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She sleeps

Lexi is currently asleep...in her crib! This is the first naptime that I've put her down in her crib...usually she sleeps in her swing downstairs during the day, or in my arms. Today though, I wanted to get some things done and didn't want to disturb her in the swing. She's sleeping like a pro after a few minutes of fussing! She's been out for about 90 minutes now...but she looks SO LITTLE in the crib!

2 weeks

Yesterday was Alexis' 2 week birthday. I'm still having a hard time believing this is all real and not just a dream. That she's really here to stay. I was singing to her the other day and just got all choked up...it's probably hormones, but I know alot of it is the realization that a dream of mine has come true. I'm a mom. Never thought I'd be able to say that!

Anyway, as of last Monday, Lexi had gained 6 1/2 ozs. So she now weighs approx 6lbs 6 1/2 ozs. We went out and bought her some premeeie clothes, since alot of the newborn ones don't quite fit yet. Some do, but she swims in others.

I'm also having a hard time healing. I'm still bleeding bright red and (TMI alert) the other night passed a large gob of tissue...at least I think it was tissue...it was stringy so I don't think it was a clot. It was the size of an egg yolk, and that's only the part that didn't fall into the toliet. I have an appointment on Monday to see my OB, and he prescribed a med for me to help clean out my uterus. I also don't think my stitches are healing right. They still bleed and are very sore. I guess it could be the fact that I didn't really "take it easy" after I went home from the hospital. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't lifting heavy objects or walking miles...but I just didn't sit on my butt all day either.

Anyway, DH and I are supposed to go see the White S0x play tonight, and my mom is going to babysit Lexi. Hopefully, we don't get rained out!

Here are some pics from the last week or so of Lexi...

Lexi's first Easter...the day after we came home from the hospital.

Just chillin' in Daddy's arms.

Just lookin' cute!

28

pounds that is. That's how much weight I've lost since my 36 week appointment on April 8th...just 12 days ago. I'm currently wearing my pre-pregnancy jeans. I can't believe it. All my swelling has gone away, and I swear my ankles are thinner than they were before I was pg. Now, don't hate me...remember, I was a plus size gal BEFORE pregnancy. And I only "gained" 12 lbs the whole 36 weeks. I had plenty of reserves just waiting to be eaten up. And so far, they have melted off. I was in shock yesterday when I stepped on the scale to see that I weigh about 15 lbs less than I did back in July. Hooray for me! Now, if only I could drop another 75, I'd be ecstatic!

Alexis has another appointment with the ped today. So I'll try to update later with her stats.

1 week old

Lexi turned 1 week old yesterday. 1 week. It's hard to believe she's been here for that long. I wasn't even expecting her for another 3 weeks, and here she is 1 week old. She had her first trip to the ER on Wednesday. DH was feeding her and noticed after that the skin around her mouth, not her lips, was blue. Around her eyes as well. So after trying to call my aunt, who is a NICU nurse, and getting no answer, we called the on call number at the ped's office. The nurse there told us to take her to the ER. What did we learn when we were seen? That she was cold. Yep, apparently, and I have never read this, infants have poor circulation in that area of their bodies and when they get cold, it can turn blue. The NICU doctor that came down to see her said it's normal, and we should "panic" if her lips and/or tongue turned blue. We felt silly leaving, but even my aunt said later, with babies as small as she is, and given that she was early, you can't take a chance. They can go downhill quickly. So 3 hours and a $100 co-pay later we were on our way back home.

Nights have been interesting. We've been co-sleeping with Lexi. She doesn't like sleeping in her pack-n-play. She fusses and ultimately starts crying. She sleeps on an infant sleep positioner between DH and I. And she sleeps like a log. We've been able to get 4-5 hours straight from her. I know this will change as she gets older, but right now, it's VERY nice. She's a very good baby overall. Doesn't cry too much...as we know when she's hungry already before she cries. She makes this little face and grunts.

Feeding. Well, I had wanted to breastfeed exclusively, but that isn't happening. She failed her blood sugar test once while in the hospital, and she couldn't latch on to me...her mouth was too tiny, so I had to give her formula. Right now, I'm pumping and feeding it to her in a bottle...with formula supplementation. I get about 2oz from each side during each session. Which is enough for 2 bottles for her. But she still gets some formula at night. I'm still trying to put her to breast and try to get her to latch on, but I'm not going to force the issue on her. I'm happy she's getting breast milk at all.

