She is here! Baby Girl S arrived on Wednesday, September 29, at 10:49 a.m.
She weighed 7 lbs., 5 ozs. and was 19 1/4" long.
The first visit by brothers and sister. Sister was definitely the most excited. Big brother G was in awe.
Getting ready for first bath. Baby S has more hair than all the other children had put together!
She didn't care for the bath, but she loved having her hair styled afterward!
All ready to go home!
Just details below...
I had been having mild contractions for the past month. None of them were major, but they were annoying. I was hoping that they were doing a good enough job so that I would have an easy labor. I was also hoping that the pushing stage wouldn't be quite as rushed as it was with G. He came a bit too quickly!
I woke up at 1 a.m. on Wednesday with an intermittent backache. Hmmm. There weren't any real contractions, but the baby was squirming and I just couldn't get back to sleep. About 2:30 I got up to take a shower, hoping that would calm things down a bit. I got back in bed about 3:00 and tried to go back to sleep. No, the backaches kept coming. At 4:00 The Man's alarm went off. At that point I told him I was having backaches and I thought I might be starting labor.
At about 5:00 he checked and said I was about 3-3.5 cm dilated, which was a definite change from my appointment the week before when I was only 2.5 cm. He said the baby still seemed pretty high.
I started having a few "real" contractions after that, but they were irregular and 10-15 minutes apart. After 6:00 I got up and started getting ready to go. I had an 8:30 ob appointment scheduled, but I was thinking about going straight to the hospital. The contractions started becoming more irregular after I got up, so I decided we should just go to the doctor's office. The Man checked again and said the baby had come down lower, but I was still less than 4 cm. Rather than leaving The Man at home with the kids (he had the morning off), we decided he should probably go with me, along with my hospital bag.
I had a few contractions on the way over the mountain, but they were still over 10 minutes apart. When we arrived at the doctor's office I told the nurse I thought I might be in labor, but I wasn't sure. I had lost a pound since my appointment the week before (bringing my total weight gain since my first appointment at 30 weeks to 0), but I wasn't surprised since all I ate for breakfast was 1/2 an English muffin and a few ounces of juice with my antibiotic (I started getting a sore throat so we assumed I was getting the same strep throat the rest of the family had).
The doctor came in the room and did all the measurements and listened to the heart beat. Then she did the internal exam. After informing me that I was 6 cm. dilated, 100% effaced, and the baby was at +2 station, she told me to go to the hospital "NOW...and don't stop for breakfast on the way!" Oh, I guess I WAS in labor. By the time I got out of the room, she was on the phone with the hospital telling them to get a room ready. By the time I made it to the parking lot, she was running out to her car.
We got to the hospital and I declined a curbside drop-off. After parking the van I had a contraction while The Man was getting the bags. Did I want a wheelchair? No, I had just had a contractions and it was only take a few minutes to walk to L&D.
When we arrived at L&D I saw my doctor was already there getting the cart ready. The nursing supervisor was also there getting things ready. At that point we found out that the L&D had been closed and they opened it just for ME! It is a small hospital and the department shuts down when there aren't any patients.
Not only was this the first time I had the same doctor & hospital for 2 pregnancies, but I also had the same room and nurse as when G was born. After nearly two years, G's birth is still the talk of the OB department!
My doctor parked herself beside my bed and waited...and waited...she wasn't going to miss the birth!
By the time I got settled there at the hospital, I was stunned when my doctor said I was 8 cm. The two strong contractions weren't that strong. I shrugged. "I'm just not feeling strong contractions." She looked at the monitor and informed me I was having very strong contractions about 3 minutes apart. Hmmm. I was puzzled. I was only feeling about every 3rd contraction. The Man told me not to complain!
A bit later she checked again and said I was 9 cm. I still wasn't feeling like I was ready to give birth. After some (ouch) manipulation to move that last cm., she told me to go ahead and push. She broke my water at that point and had me push through the next few contractions.
Baby S arrived less than 2 hours after we entered the hospital. I was surprised it was so quick, but I think my doctor was surprised I was so slow! At any rate, she is a very healthy little girl. After I held her for a few minutes they decided she wasn't crying well enough, so she got a bit of oxygen while we waited for the placenta.
