Monday, October 1, 2012

Well that's better

Had a bit of a phone tragedy in august, and ended up getting a new one last month...and only this week realised there was a blogger app!!

So quick recap...
4 month old Aimee:
- rolls from back to belly and gets mad that she can't move forward (refuses to roll from belly)
- tried rice cereal and didn't care for it.
- hit a growth spurt and went for two weeks with multiple night wakeup. Otherwise is sleeping 830- 5, eating, then sleeping til 8 or 9.
- laughs all the time at her puppy and daddy
- 13.9lb, 24.5", size 2 diapers, and mainly 3month and some 3-6month clothes. Still some 3 month sleepers, more 6 month now.

5 month Aimee:
- rolls both ways freely, is "inchworm crawling" (hike her bottom, the slides on her face)
- discovered she can move backwards in her walker
- sits in her high chair like a big girl, loves watching mommy in the kitchen from her high chair.
- still doesn't like cereal or yogurt, but likes green beans
- purposely grabs items, and has learned to use teething rings
- chews EVERYTHING
- still nursing every 2 hours in the afternoon, but can go as long as 4 hours in between in the morning
- started using cloth diapers occasionally...wears a medium gdiaper
- somewhere around 15lb, still in size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes. Mainly 6 month sleepers. Medium gdipes.
- stole mom's pickle to teethe on while visiting ggmom Mikucki and liked the taste

In other news, Logan's allergy shots and new diet seem to be helping. He just got groomed the other day and his groins look almost normal, and his armpits are only discolored, not black. His coat did thin out more, but I definitely see a difference in him. Now if only I could get Jason to.give them every now and then! At least he helps me when it's time.

Lots of new stuff at the house, too. Jason installed wainscotting and a chair rail in the foyer 4th of July weekend, and a new sink and garbage disposal labor day weekend. This weekend was our seasonal ant/spider removal. I'm sloooooowly getting the craft closet in the front room organised. I already have two garbage bags full of yarn and fabric to give to a friend (after I already gave her a big shopping bag in the spring - guess I realised I won't use it!) I have the fabric down to one big bin and the yarn down to a big bin and a couple WIPs in smaller bins. So much better than it was. I just need to get over my hoarder instincts...good practice for when I do the basement after Christmas!!

Jason is really branching out with his photography, too. He's now the official go to guy for catalog pics at work, and for corporate events. Also we're going to rickets glen next weekend to take pictures of the foliage. Um pretty excited, especially since we bought a backpack carrier for Aims today. :)

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Random thoughts while baby naps..

My sweet baby girl...so hard to believe she'll be 4 months old in a little less that two weeks! She's growing and changing so much so fast...

I've been back to work for about three weeks now. I hated leaving her, but it's nice to get back into a routine and figure out how "real life" is going to work for us. Right now I take her up to my parents' house around 1/1:30, let her nurse, then leave around 2 to head in to work. Then they either drop her off on their way to my mom's night class at RACC, or Jason picks her up before he goes home. So far I'm not too keen on it...it always seems like there's a fiasco involved with getting her home. One night my parents didn't leave until almost an hour after they told me they were going to, so I didn't know where she was for almost an hour and a half. (Yes, she was with my parents, and I was aware of that, but I didn't know WHERE lol) She tends to be pretty fussy for about an hour after she gets home each time, too. Then last week she had a complete meltdown when Jason got to the house, and was hysterical for 25 minutes until she realized Daddy was holding her. Thursday she was with Nanny and Poppop Snyder (my MIL's parents), and she did MUCH better, so I wonder if it's just that she is overstimulated at my parents' house.

She's on a growth spurt right now, too. My little sleeping beauty has been putting herself to sleep between 8:30 and  9:30 every night, and sleeps til anywhere from 7:30-9am every morning. This has been going on for weeks - pretty much 1/2-3/4 of her life! Now suddenly last week she went on nap strike, and as of Thursday started waking up to eat 1-2x a night. I'm hoping it's passing now, since last night she only woke up to eat once, and woke up once because her bed was soaked with urine. That in itself was odd, since she's never soaked the bed before, but I worked a couple hours of overtime last night, and Jason said she hadn't had a wet diaper since I left at quarter to seven last night. I just went through her drawers and closet today and pulled out a bunch of stuff that was too small, too. :'(

And then we have poor Mr Logan...he's been itching something terrible since we brough Aimee home, but we thought it was just seasonal allergies. The longer we tried to treat it at home, the worse it got, so we finally broke down and took him to the vet the other week. We ended up giving him a round of prednisone and antibiotics since his skin was so bad. This has been an ongoing problem since we got him, so we finally agreed to get him allergy tested. Turns out he's allergic to pretty much everything we've ever fed him! Corn, sweet potato/white potato, alfalfa, pork, peanuts, peas, and soy - ironic since he LOVES popcorn, peanut butter, and mashed potatoes! I felt so bad when we got the results back, since we've always given him his pills with a little peanut butter! He's also allergic to a lot of grass and tress, though the vet said that's probably not what's causing the reactions. Thankfully the company that does allergy testing gave us a list of foods to look for that we can give him, so we were able to find something to feed him without too much trouble.