Lexi also lost her umbilical stump on Thursday. At 6 days old! I was so sad to see it fall off (I was changing her diaper when it did, so yes, I have it, and yes, I know it's gross!).

I think that's about all for now. I must go tend to my little angel now...

Alexis Marie - Pictures

These pictures were taken by the hospital on Saturday, April 11th and are my personal favorites.

Birth Story - Part Two.

**Disclaimer** A painful delivery is discussed in this post. I don't mean to frighten anyone currently "due any day"...so please feel free to skip paragraph 4.


I have to say...that even though my water broke, I was feeling NO contractions...NO pain whatsoever. I was very nervous on the drive to the hospital. I didn't feel ready...I thought I'd have another 4 weeks to syke myself up for this moment. When we arrived in L&D I was taken into an exam room and told to strip and put a gown on. Once that was done, I was asked all the routine questions you get asked when going to L&D...last prenatal visit, all that good stuff. Around 11:45 I was taken into my room...and it hit me. This is the room where my daughter is going to be born. My hospital has "birthing suites". You labor, deliver and recover all in the same room. It's nice because you don't have to worry about being moved everywhere. My nurse, Heather, did the paper test to make sure that my water had indeed broke, standard procedure she said. She could tell by the amounts of fluid I was leaking that my water had indeed broken. I was hooked up to the monitors and Heather had to go through my "prenatals". Since I was only 36 weeks, and had just gotten my Group B strep test done the day before, the hospital didn't have my records from the OB yet. So I had more questions to answer. Heather then checked my cervix...which was still "high and tight" talked to Dr T, the OB on call, and he said to go ahead and start my IV and antibiotics.

Now, you have to forgive me as things started happening fast and I don't remember most of it. I had my hubs writing things down for me as far as times and what was happening. I do know that around 1:45ish I started feeling cramps. Nothing crazy, just felt like bad menstrual cramps...and they were all focused on my lower abdomen. At around 2am, my husband left to go back home and pick up some things I had forgotten. We figured, it's our first baby, I'll be here awhile. At 2:30am, my Pitocen was started. And the contractions started coming, at what felt like, every 2 minutes or so. But I could still breathe through them. Hubs got back sometime between then and 3:00, when my cervix was checked again and I was at 2cm. Over the next 45 minutes, I really started having alot of painful contractions...one right on top of the other. I was getting no relief between them. I was given a shot of Stadol at 3:45am, which didn't take the pain away, just made me feel really loopy.

Dr T. likes to have his patients at 3-4cm before an epidural is administered. When I started begging for one, the nurses said that they might as well "go ahead" with it because I'd be 4 cm by the time the anesthesiologist came. At 4:45am I was given my epidural and checked again. I was 7cm. By 5:30am I was fully dilated. Now, while the epidural took away the pain of the contractions, I could still feel the pressure in my bottom, and at about 7am began having the worst back pain on my left side ever imaginable. On a 1 - 10 pain scale, my pain was a 20! There were only certain positions that I was comfortable in. I wasn't allowed to push at 5:30 because baby girl was still high and Dr T wanted her to drop naturally before I started pushing. I think I was finally allowed to push at around 8am.

It was not what I imagined it would be. Don't get me wrong, I didn't imagine a pain free delivery...but I also didn't envision one that was as painful as mine was. I felt no contractions, just the urge to push, but the back pain...OH MY GOD, the back pain. It hurt to push, it hurt NOT to push. My nurse kept telling me I had to rest between contractions, but I couldn't. I had NO relief between them. Dr E. then came in. He's another OB in the practice and he was going to do my delivery. He really got me focused, as I was begging them to just do a c-section and get her out. I don't know if I would have made it without his efforts. I really wanted to give up. I was exhausted and in pain. My poor hubby felt so lost. He wanted to help me, but didn't know what to do. I just remember pushing and pushing...none of that controlled push to the count of 10 bullshit you see on TV. At one point, the delivery of her head I found out later, my urge to push never went away. I must have pushed 10 times. I honestly didn't even feel her crown. The pain in my back was too extreme. The next thing I knew, I could hear Dr E suctioning her...and I asked DH "Is her head out?" and he told me it was. I pushed again and her shoulders and the rest of her was born. It was 9:40am. And it was like someone turned off a pain switch. The pain in my back was immediately gone. I learned then that Baby Girl came out face up, instead of face down, and the back of her head had ridden my sciatic nerve all the way out. That is what caused all the pain I was having.

