those posts, as I ended up with one heck of a headache yesterday. I was in more pain than labor:-) That being said, what can those headaches be caused by after child birth? Read the rest of this entry »

I must apologize to all of my readers for my lack of posting these last few weeks. The more pregnant I became, the less able I was to concentrate on anything but pain and the anticipation of the arrival of our son.

Well, we had thought he was coming last Tuesday, only to hear it was just bad Braxton Hicks. We then canceled our next prenatal appointment in anticipation of an induction on Monday. The doctor had originally said she would induce me on Friday, but I was one day shy of the required 39 weeks so she moved it to the following Monday.

That wasn’t the news we wanted to hear! I was quite saddened by this, as I kept thinking I was in labor and the wait was over. I wanted to go into labor at a certain time so my doctor could deliver me, but the closer it got to the end of the week the more my hopes for that were fading.

On Friday morning I woke up about two am to go to the bathroom and even thought to myself “Wow, I feel pretty good. All my pain is pretty much gone, there’’s no way this baby is coming soon.”

At 4:30 that same morning I was awoken by a POP and knowing by the results that my water had broken. I was very excited, as was my husband. The day had arrived. After taking a quick shower and getting Grandpa over to our house to watch our other two children, my mother, husband and I took off for the hospital. Actually, we stopped at McDonalds to grab a quick bite, as I knew they wouldn’t get me anything at the hospital.

After waddling into the hospital at 6am, we were on our way. I was having some contractions, but nothing impressive at all. They started Pitocin right away and the contractions started coming more frequently. We all expected the baby to be born fast, as my son was born very quickly after I was admitted. Your second is supposed to be faster, so we all had bets around noon or so, even my nurse.

At around 9am, the nurse came in and let me know that if I wanted an Epidural, I had better get it now. The anesthesiologist would be in a scheduled C-section from 10-11, so if my contractions picked up there would be no relief for a while. I wasn’t keen on getting it so early, so I told her I’d let her know. The second she walked out I started having some harder contractions and had my husband go hunt her down and let her know that we’d get the epidural as soon as they could administer it.

I’m not scared of needles, so I wasn’t to worried about the epidural. My last one, the only thing I remember is that I had the mother of all contractions when they were putting it in, horrible pain. This time was a little different. I could handle the contractions, but the medicine going in was another story. That was horrible this time. I wish I could sugar coat it so someone who finds this page through a google search on epidurals wouldn’t freak out, but I really can’t. It hurt like hell. I was mad at the anesthesiologist, that is, until the medicine kicked in.

Once the medicine kicked in, I couldn’t feel any pain. I could feel the pressure of the contraction but there was no pain associated with it. I was very happy with the results. That was about 9:45am.

From that point forward, it was a waiting game. By noon I was 5cm and 80% effaced. It was moving much slower than anyone expected. They turned the pitocin up constantly it seemed until we hit about 16 out of 20. That’s when things started turning south. The baby wasn’t handling the contractions well, his heartbeat kept dipping pretty low. At 7 cm and 90%, they decided to give me a shot and stop my contractions.

The second they gave me the shot, the contractions stopped. My son was no longer in any distress,
his heart rate was now normal and steady.

I was happy he was ok again, but my labor had been brought to a stand still. After about an hour, tthe doctor gave the ok to start labor back up. The pitocin was cranked up every 15 minutes or so, starting at the lowest setting.

Slowly, labor progressed again. I was waiting for the “pressure”, the need to push. I kept thinking it was coming so the nurse kept checking. 8cm, 90%, it was stuck there. A little while later she checked me again and I was at 9cm. Finally we were close. She went to go call the doctor when an alarm went off in the room. My husband rushed to go get the nurse, turns out my epidural was out of medicine!! Are you kidding me!!! I’ve been in labor all day, no one thought to check the epidural?
So the nurse told my husband there was 2 hours left on the medicine and not to worry…

That’s when they hit…the medicine didn’t have 2 hours left, it was out and I could tell by the contractions that were coming. That baby was sure as hell coming out. The nurse quickly checked me again and I was ready to push, the doctor wasn’t there yet. Medicine gone, me yelling in pain, baby coming, no doctor. Then the anesthesiologist came in quickly and gave me some medicine. Thank god! The medicine worked quickly and the crazy labor pain went away as my lower body was numbed.

In came the doctor, she set up and I began to push. About 5 pushes and my baby boy was born. I heard his cry and cried. He was perfect. 7 lbs, 7oz, 20 inches. It seemed like eternity until they gave him to me to hold. He was just perfect.

More updates later, but I thought I’d get this posted so people know where I’ve been. I’m blogging as he sleeps soundly (as soundly as you can with a 2 yr old screaming).

We are coming down to the wire now, I’m getting more than anxious.