I sent The Man back home then to have lunch with the kids. He came back with the kids for a few hours in the afternoon so they could all get acquainted. After they left, we had our dinner and Baby S and I went to sleep about 10 p.m. I was tired after being awake since 1:00 a.m., but I still woke up every hour to check on her. At 1:00 a.m. she was wide awake, squirming around. Baby dozed with me in my bed for the rest of the night.
The Man arrived the next morning right after my doctor left. We ate breakfast together and waited for the pediatrician, hearing test (which had to be done twice due to malfunctioning equipment), and paperwork. We finally got to leave after 11 a.m.
Last night Baby S got to snuggle with The Man at 1 a.m. while I slept.
I was hoping all the posting I did during the month of July would give me the momentum to keep blogging. Oh, well...I had good intentions!
Baby is growing just fine. Hopefully we will get to meet baby soon. The doctor says any day (hour?) now.
The kids are all doing ok. J and S had sore throats and fevers last week, but seem to be all better now. The Man came down with the sore throat and fever within the past few days and even stayed home from work today (rare occurrence). Tonight he did a strep test which was positive. I'm praying the rest of us stay well.
M is now a few weeks into his junior year of high school. Pre-calculus and Chemistry are the new courses for the year in addition to the standard English, History, PE, Music, and Spanish. He spent a few hours this week with a missionary from Costa Rica to practice his Spanish dialogue and vocabulary. We need to get him over to the local high school soon to sign up for the PSAT coming up next month.
We are still easing into all the subjects for the 3 middle kids. We are trying to work on a routine that enables all the kids to get the varied help from me, the very pregnant mama, while keeping G out of all the "fun" stuff the older kids get to do.
J is in eighth grade this year. S is in fifth grade and claims he loves school more than any of the other kids do. Sacagawea is in 3rd grade and doing very well despite the fact that she has so much more work this year than in years past.
G has tins of cars, animals, blocks, and puzzles that had been in storage. These "new" toys are keeping him quite occupied while the others do their school work.This is the first time we have had a single toddler while trying to full-time homeschool everyone else. It is a new learning adventure for all of us.
Given my most recent blogging history, this is likely to be my last post as a mother of 5! I will try to get pictures up of #6 as soon as possible. They will probably appear over on facebook before here, and we've already promised grandparents that they get a call before info goes on facebook!
I'm trying to decide whether to go to bed now or stay up timing contractions...how's that for a cliff-hanger?
Since I'm behind a few days and am going to try to catch up today, I'll be posting under the day of the activity...hope I don't confuse anyone!
Today I went up to the city to the hospital for the 3-hour glucose tolerance test. Three hours without the kids with nothing I had to do except walk into the lab four times. Cool. During my first hour "break," I went out to the van and gathered up all the trash that had accumulated since the last time I'd had the time and inclination to do that. I found an empty cardboard box in the back of the van in which I placed all the items that needed to go into the house. It looked so much better then!
During my second hour, I took the van over to the car wash to use the vacuum to clean the de-cluttered floor and upholstery. This was the first time I had taken this van to the car wash for vacuuming. I was surprised that I had to use two cycles with the vacuum. I could clean our old van easily on one cycle. Then I went to the dump landfill to empty 3 cans of trash. Finally, I went and filled the tank with gas.
During my third hour, I stayed in the hospital since it was starting to get hot outside. I was planning on going straight home afterward to eat, but the lady was adamant that I eat something before I headed back over the hill. OK, on to Taco Bell.
On the way over there, I remembered that I hadn't reset the trip odometer. It had been a long time since I'd completely filled the tank with gas, and I always try to reset the odometer with a full tank. As I was doing so, I noticed the main odometer read 100,099. Oh, wow! Things like this are too exciting!
As I was in the turn lane waiting to go into Taco Bell, I got this picture...
It's a good thing I snapped the photo then. By the time I was waiting in the drive-through lane, the odometer had already turned... 
Wouldn't it be cool if all odometers gave you a binary reading? Then my poor van would only have 37 miles on it. Fasting plus 4 vials of blood can make my brain think of pretty strange things!