Alexis was taken to the warmer to be cleaned up, while I was stitched up. I had torn at the last minute when she debuted face up. I was crying the whole time. I couldn't believe she was here. I still can't.

Pictures are coming. The camera is downstairs, and I'm typing this with Alexis on my chest. I'll try to get them up tonight or tomorrow.

Birth Story - Part One

Well, Thursday was just like any other day...I went into the office to work..and my co-workers threw me a shower! Came home...ate dinner with the hubs...watched Survivor and CSI and got ready to go to bed around 9pm. At 10:45 I woke up because I had to pee...nothing new. Went back to bed and fell back to sleep immediately. At 11:00 I woke back up feeling VERY wet. I was pissed because I thought I had peed myself...I didn't realize at the time that only 15 minutes had passed since my last trip to the bathroom. When I got up, wetness just started running down my legs. I ran, or should I say, waddled quickly, into the bathroom and sat on the toilet. I realized then that I had left a trail behind me and a puddle in front of the commode. Nothing else was coming out, and I still didn't know if I had peed myself or if my water broke. But when I stood up again, and felt another gush of fluid, I knew. My water had definitely broken. I called down to DH and said I think we need to go to the hospital...he thought something was wrong, because of what happened the day before with Baby Girl's heart rate. I told him I thought my water had broken and he needed to call my OB for me. Now, since I was only 36 weeks, I hadn't yet packed a hospital bag. So while he called the doc, I began throwing things into a bag that I thought I'd need. Once that was done and we'd let the dogs out one more time, I grabbed a towel to sit on in the car and off we went to the hospital. It was approximately 11:20pm.

Next installment coming soon...

She's here!

Thank you all for your well wishes! Yes, Baby Girl made her debut quite unexpectedly on Friday morning at 9:40am. She was 4 weeks early, but is just perfect. We're home from the hospital and are learning quickly what it means to have a newborn at home. Though I have to say, I'm enjoying EVERY minute of it.

I'll post her birth story a little later, as well as photos. But for now, we're off to see the pedi and pick up some new clothes...all the ones we have are WAY to big for her!

Welcome Precious Angel

Alexis Marie was born today; She entered the world at 9:40 am , weighed in at 6lbs even and 18 1/2 inches long.

I can't stop crying, I'm so happy. I'll be sure to pass along all of your sentiments when I go see Amy and the baby this weekend.-Bridget

Progress

As of 5:13 a.m. Amy was at 7cm dilated.
At 5:51 she was at 10cm and waiting for the baby to drop down further.
At 6:54 they were waiting for the Doctor to come in.
That's all I know at this time. I'll keep you guys posted on her progress.-Bridget

Amy's in Labor!!!!!!!!!!

Hi guys! This is Amy's best friend Bridget. She wanted me to let you know her water broke this evening at 11:00 p.m. It appears baby Alexis is very impatient and is ready to meet us all. More updates as they occur. I'll keep everyone posted.

1st trip to L&D...not by choice

My 36 week appointment started out like any other. U/S to see Baby Girl's fluid level (all good). At that point her heart rate was measured at 154. I was then taken into the NST room to be hooked up to the monitor...the nurse weighed me (only gained 1lb this week, for a total of 12 overall), took my blood pressure (130/74, a little high for me) and started hooking me up. As soon as I heard Baby Girl's heart on the monitor I knew something was off. It sounded too fast. When I looked over, the monitor said 192! The nurse said she was going to get the doctor...I learned later from my DH that her heart rate had been up to 210 at one point! Dr T came in and looked at the readout...her heart rate had not gone below 190, and she wasn't moving. He had me sit up and lay back down...still didn't go down, still didn't move. He buzzed her with that buzzer thing, she kicked it away but didn't move again. He thought that if she was really active her could account for her high heart rate, but since she wasn't...he couldn't. So he told me he wanted me to go to the hospital, possibly to stay overnight. Which really freaked me out! I was able to go home first and log out of my work network and call some co-workers to let them know I'd be out of pocket.