I had another prenatal today. 70% effaced and 1 1/2 cm, not what I was hoping for. She stripped my membranes to see if that would get things moving, but as of this morning it was a no go. She also talked about scheduling an induction. Honestly, I’ve never even thought about it, I just figured he’d come whenever. So we have some thinking to do on that subject. I better think fast, as she could do it ass early as Friday. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it’s been hectic here, which is why I haven’t been posting on Mommies Home.net very much. Tuesday I had contractions start up, not painful ones, but after hours of them I started to wonder if I was in labor. I tracked them for hours, they were 5-8 minutes apart.

Thinking they were just Braxton Hicks, I drank tons of water and then laid down from about 4 pm on. They kept coming. All night I was up, I’d go to sleep for half hour only to be woken up by contractions. They still weren’t painful though. At about 10:30 yesterday I finally called the doctor and they had me come in for a labor check. No change for me.

But those pesky contractions kept coming. They finally stopped around 7pm last night. The doctor thought I was in early labor, but I’m not so sure. He still has a while to cook, so we’ll see I guess!

We are getting there! Seems like time passed so fast getting to this last month and now it’s just c…r…e..e..p..i..n…g along. Read the rest of this entry »

I started my 33rd week. I have a prenatal appointment tomorrow, which I’m somewhat looking forward to as my doctor is off her maternity leave. Funny, I missed her! I start going every two weeks now, which seems like a lot, but I’m happy to be checked out.

As strange as it sounds, I’ve begun to become more worried, apprehensive and stressed than I was with my first one. I thought I’d be carefree because I know what to expect, but I’m definitely not. I worry about things like “Three kids might be to much for me”. I saw a woman with the same space of kids as I have (except her baby was born) in the grocery store the other day and it was almost humorous. Her 2 year old was in the basket of the buggy screaming, her baby was in a carrier in the front crying and her 6-7 year old was walking next to the cart begging for a cookie. The mom looked exhausted and you could tell it wasn’t a happy day in that family. I almost cried. I hope I figure out how to do it, my mom did! I never hear her talk about it being hard, so it must be doable! Read the rest of this entry »

After my sister-in-law had her last baby, now 2, her and her husband decided that was it for them. When I asked them why they didn’t want one more, I was surprised by the answer. It wasn’t that they didn’t want one, or that they couldn’t afford one (the normal answers), it was that her husband couldn’t stand another round of his wife pregnant. They both agreed, it was a bad idea to have another one just based on that fact alone. At first I thought he was just being mean until I heard the stories from my sister-in-law… Read the rest of this entry »

I had my most recent prenatal visit yesterday. Things look fine I guess. I had my glucose test and my anemia test, so I’m awaiting the results of those tests. I do have a suspicion that I will have gestational diabetes. My sister had it when she was pregnant and this pregnancy has been filled with sugar cravings I have no control over. While I shouldn’t worry, I still seem to. I should have the test results today or tomorrow. Read the rest of this entry »

After 28 weeks of pregnancy bliss, it all fell down today when I woke up, basically unable to walk. I started out my 3rd trimester in some major pain. I can’t put that much weight on my left leg at all and now I can’t seem to find a position, ANY position, that makes the pain go away. I was having some other issues, so I ended up going in to be evaluated, as I wondered if maybe my water had broken… Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I haven’t updated in a while, but some things are starting to happen so I figured I’d post! We haven’t taken any belly shots in the past few weeks, guess we’ve been to busy to think about it. I’m in my 27th week now. The baby is moving a lot, kicking like crazy. I have a feeling he’ll be bigger than my son, but don’t women always think that!

My back is hurting a lot at night now and Braxton Hicks have started up. My husband says I had them with my last pregnancy for the last 3 months (I don’t recall), so I guess I’m on schedule. I had a call into the doctor last night, as the contractions were getting a little harder and they kept coming. She told me to lay down and rest…to bad she told me that when both kids were in bed, why not when I really need it, like when my son decides to throw all his legos down the stairs! Anyhow, I laid down and they went away.

I’m getting big now, my body seems to be blowing up like a balloon. I feel like I’m just all swollen, just way bigger than I my internal self image is. As I recall, from about this point on I no longer will think the pregnancy look is a good look, as I feel so big.

Trying to watch what I’m eating isn’t working too well. I do good at breakfast, but then lunch ends up being a pig out fest, as I’m so hungry I just keep eating. I’m good for dinner, but then I’m hungry before bed again. I swear my belly expands with every single mouthful. I’ve tried to limit my food, it just makes me more hungry, so that’s not going to work. I love when the doctor says “just eat some fruit”. Well, if I had any desire for fruit, I’d eat tons of it. But I crave carbs, bread and cereal. Eggs and cheese!

All is well though and I’ve been blessed with a wonderful pregnancy thus far! I’ll keep you updated.