I apologize to those of you who were repeatedly checking in here all day today to find out if we are going to have a boy, girl, or both. We're still not sure, but we're fairly certain it won't be both!
The midwife, bless her heart, wasn't accustomed to using the brand new ultrasound machine. Although she usually does "first" ultrasounds for women, she hadn't done a "first" that was so large on this new machine. After trying repeatedly to figure out how to measure the head circumference, she went to get the doctor to show her how.
The doctor came in the room. "Oh! Hi! Congratulations! You are...so pregnant!" That was about the extent of my lecture from her for waiting so long for my first appointment. We'll see if I get more in two weeks when my appointment is with her!
After showing the midwife how to obtain the measurements and chatting with The Man a bit about his new practice, she left the room. The midwife got back to measuring the head, abdomen, femur, and (one other thing I can't remember...I'll have to ask The Man later). The estimated due dates for all those measurements were averaged together to come up with a due date that EXACTLY matched my due date based on LMP. She was stunned. She said it rarely comes out so exact this far along. I was also amazed. Based on other factors, I was putting my due date at least a week later. Oh, well!
Oops. The midwife then realized that she had failed to print any of the pictures! So, she had to go back and remeasure everything and take pictures for the chart. This time the due date came out about a week later, closer to what I was expecting. I'm not sure exactly when, but we should have a new baby by the first week or so of October.
During this time, the timer went off indicating it was time for the nurse to come in and get blood for my glucose tolerance test. In all the back and forth with the blood draw and other stuff, the ultrasound machine was turned off and put away. Ack! I didn't even get a picture! And we didn't get to find out the gender.
I'm trying not to pout too much about it since it is probably my own fault. We were there over an hour and a half as it was. The waiting room that was empty when we got there was packed when we left. I think my appointment of trying to cram 20+ weeks of OB appointments into one really backed things up!
But, everything seems to be fairly healthy with the baby and me...that's what is important. I did flunk my one hour GTT (as with the three previous pregnancies). I didn't flunk it as badly as I did last time (148 vs. 215 last time), so I'm fairly confident that the 3 hour GTT I'll take bright and early Monday morning at the hospital will be passed as it has been all the other times.
I know I haven't had many updates on the current pregnancy. There really isn't an excuse other than I haven't gotten around to making an OB appointment. The longer I waited, the more I knew I'd get a lecture from my doctor when I finally went. Since things have been progressing normally, I really haven't felt an urgent need to go.
I called yesterday morning and made my first appointment. For some reason the receptionist thought I should go in today. I'll be seeing the midwife instead of the doctor. Perhaps I won't get quite as big of a lecture as I was dreading. I'll try to give an update later today after the appointment.
Yes, if possible, we will try to find out the gender of the baby if we do an ultrasound. I thought about waiting to find out as we did with G, but I am SO ready to get rid of some of the baby clothes from my house. Leave your boy/girl/both guesses in the comments!
The Man was quite shocked to see me standing in the kitchen making 4 different recipes on Wednesday. He was used to coming home and finding me on the couch the past few weeks, as I haven't been feeling too well. I suddenly got a burst of energy and a craving for a lot of different foods, so I managed to fill the freezer. I hope to be able to eat some of it, but everything has smelled and tasted funny to me lately.
More often than not, our recipes have been leaning towards gluten-free since both G and J are on a gf diet now. I wanted something else. I wanted bread, homemade gluten, and gluten roast. Those are divided up and in the freezer for when I want a bit of gluten for my meal. I also made some gf oat burgers for J (G is allergic to oats) to have when the others are eating garden burgers.
I think The Man is glad I can make my own food again. He was trying to cater to me, but between the time I would request some food and he actually brought it to me, I would sometimes change my mind. Fortunately, he's dealt with that a few times before, so he didn't take it too personally.
Today The Man brought home a little machine from the office and we got to hear the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of our newest family member. He (if G gets a baby brother) or she (if Sacagawea gets a baby sister) should be here around the beginning of October. We are so blessed!
For those that didn't see The Man's comment on Friday's update...