When we got to L&D they put me in an exam room, and put the monitor on...heart rate was in the 150s. I answered all their questions...had blood drawn and was then sent down to imaging to have a bio-physical ultrasound done on Baby Girl. If she scored 8 out of 8...I'd get to go home and not spend the night in the hospital. When the u/s was done, I was sent back to L&D and put back on the monitor and waited for all the results. At this point, we'd been at the hospital a little over 3 1/2 hours. When the nurse came in, she said Baby Girl scored 8 out of 8 on the u/s...my bw was normal, and her heart rate was measuring fine on the monitor. Baby Girl measured in at 6lbs 2 oz...a 9oz gain from last week. The nurse called my doc and I was free to go home. We'd been there for 4 hours. But it was the best 4 hours and most nerve wracking 4 hours of my life. Best because I knew that if ANYTHING was wrong, my doc would deliver her...he made that known in his office. Nerve wracking...well you can imagine why it was nerve wracking.

I slept really well last night, given that I was exhausted from worry. As I've been sitting here typing this, Baby Girl has been squirming and rolling. I am now on 2x per week dr visits. Monday's are just NSTs...Thursdays are AFI's and NST's and see the doc.

Oh and I forgot to mention...I did get my first internal exam...wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Cervix is still high and tight.

I have to say, I'm completely freaked out by everything. I mean, I was scared shitless when I started bleeding at 7 weeks...but that doesn't even come CLOSE to how scared I was yesterday. I knew I needed to keep calm, so that my b/p didn't sky rocket, which I must say I did a good job of, but the thought of something going wrong? OMG! I'm still nervous. And I know I'll be nervous now until Alexis is here.

36 weeks

My 36 week appointment was spent in the hospital L&D ward. I'm exhausted right now...I'll say all is well and will elaborate tomorrow.

29 days and counting

If someone had told me last year that on this day I'd be 29 days away from my due date, I would have punched them...then cried. When our first cycle failed in May of 2007 it took be the better part of a year to recover emotionally. I was a mess. I felt like a failure...as a wife to my husband, as a woman. And it wasn't easy for me to pull myself out of that...especially given that I was surrounded by babies and/or pregnant women. Don't get me wrong...we didn't just sit on our asses and do nothing. DH was seeing a male infertility specialist and we'd talked to some other RE's...but it wasn't until last summer that I found myself in a place where I could go through another IVF cycle. July 31st was my last period. I started stims a few days later. ER was on August 13th. I was excited that they retrieved the same amount of mature eggs as my first cycle. Even more excited that we had 4 fertilize. Then heartbroken when we learned on transfer day that 3 of our embryos had arrested and we only had one remaining. DH was skeptical on transferring just that one...but I couldn't fathom having gone through almost a full cycle without at least trying. So we did. And on August 28th, I received the call that I will forever remember. It was the news I had been waiting almost 5 years to hear. We were pregnant.

And now here I am, a mere 29 days from my due date. Feeling Baby Girl squirm around and stretch. And I'm an emotional wreck again. I am nervous. I am excited. I am scared. I am giddy. I am overwhelmed. I am in awe. The thought that in 29 days or less, I will be responsible for a life, that will be completely dependent on me, is crazy. Will I know what to do? Will I be a good mom? How will I cope with very little sleep? What if she's a "colicky" baby? I know I don't need the answers to these questions...that things will come to me. Of all the emotions running through me right now, the one that is at the forefront is the love I have for this baby. It trumps every other thought and emotion I have. Alexis will always know how much she is wanted and loved.

Jibber jabber

We had our second installment of our 4D ultrasound this weekend...Baby Girl was still not cooperating. She's head down and was FAST asleep. No amount of juice, cold water or jiggling of the belly would rouse her...but wouldn't you know...2 minutes AFTER we left she was WIDE AWAKE. I think she was playing possum. She doesn't want mom & dad to know what she "looks like" until she's born. So we only got profile shots again. The tech said we could come back and try again, but given our history with u/s and Baby Girl's stubbornness, we declined and took the pictures and DVD that they made. I'll try to update the Baby Pics link on the sidebar sometime this week with new pics and maybe even part of the video.

Remember I said that my sister inherited the creative gene in the family? She proved it once again yesterday when she came over to take my maternity photos for me. She's taken photography classes in college and has one of those fancy schmancy cameras that can take pictures at lightning speed. So I had asked her if she was willing...and she was. We previewed the pics on the computer, but she's going to do some in black and white for me...as well as photoshop out some of those UGLY red stretch marks. I'm VERY grateful to have a sister who is creative like she is. I just feel bad because I know I won't be able to do the same for her when her time comes...sure, I'll do everything for her that I can...but I'm not the crafty type. I can barely put together a scrapbook, let alone anything else! But I know she doesn't do these things because she thinks they'll be reciprocated. I know she's genuinely excited to become an auntie. When I get the CD from her, I'll post some pics.

