38 weeks appt yesterday... and a hospital visit

We went to the hospital on Sunday night. At 9:30 I was having horrible pains in my stomach and back, and although the on-call doctor said it probably wasn't labor and just sounded like muscle pains, it was excruciating, so they said it would be fine to go in and get it checked out. It was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life; I was crying it was so bad. David grabbed the hospital bag and packed me up in the truck and we went to Medical City. They got us into a Labor & Delivery room, got me changed into a gown and hooked up to the baby monitors, and kept an eye on me for awhile. The baby's heartbeat was perfectly fine and I wasn't having any contractions at all, just "uterine irritability". Turns out the pains were both gas and strained round ligaments. The gas was keeping me from being able to relax my stomach muscles, which just made them keep hurting. After about an hour and a half, they sent us home with instructions to take Tylenol, and to come back if it got worse. Once we got home, I took the medicine and got back in bed, and was able to relax for a few hours before it got really bad again. I took some more medicine, and finally just passed out at around 4:30am. When I woke up the next morning at 9, I was a little sore, but the pains were gone. They came back yesterday at around 3 in the afternoon, but went away pretty quickly after I took some more medicine. So it looks like I will just have to stay on top of it; it will all go away once I have the baby.

The appointment yesterday went well. My blood pressure was 120/60, and I had lost a pound. They're saying my weight has been fluctuating so much lately because of water retention, so they're not concerned. The baby is still gaining weight in there and my uterus measured a little over 38cm, which is perfect. They did an internal exam for the first time and checked my cervix, and I'm dilated 1cm, and I'm 75% effaced, which is good. The baby has dropped quite a bit, but not far enough into my pelvis to put her at a station. Hopefully she will really soon! The doctor said they wouldn't let me go more than a week past my due date, so we will see how much progress has been made at my appointment next week and then discuss the options for an induction, if necessary. Keep your fingers crossed that she comes out on her own before then!!!

I'll continue to keep you up to date on everything! 10 days left, but hopefully any day now!

37-week appointment

Everything's good. No weight gain from last week, which they said is fine. I've gained 5 lbs in the last 4 weeks, total, which is perfect. Blood pressure was a little elevated at 120/70, but they're not worried about it, saying that's normal with this late in the pregnancy and the holidays coming up, etc. If it gets too much higher, they'll monitor me more closely, but they don't think it will rise any more. Gracie's heart rate is 140bpm, which is consistent with how it has been the whole time. I'm measuring right at 37 weeks, so we'll probably be right on time (though we're hoping for a little sooner, hehe). They confirmed that she has dropped, however she also grew a bit, and she's staying pretty stretched out, meaning she can still reach my ribs. Ugh. But her head has stayed all the way down, so that is really good. They'll check my cervix next week to see if I'm dilated or effaced at all. We'll have a better idea of what's going on once we see all that.

I haven't been comfortable at all lately. Back pains, random and painfully intense contractions with absolutely no consistency, headaches... you name it. I am waking up 3-4 times a night now, which I guess is instinct preparing me for those late night feedings! I'd love to have just one straight 7 hours of sleep before she comes, though. I think I've developed Restless Leg Syndrome, a common late-pregnancy symptom that will go away after delivery, but its ridiculous. I can't sit down for long periods of time (not even for 20 minutes) without having to get up and walk for a minute. And I can never get comfortable at night. Poor David, I don't know how he sleeps through all my tossing and turning at night. I also have this insanely powerful urge to make sure everything is clean. I dont' mean just picked up, but spotless and disinfected and unwrinkled. When I dont' have the energy to finish something, it just bothers me and makes me irritable. Hopefully it will just all be over soon. I'm so ready for her to come out now, I don't have anything left I can do to prepare. Just come OUT! Hehe. I spent the last week not believing how quickly the last couple months had gone by, and now I can't believe how slowly its going by now! Ugh... hurry up!

Well, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving holiday! Will keep you posted on progress (not like there's any now...).

37 weeks today!

Well, today marks 37 weeks. What an amazingly long time! But I'm truly amazed at how quickly the last couple of months have gone by. We had a very eventful October, with both baby showers and childbirth classes and me working so much. I remember in September worrying about how much we had left to prepare for Gracie's arrival, and now I'm so proud of how much we've done! Hospital bags are packed and ready to go, "nursery" is all ready, all of her clothes and bedding are washed, folded, and waiting... all that's left is her sweet face!

Been pretty uncomfortable lately. Having a lot of round ligament pain on the sides and underneath my belly, and my hips are continuing to pop out all the time. There's constant pressure "down there" and a lot of intense Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing too crazy. I think she dropped considerably yesterday; I can all of a sudden breathe a lot better, and when looking at my belly, I can now see a portion of my rib cage above the top of my uterus. My center of gravity is totally shot, so I'm having to take the stairs MUCH slower than before so I don't fall again, hehe. I've also added a ridiculous "waddle" to my walk, due to all the pressure. So... all that said, I think we're getting much closer! I have a crazy feeling she'll come a little bit early, but I won't know more until I get an internal exam done to see how dilated I am. We will see...