It is a boy! We are all thrilled. Baby G was born on his due date, Saturday, October 25, at 9:57 a.m. (my apologies to those I have told the wrong time...blame sleep deprivation). He was 7 lbs., 9.8 ozs., and 19 1/2" long. We praise the Lord for this perfectly healthy baby and his safe arrival.
Some of you may wish to just skip ahead and look at the pictures. If you are the sort to want to know all the labor details, read on.
On Friday evening the contractions started back up much more seriously. By 10:00 p.m. The Man and I were loading up the rest of our stuff and were on the way to the hospital. By 11:00 I was hooked up to the monitors. The first contraction showed the baby's heart rate went way down following the contraction. It took a minute for it to come back up. I wasn't too concerned, but the nurse was. She made me lie down, put oxygen on me and called the doctor. The doctor came and observed a few contractions and said that everything looked just fine.
I was let off the monitor and given permission to move about as I pleased. The Man inflated and filled the pool that we brought. The hospital does have a physical therapy tub that the women can use during labor, but it is down the hall from the OB department. I received permission from my doctor and the nursing staff to bring my own pool to have in my room so I wouldn't have to be traipsing up and down the hallway while in labor. A few hours later I got in the pool and was able to doze for a while.
About 6:00 a.m. my doctor checked and said I was only 3.5-4 cm. The contractions had lessened considerably. She offered to let me go home or give me Cytotech to stimulate the labor. I wasn't excited about either of those options. Actually, since I hadn't had any real sleep since 2:30 Friday morning, I wasn't very excited about anything at that point.
After discussing it with The Man, I decided that I wanted to go the route that I did when A's labor stalled. I asked to have my water broken.
About 6:40, my doctor broke my water and put me back on the monitor. It didn't take long for the contractions to pick back up. I was 4.5 cm. when I was let off the monitor and I got back in the water.
After an hour they wanted to monitor me again. The contractions were very intense at that point. I asked The Man to get me a basin in case I needed to throw up. I did. I was somewhat surprised since I'd never gotten sick during my previous labors.
About 8:30 when they got me out of the water to monitor me again, I was about 6.5 cm. The doctor only monitored me through one contraction. I got sick again during that contraction so she let me get back in the pool right away, telling The Man to be sure and get her when I had the urge to push so she could get me out of the water and check me. She had already told me that we couldn't do a water birth!
The contractions got very intense even while I was the pool. I was beginning to wonder why I wasn't handling this labor as well as I had my previous labors. The contractions started coming fast and furious and I wasn't having very much fun!
Then I told The Man that I did need to push. He went out to the nurse's station to get the doctor. They came back in the room and she started to check my dilation, but noticed the baby was crowning. She told me to go ahead and push (which I was already doing), and during that one contraction, Baby G was born.
I held him for a minute while the nurse suctioned him and the cord was clamped and cut. It was then that we noticed the approximately 2 1/2 ft. cord had a true knot. That must have happened during his late night gymnastics last summer.
We got out of the pool, and the rest of the day was rather pleasant. He had a bit of bruising on his face due to his very rapid entrance, but there wasn't time for any head molding. He has dark hair, unlike his siblings who were all bald or blond.
First official bath at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning...
At home Sunday night...
He reminds me the most of J. I need to pull out all the kids' baby pictures and compare.
We've had many "discussions" today about whose turn it is to hold him. I usually win. He likes to cuddle, eat, and sleep.
The Man is taking the week off from work. We're all going to try to get some rest now!
This post is dedicated to the lady that has checked my blog no less than EIGHT times today. Just what were you doing up at 4:30 this morning? I know that I was having contractions. Not huge big ones, but enough to move me beyond 3 cm.
I made up a list of all the stuff the kids were supposed to do today in case I wasn't here. Even though I was here, I just had them follow the list anyway. The house is now fairly well picked up, school work is done, and the kids are enjoying a video before supper. Now I need to make another list of what they are to do tomorrow in case we aren't here.
I do think it will happen tonight. Just because.
P.S. I just realized that this month I've had more blog posts than any other in the history of this blog. Of course most of them were to simply inform you of a non-event. :-)
I had my visit with the FNP yesterday. She is as anxious for me to have the baby as my doctor is. After assuring her that I am patient enough to wait until my due date (although I wouldn't be upset if baby decided to come early) or beyond, I made an appointment with my OB for next Wednesday. Although I fully expect to cancel that appointment, if I do make it there, we will discuss other options at that time since nobody likes to let pregnant ladies go beyond 41 weeks these days.