Next order of business. And this may be TMI for some, so feel free to skip. This morning when I woke up and went to the bathroom, there was an itty bitty bit of blood on the tp when I wiped. The best way to describe it is a pin head sized bloody booger. That was at 5:00 this morning. Haven't had anything since. I'm not freaking out about it, as I've had no cramping or contractions...and Baby Girl is moving around as I type this. Just was weird.

Got me thinking as to whether or not I'll actually KNOW when the time comes. I mean I'm barely 36 weeks. But all my family thinks I'll have her in April...with my mom picking April 20th! They all picked a date. My sister picked the 26th, DH the 27th. My dad picked May 1st...and he was the latest. I can't remember the dates my in-laws picked. Maybe I should start my own Baby Pool!

Blood Donations

I think I may have mentioned here once before that DH and I have decided to donate Baby Girl's cord blood after she's born. I had filled out the ubber long medical questionnaire and sent it to the Cryo Bank back in February. I finally got the call this morning that we passed the medical review and they were sending out the collection kit today. For some reason, this hit me like a ton of bricks. Baby Girl is coming...and soon. I'm happy with our decision to donate. Before I was pregnant, and when I wasn't cycling, I was a regular at our local blood donation center. I donated whole blood, double red blood cells or platelets, whatever their demand was on the day of my appointment. It felt good to know that by spending an hour or 2 (platelets takes about 2 hours to donate) at the center, that I was helping someone. The same holds true for donating Baby Girl's cord blood. DH and I contemplated storing it, should we have some need for it in the future. But when we discussed it with our OB, we found that given our medical backgrounds, there really was no medical reason we could foresee for storing it. Neither of us have any childhood cancers in the family, or any other diseases. So we couldn't really see paying to store it. And I couldn't fathom throwing away something that could be a life saver to someone else. So donation it is. The Cryo Bank will send me the collection kit. And the delivering OB will draw the cord blood into it after the placenta is delivered. I then need to call the Cryo Bank and they will dispatch a courier to pick it up. No cost to me. And my OB doesn't charge extra to collect it. The only problem is if I deliver on a weekend, we can't collect the cord blood...as the Cryo Bank won't be able to dispatch a courier before the blood "expires". So here's hoping she makes her appearance during the week!

Did anyone else donate or store their baby's cord blood?

Stinky

OK this is really embarrassing but I'm putting it out there as I really want this blog to include everything in my pregnancy. Along with the elephant ankles, I've also developed really stinky sweaty feet. Now, my feet never really sweated too much before, and didn't really ever "STINK"...but lately, LOOK OUT! OMG! My feet have been sweating SO much, and the odor...it could knock anyone on their behinds! Yesterday, I had been at home, so my shoes were off most of the day. When DH got home, I asked him to please rub my feet in an effort to try to get some of the fluid circulating and out of there...well, I guess my feet reeked, because the look on DH's face when I put them in his lap...even now, sitting at work, my feet are all sweaty, and I know if I try to kick off my shoes to cool them off I'll "smoke out" all my co-workers. I've even brought baby powder with me...but it isn't helping.

I know another blogger wrote about her smelly feet, but I can't remember who it was. Anyone have any assvice for me?

35 weeks

Just got back from my 35 week appointment:

B/P: 128/74
Weight Gain: 3lbs for a total of 11lbs all together
Baby's Est Weight: 5lbs 9oz! She's a porker! LOL

I also did an NST. It was amazing to hear her heartbeat for 30 minutes...and hear everytime she moved. Since my placenta is anterior (in front) I don't feel as many of her kicks and punches as I would if the placenta was in the back. But man...she didn't like the monitor...she kept moving around and I felt all of it. The best part was when she got the hiccups...I could hear the hiccup on the monitor and feel it at the same time. Her heartrate ranged from the 140s to the 170s during the monitoring time. Then she went to sleep and her heartrate stayed right around 155. I also got to see her on u/s. She's SO big! I did get to see her swallowing (hence the hiccups) and moving around. I do have one pic of her, but it's not a good one...but I'll upload it later anyway.

I can't believe she's almost here!