At the 36 week appointment on Tuesday, she had flipped back to being head-down! Yay! Just pray pray pray that she stays there! My blood pressure was 110/60, which is perfect. Now, I gained 7 pounds (yikes!) since my last appointment two weeks before, but at that appt I had lost 2 pounds from a week earlier, so that technically puts me at only a 5 pound gain in 3 weeks, which is really good. (See how I try to make it sound better? Hehe) But still, my total weight gain for the pregnancy is about 25 lbs, which is perfect. They did not do an internal exam this time, saying they would like to wait until I'm 38 weeks. But if I am even more uncomfortable next Tuesday, they might go ahead and do it then, just to check me out. So we will see! Anyway...

We're having a bit of trouble with Dr. Greggs. At the very beginning, she told us that we had a choice of delivering at one of her three preferred hospitals: RHD, Medical City, and St. Paul. We chose Medical City, for a number of reasons, and have already pre-registered and completed our child birth classes there. She is just now saying that it's "just not convenient" for her to deliver the baby at Medical City, and that I need to deliver at RHD. She was extremely unprofessional and rude about telling us this, so I've decided to ignore her wishes and continue with the plans to deliver at Medical City (There is a lot more to this story that I just don't feel like rehashing on here, so please don't be too quick to admonish me for going against my doctor's wishes). The admissions staff at Medical City is totally behind me on this, and we're working together to get my records sent over there (Dr. Greggs is refusing to release them, so we're having to fight for them). I dont' understand why she couldn't just tell me that she has other things scheduled at RHD around my due date, and that I just need to understand that if I choose to deliver at Medical City, I will most likely be cared for by another doctor, which I'm perfectly fine with. I wasn't really expecting her to be there, anyway, so I don't see why this is such a big deal. Oh well, we are looking into transferring to another doctor, but with the birth emminent in the next three weeks, that might not be possible. I would say though, that I would not recommend this doctor to anyone in the future. In an amazing coincidence, my boss (at AT&T) and her sister are former patients of Dr. Greggs, and her sister delivered via C-Section at RHD last year, due to Dr. Greggs pushing her for RHD. So she has a history of pressuring patients. She also has an extremely high rate of scheduled inductions and C-sections, meaning she pushes her patients to schedule their births to make it more "convenient" for her. I want to avoid a c-section and induction if possible, but she does not seem willing to uphold my wishes on this. So due to a lack of trust, respect, and confidence in my doctor, I'm pursuing switching to another. My insurance will cover any doctor who delivers me at Medical City, so we'll just show up there when it's time; they already said they wouldn't turn me away and go ahead and admit me since I'm already registered. So that has been a huge stressor over the last few days, but I'm now just going to ignore it and continue with our plans. I think that's the best thing I can do right now, is not let Dr. Gregg's pressure get to me; at this late in my pregnancy, it's just not healthy to let it worry me so much. So on we go...

Well, I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend and Thanksgiving holiday! We'll keep you all up to date with the progress!

Another scare... and Group B Strep test results

Well everything was going dandy this weekend, when I woke up early Sunday morning at about 2am to a huge, painful movement in my belly. Gracie had done some contortionist-flip so that her head was sticking out of my side all weird (I could see it). Well, it was pretty uncomfortable, so I got out of bed and started walking a bit. This usually uses gravity to pull her out of my ribs, so I thought it might get her to settle into a more mutually comfortable position. Well, when I stood up, she moved her head over, so that it wasn't sticking out so much, but then she wouldn't move at all. I sat down in the glider chair to see if she would kick a little for me, but she didn't. After awhile, I started getting worried, because she wasn't moving AT ALL, which is very unlike her. So I got up and walked around the living room a bit, drank some cold water, ate some candy, took a TUMS, laid down, sat in a couple different chairs in different positions, flashed a light on my belly, poked and prodded and did just about anything I could think of to get her to move. At about 6:30am, I was freaked out enough to finally wake David up, who also tried to get her to move (she almost always kicks when she hears his voice). Well that didn't work either. I didn't want to call my doctor, because I kind of felt silly, but at the same time, I KNOW what its like to be carrying her, and this just didn't feel right. We decided to go up to Sherrie's house and see if we could hear Gracie's heartbeat through the stethoscope. If she thought something was wrong, then I would call the doctor and go to the hospital. We got up there, and as I was sitting there waiting for her to get out the stethoscope, I felt a humongous kick. I was SO relieved, but still wanted to hear her heartbeat if we could. So Sherrie listened for awhile, and heard the placenta working (which I guess it wouldn't have been if something was wrong), and a few faint beats at a time (Gracie wasn't cooperating, what else is new), so I finally felt better. Of course she's been kicking and squirming for all she's worth since then. But anyway... I guess that's just the mom in me coming out and worrying about the littlest things. I was actually pretty embarrassed that I made such a big deal about it, but it was pretty scary. Even David was scared, but he was wonderful and kept me calm and focused and even laughing at times throughout the whole ordeal. I think she just got herself worked into a weird position while I was laying down and then passed out from her efforts or something. What a silly little girl... I can tell we'll have our hands full when she arrives!