Well, I really need to get in the shower - Aimee's napping so it's the perfect time since she's on a "mommy kick" today. I have my annual eval at work in about an hour and a half, and I'll find out then when I'll be "Per Diem" status. Basically I dictate my schedule, and make $12 more an hour - $15 including shift differential. perfect for me, cuz then I can avoid having a babysitter more than once a week, and can work fewer hours for the same pay!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

She's got eyes like the bluest skies...

My baby girl is three months old today...so hard to believe I'd already been pushing for almost an hour at this moment. Now I'm sitting here watching her play with her giraffe lovey in her swing, waiting for her to decide she's hungry again. She does so much now, it's crazy how fast she's changed...and how much she's changed in only a month!

Aimee at 3 months:

* Rolls on her side from her back/belly (and slept most of last night on her side)
* has rolled from her back to belly three times (with very little help)
* rolled from belly to back once or twice (with help)
* is making more distinguishable vowel sounds (I also caught her saying "mamamamamamama" yesterday!)
* has started going anywhere from 2.5-4 hours between meals
* falls asleep anytime between 8:30 and 9:30 every night, and wakes up between 7 and 8 AM.
* loves pulling skirts/blankets over her face
* occasionally grabs for toys
* occasionally reaches for me or Jason when waking up from a nap
* teething - still working on the same 4 teeth as last month (all canines!)
* loves to watch the puppy
* does "baby crunches" trying to sit straight up in her chair
* loves her bumbo and walker, since she can sit up like a big girl in them
* splashes like crazy in the tub and wading pool
* likes "boobsicles" (breastmilk pops)
* graduated from the bassinet to the pack'n'play, (and now lets me sleep a little longer since she can roll over and play a little easier)
* size 2 diapers, 0-3 and 3m clothes, 3-6 and 6m sleepers
* still has blue eyes, though most days they're more grey than blue
* hair looks anywhere from blonde/red to med brown, depending on light (eyebrows are blonde/red, so I'm gonna guess it stays light)

I'll update next week with a height and weight, since we'll be at the doctor Friday for her next round of shots. Last month she was 22.5" and 11.8lb (9lb on their scale, but we found out it was off by 2, so I'm going by what I got weighing her at home).


Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Aimee part 2

So I guess I better finish this story, since I go back to work in just TWO DAYS!! Holy cow, where did the time go?!

Disclaimer: this is reeeeeaaallly long.

So I left my appointment with Robin extremely frustrated and angry, and feeling disrespected. After crying on the phone to both Jason and my mom, I ended up calling off work. That was probably the best decision I could have made that day. I'm fairly convinced that I would've gone into labor that night if I had gone to work, and things would have drug out a whole lot longer than they did. I ended up meeting with my mom and her friend/boss/partner (long story) Sandy, and going to the farmer's market for a couple hours, then came home and made Jason go for a long walk with Logan and I.

I barely looked pregnant from the back. If you didn't know I used to have a tiny butt and waist, you wouldn't know it.

Thursday was a long, depressing day. Pretty much nothing happened all day, including me doing anything more strenuous than get off the couch to pee. J got home from work around 4:30, and around 6:30 I started having dull contractions much lower than I had ever experienced before. I didn't say anything at first, because I didn't want him to get all worked up for nothing...but by 11pm I knew it was labor. We both went to bed, and I slept until 4:30am. (at this point they were about 15 minutes apart).

about a week before she was born...waiting patiently for "his" baby
About 6am I called the answering service, and find to my dismay that Robin was the midwife on call.

*seriously??*

So I go back to bed and try to go back to sleep. Woke up again around 9 and called the office, and Lilly tells me Robin is on call until 5pm, but if I can't hold out that long, she will have Dr C (the overseeing OB) personally come to deliver.

To make a looooong, drawn out weekend a lot shorter, Friday and Saturday ended up being a series of walking, bouncing on the ball, and napping as much as I could. I called the midwife Friday night when my contractions were consistently 8 minutes apart but bearable, and she told me to try to sleep and call her in the morning. Called again Saturday around 4pm and Tammy told me to go to triage and get checked. Unfortunately I was only 1cm and 99%...not a whole lot of progress from my 36/37w visit...so we were sent home. Ironically, as soon as we left my contractions got 5x worse.