So, one way or another, I will have this baby by a week from tomorrow. Aren't you all glad that there is a definite end in sight? The FNP said I'm at least 3 cm. now, so progress is happening. I fully expect the baby to arrive Saturday on the due date. I think The Man is making sure that it happens then since, as far as I am aware, he hasn't lined up anyone to preach for him that day!
Sacagawea lost one of her front top teeth the other day. She had been wanting it out for quite a while since it was so hard for her to eat with the wiggly tooth there. We had wondered if her tooth or my baby would come out first. She won! I think she would have preferred for me to win that one.
P.S. The Man says he doesn't see a need to post an entire blog post when the baby comes, but he will leave a comment in my most recent post if need be.
It was a long and tiring day yesterday, but now my pantry is stocked, my refrigerators are full, and we don't have to take M to another music lesson until next Wednesday! I slept like a log last night and didn't get up until about 8 this morning. Whew!
Less than 24 hours after posting an update you folks started bugging me for another. I do have a life, you know! ;) I seem to be the only one not concerned that I haven't had this baby yet. It isn't even my due date!
With M (for those of you that are just itching for a birth story, click on links), based on dates and an early ultrasound, I was given due dates of either April 8 or 10. I went into labor on the evening of the 8th and he was born on the evening of the 9th (Saturday).
J ~ I was given a due date of May 30 based on dates. A few months later the sizes weren't matching up so an ultrasound was scheduled. Based on that ultrasound, I was given an approximate due date of June 25. My water broke on the afternoon of June 21 and I went into labor the morning of the 22nd. J was born about 6 hours later (Sunday).
S ~ based on dates I was given a due date of November 10. The ultrasound wasn't too far off, so the original due date was kept. He arrived on the morning of the 6th (Saturday).
A ~ due date of April 12, which was when she arrived (Friday).
Although a few of them arrived prior to their official due dates, none of them have gone past. With the exception of Sacagawea who arrived on her due date, the others were born on the weekend. Since my due date falls on this Saturday, I'm truly not going to get excited until then. If this one happens to arrive before then, great. If not, we'll deal with that concern the following Wednesday at my OB appointment. Yes, I am that patient! The baby will arrive exactly when he or she is good and ready!
Oh, by the way, my bags are packed and in the van. That is why you haven't seen any pictures lately. If I'm inclined to take some pictures, I have to get the camera out of the van, take the pictures, make sure the battery is charged, then return the camera to the van.
I still need to school The Man in the art of blogging. He should be able to find a computer somewhere in the hospital (if we don't take ours) to update y'all when the event occurs. Grandparents' phone numbers are in our cell phones so they will get official calls before a blog post!
I know some funny people. Last Wednesday night I was awake for quite awhile with some pretty heavy contractions. I told The Man that if the baby was going to come early it would be on Wednesday night due to my somewhat strenuous excursion to the big city on Wednesday. Nope. Nothing significant happened.
On Thursday afternoon a friend stopped by with a newer infant car seat for us. She said she had prayed the night before that I wouldn't have my baby yet because the cover she had washed was still air drying. Ahhh. So that's why baby didn't come!
Today I see that Ann has been hoping that baby news waits on her keyboard!
Carseat? Check.
Ann has her keyboard? Check.
I think we're ready for a baby!
In addition to The Man's brother's family, we also had another couple for lunch today. The Man and his brother knew the man from the church they went to as youth. We were surprised when we first visited our current church to learn that he had re-married a lady here. We've enjoyed having them in our church the past five years, and we're sad that they have sold their house and are moving to Washington to be closer to her family. We all had a wonderful time singing after lunch as our sister-in-law played the piano, our niece played the violin, and M played the organ (given to us by this couple).