I did the Group B Strep test at my doctor's visit last Tuesday. It is a small swab to see if I am one of thousands of women with strep bacteria in the birthing area that is harmless to me, but can make the baby sick if it is passed to her when she is being born. Well, that came back positive. While there is nothing that can be done right now to treat it, I will receive simple antibiotics through my IV while I'm in labor that will prevent it from being passed on to Gracie when she is born. So that will be fine.

Other than that, everything is going well. She's sticking her little butt out the side of me right now, and its pretty funny-looking. I'm all lopsided, hehe. She is definitely running out of room for her soccer matches in there, but this makes it easier to identify the various body parts that stick out now and then, so its fun.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has a wonderful week! Only 4 weeks and 5 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!

Update

Sorry, I know it's been awhile. Had a lot going on the last couple of weeks. First of all, I'm just fine after taking a fall on the stairs yesterday. I got off work pretty early, so Mrs. Debbie dropped me off at home. I only had three steps left before I got to our floor, and I accidentally got my toes hooked underneath the step and fell belly-first. I was holding onto the railings, but couldn't get my hands down in time to catch myself. I was able to take most of the impact on my knee, but my belly still hit the steps pretty hard. Well, I got right up, but instantly had a very tight, painful contraction for a few seconds. I made it to our front door, got inside and sat right down on the couch and called my doctor. Once that contraction let up, Gracie started moving and kicking as usual. I told the doctor what happened, and she said that I was probably fine, and that if I had any major bleeding, any more contractions, or if I noticed Gracie moving less than 10 times each hour, to call her and get to the hospital. But the fact that Gracie was moving all over the place like normal really encouraged us to believe that everything was fine; I had probably just woken her up. I stayed in bed for a few hours, but didn't notice any of those symptoms, so I was fine. I'm a little sore today, but no worse than if I'd fallen like that while I wasn't pregnant. I'm going to call the doctor today to discuss how the evening went and if I need to come in next week, but I think I'll be fine to wait the whole two weeks til my next appointment. I'll keep everyone posted. (:D)

My Grandad (my dad's father) passed away last weekend. He had been battling Alzheimer's and dementia for several years, and God finally called him Home. I'm very sad that he wasn't able to see his great-granddaughter, but I know he will be sending his blessings from Heaven. I will definitely make sure that Gracie grows up understanding what a wonderful man he was. Please keep my family in your prayers as we get through this difficult time.

Lets see, doctor's appointments: Last week I went for my 34 week appointment, and my blood pressure had jumped to 130/88, which is pretty high for me. I had gained 5 lbs (ugh) and Gracie's heart rate was 140bpm. We had been running around all day, preparing for my grandfather's funeral that night, and had rushed into the appointment, so we figured all that stress was what affected my blood pressure, but they still decided to bring me back in a week to check it again to make sure. So I went back this last Tuesday, and my blood pressure is back to a normal 110/65, so that's good. Gracie's heart rate is 145bpm, and I lost two pounds. This puts my total weight gain for the entire pregnancy at 19 pounds, which is where it should be.

Gracie has flipped transverse, though, which means her head is in my right side, her rear-end is in my left, and her legs and arms are up in the top of my uterus. If she stays this way, it will be an automatic C-section (which we're really hoping to avoid), but the doctor really believes she will flip again and work her way back to being head-down, which would be ideal. If she flips breech, they'll try to work with it, but it would most likely end up with a C-section, too. So please pray she gets her head back down there!!! Hehe... I can tell she's running out of room to move as much as she used to, but she's stubbornly refusing to accept that. I can't wait for her to "drop" and get out of my ribs and off my lungs. I'm sure she finds them fascinating, but its so uncomfortable for her to be up this high. *sigh* Oh well. Soon enough...

Just a little over 5 weeks left! I can't believe it. All the chaotic preparations are slowing down. We moved our room around last weekend, and I set up her Pack n Play and the rocking chair and cleared off what used to be a tv stand to make room for all her changing and feeding supplies. We have almost everything we need to bring her home, just need to make a trip this weekend to Babies R Us and the drugstore to grab a few more small necessities. I'm working on packing the hospital and diaper bags today, and getting a list together of freezer meals I'm going to make ahead of time so it will be easier on us the first couple of weeks after she's born.

I found out that my pediatrician, Dr. Clifford, who I've seen since I was little, won't be covered on Medicaid to do Gracie's office visits. She can still bill Medicaid for Gracie's newborn check-up at Medical City, though, which is awesome. I'm so happy that she'll be Gracie's very first doctor, if only once. Dr. Clifford says she would be honored! I love her; she's just fabulous. She recommended another pediatrician downstairs from her office that does take Medicaid. His name is Dr. Len, and they alternate weekends being on call for each other's patients. She said that he is an excellent doctor, and that Gracie would be just fine in his care. So I am happy to take her to someone with such a high recommendation from Dr. Clifford!

Well, I'm going to go work on the lists for the hospital and diaper bags, and then work on Gracie's family tree for a little bit. I'm trying to make a really neat one to scrapbook into her baby book, so she will have it. Kinda difficult, though, because I'm not only doing her ancestry, but also including her aunts, uncles, and cousins! I'm sure she will enjoy it someday. Have a great week, everyone!