How 90% of Easter weekend was spent...on the ball
Fast-forward to 4:30 Sunday morning, and I am in agony. Jason slept about 3 hours, I dozed between contractions for about 2 hours, and spent the majority of my time either in the shower, sitting backwards on a kitchen chair sucking ice chips, or limping around in circles waiting for the hot water heater to refill. I had kept putting off calling Tammy, because I was terrified that I hadn't progressed and would be sent home again. So I was now in my 58th hour of labor, the tears running down my face with every contraction. J finally convinced me to call her, and I pretty much lost it while I was on the phone with her. I told her I couldn't do it anymore, but I was so afraid I hadn't progressed, and how tired I was, and how the shower wasn't helping at all anymore. She listened, then told me exactly what I needed to hear.
"Come in. I'm already here. We'll check you out, and if you haven't progressed I'll get you something to help you sleep."

So back to triage we went. I thought I was going to rip someones head off when the nurse (same one I had the day before!) told me she was probably going to discharge me because I had only gotten to 2cm. Thankfully Tammy was still in the building, and within 90 minutes of arriving in triage I was admitted, in a room, and talking with Tammy about what she was going to give me. :)

I ended up getting IV fluids and a combination shot of Dilaudid and Benadril in the butt, which had me looping out and not caring about my contractions in about 5 minutes. I remember I texted a couple people to let them know what was going on, though for the life of me I can't remember who other than Monica and Sara from work (it was my weekend to work, and she was working, so she was keeping everyone updated). I sent Jason to the car to get the bags, and called my mom - though again, I have no idea what I talked to her about other than telling her I was having contractions and didn't care. I also remember telling Jason to get a picture of the monitor on my belly.

totally flying high lol
I managed to sleep a couple hours, thank goodness, only waking up when I had to pee or when they needed me to roll over because Aimee's heartrate was being funky from the meds. I also remember waking up around 11 or so and fighting with J for about a half hour for him to go get something to eat (at that point, neither of us had eaten anything since 6pm the day before). Noonish I started feeling the contractions pretty bad again, and asked if I could have something more, because I really did not want to go through that again. Tammy called back and told me to get up and walk the halls, and she would check me when she came in and decide then if I could have something.

So we did a couple laps around the nurse's station,stopping when a contraction hit so I could lean on J, then went back to the room so I could pee. By then Tammy was back and ready to check me, and I was at 7! The monitor and fluids came off at that point, and my IV got taped up so I could go back in the shower. For the next three hours, if they weren't making me lay in bed to check on Aimee (and trying to talk me into letting them break my water), I was in the shower. Jason went back and forth between standing in the bathroom feeding me ice chips, and sitting outside the bathroom door (when the steam got too bad for him to stand it - I'm shocked I didn't scald myself with how hot the shower was) Finally, I hit the same point I was when I had come in (painwise). Tammy poked her head in the bathroom, and found me in tears, again begging for SOMETHING to cut the pain even a little. But nooooo, she sent me back to bed to check me again.

That check revealed I was finally at 9. (it's now 4pm) So Tammy finally talked me into letting her break my water, and then we waited. When the first contraction post break hit, I found out what labor pains REALLY feel like. If I felt like a hot knife was twisting around my groin/lower abdomen before, now it was like ten of them, plus a midget punching me as hard as they can.

To condense 95 minutes of pushing into something that doesn't make me sound like a wimp...I ended up going from my side, to sitting straight up, to hands and knees. I won't like, I fought like hell every time they tried to get me to move. One nurse - Jackie - almost got kicked in the head three or four times. The other one - Tiffany (who I knew from nursing school! [I was so glad she was there!]) - got her hands slapped a couple times when she was holding the monitor against my belly mid-contraction. But once I got on my hands and knees, it got a little easier...especially when someone started putting pressure on my lower back. I did a lot of crying, dry heaving, and begging for pain meds. I kept telling them I wasn't going to push, and in the middle of the sentence my body would take over and start pushing on its own, which was really weird and scary (and cool now that I think back on it). I refused a mirror, though now I think it would've helped to see my progress. Once her head got past my cervix and I felt a little relief, I remember feeling so discouraged because it wasn't over yet. Then the ring of fire...oh my god...I felt like I was splitting down the middle both top and bottom. I already had a hot compress on my bottom, but at that point I yelled for one at the front because I thought I was going to split up all the way up. At that point Tammy had left and Jenn had taken over, though I'm not sure how long it had been since that happened. Once I hit that ring of fire, I let out once good scream, then my brain kicked back in and told me if that pain was ever going to go away, I had to get that baby out NOW. So I finally started pushing for real and in earnest, not relieving the pressure unless I had to move up higher in the bed. They told me not to push unless I was having a contraction, but since I didn't hear any alarms, I knew they wouldn't truly tell me to stop unless Aimee was in distress, and I just kept going. J said later that he could tell I was pushing even if I wasn't making noise because the muscles in my back would ripple and raise up. It only took a couple minutes once I really got into it, and her head was out. Since I was hands and knees, once they suctioned her (it was hard to stop pushing long enough to let them do that!), they didn't touch her until she landed on the footrest behind me. Then they just shooshed her up a little so I could reach her, and helped me roll over and scootch up in bed once I pulled her up into my chest. (I forgot she was still attached to me and tried to pull her a little too high - ouch!)