The couple went home, and everybody else (except me!) headed for a walk behind our property in the National Forest. A few minutes after they left, it occurred to me that I could hear the water running in the bathroom. Uh-oh. I shut off the water, grabbed some towels, and called The Man on his cell phone. I knew he couldn't have gotten very far. He ran back to the house and took care of the puddles over behind the toilet that I couldn't bend over to reach. I am so glad that I stayed behind, otherwise we all would have returned to a major flood!
We may head up to the hospital later this afternoon, evening, or perhaps tomorrow. The Man's assistant's wife was actually induced this morning, so we would like to go see that baby. Also, we found out that The Man's 2nd cousin and family are up here because his father had surgery yesterday. We want to get up to the hospital to see all of them also. Perhaps I may even need to go to the hospital to have this baby!
Here is another quick update to let everyone know we are still patiently waiting. The doctor's appointment on Thursday was fairly non-eventful except that things are slowly progressing as they should. My doctor offered to induce me if I wished, especially since she's heard rumors that we didn't make it to the hospital for S's birth. My doctor is on call this weekend, next weekend (my due date) and the following weekend, so at least she will be the doctor present when the baby is born.
I did get a lecture from the nurse since I haven't gained any weight over the last three weeks. I really haven't had much of an appetite lately. Even if I did, I'm not sure if there is any more room in there for additional food.
The Man's brother and family are coming up tomorrow for church. The Man thought he should have someone else lined up to preach just in case we have somewhere else we need to be.
I am completely appalled at the amount of sawdust in my house. Apparently installing a sliding glass door is a very messy undertaking! This morning M went out to the shop to get the shop vac for me. It is one of those items that came with the house, and it is not the greatest machine, but I would rather suck up the sawdust and nails with that than my good vacuum. I'll still need to go over the living room again with the real vacuum, but this will be a good start. I have to round up another extension cord before I finish that project.
I am managing to get a good sleep about every other night. Last night was not one of the good nights. I got to bed about 11:00, woke up at 12:30 and didn't get back to sleep until after 5:00 a.m. There weren't any heavy contractions or unnecessary baby movements (child has been behaving wonderfully), but I had terrible heartburn most of the night. I keep a bottle of antacids on my bedside table and I usually take a dose once or twice at night. This morning it occurred to me that I really have no idea how many I took last night! I've never worried about O.D.ing on antacids before, but I'll need to watch that more closely.
Tomorrow The Man has to work all day so I'll be taking the kids to M's piano lesson in the morning, then a trip to the big city for a Costco and grocery run, then back to M's violin lesson, and then home. The Man informed me over the weekend that M's violin lesson was switched from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. this week. That wasn't going to work because I had an OB appointment scheduled at 3:45. I called Monday to reschedule my OB appointment for Thursday. A few hours later M's violin teacher called to say that we could do the violin lesson at the regular time. Eh. I had already started my Costco list, and since we wouldn't otherwise have time to make the trip, we're keeping the 3:30 lesson time. This (hopefully) will be the last chance I have to do a trip to Costco and the grocery store with cheap prices (but we have to bag everything ourselves) before the baby is born.
So, don't be concerned if you don't hear from me tomorrow since we'll be gone all day. Don't expect to hear from me Thursday either. Friday will be busy also since The Man is planning on working all day (his assistant's wife may be induced that day--they didn't coordinate their wives' due dates very well!). The weekend isn't looking too good for an update...
I will try to let y'all know if and when ;) the baby does arrive, but no news means no news!
Still waiting! We all are getting anxious to meet the new little one. Even The Man has started nesting.
Last week The Man assembled the little bed for the baby. I found this neat bed online, but I didn't think this particular design would work with our bed (not to mention that I found the cost exorbitant for the few months it would be in use). I sent the link to my dad with all the changes that I wanted made. Last summer he designed and cut out all the pieces and sent it back with us when we visited. For the past 4 months,the pieces have been patiently waiting in the corner of the bedroom. Now it is assembled and installed on my side of the bed, just waiting for the baby! I would like to prime and paint it first, but The Man thinks it looks great as it is. I may get it done, but it is not a priority right now.
This morning The Man attached the supports that fit snugly under our bed frame to keep the baby bed from tipping or moving away from our bed. He also attached a top to some drawers in our bathroom...now we have an official changing table!