The next hour is kind of a blur , but it was all the normal baby activity, plus me getting 2 stitches. When J finally got to hold her, I realized I was bleeding...more than what seemed normal. Turns out, since I refused Pit after delivered and hadn't peed in hours (after getting 2 liters of IV fluids), my uterus was refusing to stop bleeding. Jenn had already left, so the OB intern came in and did a uterine sweep (which I swear was worse than the last three days combined!), then ordered a "meso bullet", which was basically a Pit suppository. I also got on the bedpan and peed more than I have in one shot in the last year. After that, things finally slowed down, though the next day I passed a clot/scab almost as big as my fist (which apparently they were expecting, since they didn't rush me off to surgery or anything). Amazingly enough, I had heartburn while I was pushing (just like I did pretty much my entire pregnancy), and it totally disappeared almost the instant she hit the table!

Okay, I think this is long enough...weirdly enough I can't wait to get back into this thing now that life is going back to "normal".

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Aimee part 1

My baby girl turned 6 weeks old on Sunday.

SIX!

It's almost impossible to believe. Sometimes it seems like she was just born, tiny and perfect and needy...and other times I look at this infant...no, baby...and wonder what we did before we had her. She's so big, so smart, so...vocal. Hang on a minute, she dropped her nuk. Okay, we're good for a little bit now.

So...going back about 8 weeks...the last three weeks I was at work were pure torture. I would start getting sciatic pain starting after 7-8 hours, and would finish out the night limping. Everyone had their opinions about when she was coming, how big/little I was, how big she was going to be, etc. I finally got to the point where I had to try to ignore everyone because I would get too frustrated. Two weeks before she was born I dropped down to 8-hour shifts because of the physical (and mental) stress. Monica was able to go to an appointment with me, and I thought she would cry when she heard Aimee's heartbeat. :)

one of the last "photoshoots" Jason did for me - 38 weeks


Then the week she was born...I got to work Monday (the 2nd) around 2:30...clocked in at 2:45 like I'm supposed to, and started getting report from the dayshift charge nurse. During report I started getting pains like a side stitch that came and went. Over the course of the next 8 hours the pain got progressively worse and more constant. I was in charge, so didn't really have time to sit down and time them. I got home around midnight, and the pains continued until about 2am when they finally stopped. I was soo mad; I really was hoping that was it and that she was coming. :-/

Anyway, Wednesday (the 4th) I went in for my 39/40w appointment. On the way there, I got stuck in three traffic jams, and called them to let them know I was going to be a few minutes late. The receptionist cheerfully told me she would relay the info Robin, who would be seeing me that day.

*crap*

All I'm gonna say is I wasn't much impressed with Robin the last time I saw her.

So anyway, I get to my appointment, and I get stuck waiting in the room for about 30 minutes. Normally I wouldn't care, since I was about 10 minutes late. However, with any of the other midwives I didn't wait longer than 10 minutes to be seen...and I could hear her talking out in the hall for at least 10 of those 30 minutes. >_> When she finally came in she started asking the routine questions...when she got to fetal movements, I told her it was a little less than usual over the past week, but my understanding from what the others told me was that this was normal for late pregnancy as the baby is running out of room to move. Well, she starts flipping out about how that's not true, she doesn't understand why people are told that because it's the biggest misconception about late pregnancy, and basically tried to make an ass out of me for thinking everything was going normal (which I knew for a fact it was). When I could finally get a word in, I explained that I still got my 10+ kicks in an hour if I drank/ate sugar and laid down, and that I was told that was fine. She finally laid off of that, and did my measurements...and got a fundal height 5 inches higher than the week before! I can't even begin to explain my astonishment at this, especially since she was measuring up into my ribcage, and the last two appointments (two different midwives), they measured about two inches below my ribs and commented on how low Aimee was. I think the best part of that appointment was realizing Aimee didn't like her either - she normally stayed very still during appointments, and at this appointment she kicked every time Robin touched my belly, and hid from the doppler. When she was getting ready to wrap things up, I explained about all the false labor I'd been having and she refused to check to see if I had progressed at all because "it wouldn't tell her if I was going into labor soon anyway", and she wasn't worried about the fact that I had lost a pound in a week because "it just meant I was getting ready for labor" - without explaining why.