Yesterday The Man cleaned out the chimney so we are using our wood stove for heat now. He also installed the new sliding glass door that we purchased. I really wanted it done so that I wouldn't have to be the one to open the door for the kids when they bring in wood. Yesterday was the first perfect day that we've* had for the job. The frosts that we've had have killed off most of the bugs and and it wasn't too chilly during the day to have an 8-foot opening in our living room. He still has a bit of trim work to finish up, but I'm really liking the new door!
Last night a church member brought a few bushels of apples for us. The Man and children are excited about making some apple sauce this afternoon. I better go start washing some jars!
*I did give my opinion a few times, and even helped steady the door during installation, but I left the hard work to The Man and boys.
I'm very pleased to report that I went to bed at 8:30 p.m. last night. Despite the contractions I was feeling in my back, I didn't have too much trouble drifting off to sleep. Sometime during the night I woke up and turned over to my other side. Just before 8:00 a.m. The Man came back into the bedroom to get ready for work. That was when I woke up for the day. Ahhhh. I'm so glad that this baby is taking the concerns I expressed yesterday seriously. He or she is now happily wiggling about. I think the rest was good for the baby also.
My OB appointment yesterday (actually, it was with the FNP) went well. Blood pressure, weight, movement, size, and position were proclaimed perfect. 2 cm., just a lip of the cervix left, and baby's head at +2 for those that actually follow such statistics. Basically, that just means that things are progressing as they should be.
I've got to go do some more school with the kids. Then we may even go clean the bathrooms I didn't get to do this morning.
These pictures were still hanging out on our computer, so I'll put them here. The Man took the children to the balloon fair a few weeks ago. I stayed home and rested went to the gym, fed the horse, fed the chickens, fed the dog, and cleaned the house.
******
M E M O
Date: October 8, 2008
To: Baby
From: Mother
Subject: Sleeping Arrangements
It has come to my attention that there are lots of other things you would rather do than sleep. At this point in your life, your non-sleeping activities have mainly consisted of rolling, kicking, and punching. That is fine. Actually, it is exactly what is expected of you, and you may continue for the duration of your time within the womb.
However, repeated abuse of these other activities at times in which your mother is supposed to be sleeping (as in the few weeks before you make your out-of-the-womb debut) is not appreciated and will be met with dire consequences. When these activities are alternated with whatever it is you do to make the uterus contract, it makes for a long and sleepless night for me, your mother. 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m. is not a sufficient night's sleep for me. No longer will I lie in bed quietly until 3:00 a.m. waiting for you to settle down. I will get up earlier to call your bluff (some people refer to it as "nesting"). Yes, the kitchen floor DID need to be mopped. I'm so sorry if it disturbed YOUR sleep.
Tomorrow morning we can clean the bathrooms if you so desire. I'm sure the rest of the family would enjoy fresh homemade biscuits every morning (they gave me heartburn). Last, but not least, we could be at the gym when they open tomorrow morning also. That leisurely mile on the treadmill certainly kept you kicking and the uterus contracting. Oh, that "whump, whump" you felt was my legs hitting my abdomen while cycling. Either settle down, come on out, or learn to deal with it.
I love you.
Mom
*****
I did get a few minutes of dozing done between contractions after The Man and boys left for M's music lessons. Sacagawea and I will head up to the city after lunch to do a bit of shopping and go to my OB appointment.
Here are a few pictures from the baby shower at the church last Saturday night. We now have pretty much all that we need except newborn-sized diapers. We'll remedy that today.
Our baby and the almost 1 year old that just moved in with his grandma were the recipients of the gifts.
M took all of these pictures. Almost all of the family pictures were "headless." Maybe I should explain to him that I can crop them on the computer for the blog.
A knitted blanket and little blue cap.
A pink and white crocheted blanket...with an assurance that a blue and white blanket is all ready for a trade in case Sacagawea doesn't get her wish of a baby sister.
Many, many other gifts plus a nursery monitor as a group gift from the church...
I think it is time for another nap.
I went to bed at about 9:00 last night. I slept well until about 11:30 when I woke up with an intermittent backache. I stayed in bed for a half hour, then I got up and took a hot shower. That seemed to help some, but I still couldn't get to sleep. After tossing and turning for over an hour, I moved to the couch. I've been here for over an hour. I'm a bit more comfortable, but I don't think sleep will come anytime soon, so I thought I might as well update the blog!
The baby seems to be fine. He or she (I'm trying to quit referring to the baby as "It") is still very active. Sometimes the head is down, sometimes up, sometimes the baby is sideways. Hopefully a favorable position will be settled on soon. We have less than a month to go as long as this baby is as prompt as the siblings were! We are still working on names.
On Tuesday there was a surprise party for The Man's assistant. He became a US citizen last week! We had a lot of fun and about 100 people from the valley showed up to congratulate him. It was quite a feat to have a surprise party when nearly the whole town knew about it!
The Man has changed his work schedule so he is off on Wednesdays when we drive up north for M's music lessons. M has his piano lessons in the morning, then we go to the library, eat lunch, and M's violin lesson is in the early afternoon. Once or twice I've ventured on up to the big city to do some shopping either before or after the lessons, but I've decided that it makes for too hectic of a day while I'm pregnant. Now that The Man is going with us (or I can stay at home), I can fit a nap in the schedule. It is a lot easier to nap when I'm not the one driving ;) !
Last week was the first time The Man was able to go to the library up there with us. We were able to get a card because of the reciprocal arrangement they have with neighboring counties. That is pretty cool considering it is in the next state! The library is a lot bigger than our local county library, and I'm excited that they actually have most of the books that I search for.
The kids get quite a bit of their schooling done on the drive up the lessons (one hour from our house to the piano studio) and I'm able to help the younger kids with most of the rest of it during M's 1-hour piano lesson. Anything they don't complete is worked on instead of playing in the park after lunch. That's been incentive enough for them to complete all of their work promptly! They look at their library books during M's violin lesson.
Yesterday was busy with a lot of cooking and cleaning. I tried doing mostly supervising, but sometimes if I want something done a certain way, I just have to do it myself. I think the vacuuming I did is why my back is bothering me this morning.
I'm going to try to go back to bed now. It is only 2 1/2 hours until I'm supposed to get up!
OK, so it is no longer a boring pregnancy! I spent 3 hours in the hospital this morning getting poked, prodded, monitored, and scanned. By noon, baby and I were proclaimed "probably just fine."
Pain. If the pain had occurred at any time other than during pregnancy, or any place other than my abdomen, I would have just tried to ignore it for a few days. When asked to rate my pain on a scale of 1-10, I told the nurse that it wasn't quite the severity, but the unusualness given the fact that I'm pregnant and had no idea what was causing the pain. The Man insisted on getting a wheelchair to take me to the OB department in the hospital, but he allowed me to shuffle out on my own two feet.
My OB said she thinks the pain is caused by the fibroid she found lurking in my uterus during my first ultrasound. Up until now, it hasn't caused any problems. The ultrasound (No! I didn't ask and they didn't tell...we still don't know if it is a boy or a girl!) and blood work didn't indicate any problem with the baby, placenta, or my appendix, and The Man told them not to bother looking for my gall bladder that was removed over 5 years ago :) even though my doctor wanted them to look at that also.
So, there you have it! I'm still in pain, and I've developed an old lady walk as I shuffle around the house. As long as it doesn't get any worse, I'll just deal with it for the next seven weeks since everything else seems to be completely fine and normal.
He's on his way home! We think! One of the sites says his plane never took off, but another says it took off on time. We're being optimistic! We tried calling him this afternoon via the Chilean contact's cell phone about 5 hours before his flight, but he had already been dropped off at the airport.
Busy, busy day scheduled for tomorrow. We're going up to the big city for M's violin lesson (his piano teacher is taking the week off). We'll run some errands while we're up there and we need to be back to our local city by 4:00 for my OB appointment. I think I'll be getting another lecture...not a good one! Back home for supper, then to church for the midweek service, and then home again to tuck the kids in bed. The Man might be home by that time. I hope so!
Getting ready for first bath. Baby S has more hair than all the other children had put together!
She didn't care for the bath, but she loved having her hair styled afterward!
All ready to go home!
Just details below...