I left in tears of frustration.It's marked in my chart that I am never to be scheduled with her again.

Aimee's fussing, I'll have to add more later.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

A month? Another whole month??

I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by! It's been a whole month since I've posted on here, and yet I feel like I was just trying to find the words to catch it up a few days ago. At the same time, it feels like even longer than that.

Well to start off, we hit the 37 week mark tomorrow!!!! Yep, full term ALREADY. (Not soon enough, my body tells me lol). At my appointment with the midwife yesterday, she said Aimee is somewhere around station -2, though it was kind of hard to get a sense of where she really is bc she's so tiny and I'm only a fingertip dilated. What was really exciting is that she said I'm about 80% effaced already! I'm not sure what was going through my head yesterday morning - must have something to do with only getting about 4 1/2 hours of sleep since I worked the night before - but for some reason when she said that I thought it meant I had a ways to go before I am fully effaced. It wasn't until I texted my mom, and she started blowing up my phone while I was trying to get report at work that I realized how close I am!!

I said last time that I was measuring a little behind, and they were thinking of an ultrasound if she still measured behind at the next visit (last one before this) - well, we caught up a little at that visit, measuring 33cm at 35 weeks, but we're still measuring 33cm now!! As the midwife Nancy said, "This little one just does not want to grow on our schedule!" I could only laugh when she said that, because for as much as she has dropped in the last couple weeks (a definite difference between last week and this week), I can STILL feel her feet and legs in my ribs as much, if not more, than before.

My fingers started swelling last weekend...I had to take my engagement ring off last Thursday, as I couldn't tolerate having both rings on at the same time. I'm looking at my hand now, and realizing that I only have a few days before my wedding band will need to come off. My finger is all puffy around the ring, and it's uncomfortable when I think about it. Jason wasn't too happy that I had to take my diamond off (purely for the the fact that it's the first expensive thing he bought me), but I have it on the chain I always wear, so at least it's on my person, if not attached to my body. Blood pressure has been fairly good though - had a spike when I first got to work on Tuesday, but it came down after a couple hours. Couple contractions here and there, but nothing regular or even remotely close together. (we're talking like HOURS apart)

******

I know it's selfish of me to say it, but I am just sooooooo over this pregnancy. After two weeks, I knew that being pregnant was NOT going to be something I enjoyed, and I was right. I hate not feeling like myself to begin with, and I haven't felt "normal" since a week before I got my bfp. I hate when my body does things I can't control, and so far feeling the baby move is the epitome of not being able to control sensations I am experiencing. I can honestly say I DON'T enjoy feeling movement, other than having the satisfaction that yes, my child is alive and thriving. I am very happy about that, but I wish I didn't have to feel/see it. I'm watching her stick her bottom and knee out the side of my belly right now (probably in protest of the mild contractions I've been experiencing since I sat down), and it seriously makes me feel seasick to watch my abdomen roll around like that. I keep expecting a parasite or alien to rip its way out of my body. Seriously. I really doubt I'm going to miss that. I know I will miss being able to tote her around without all the crap I'm going to have to carry soon, and I'm going to miss how easy it was to feed/transport her before she came out, but I'm so over being the human incubator.

Is that bad?

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Baby belly (or lack thereof)

Funny how a lot of the people I follow here on Blogger are having blog identity crisis, or hardcore writer's block. I've felt like that ever since I started here lol. Anywho...

So the heart monitor came back with absolutely no "events" captured. Even when I felt "palpitations" from practically running through Lowes trying to catch up to J, even when I felt them while sitting in my chair doing nothing (twice), nothing captured on the monitor. Which is a good thing, since it means it's pretty much in my head and I'm just being sensitive to my body and blood pressure changes. The echo came back with only minor things that the cardiologist said could be old, or it could be from being pregnant, but he wasn't concerned about it unless I started having issues because of how minor they were. So $80 in copays and some mild irritation later, at least I know my heart's good n can tell my family doc I finally got it checked out. Go me.

I just got home from my 32-week appointment. Aimee's heartrate has been running in the 140's-150's, and today was no exception. The midwife was a little concerned that my fundal height hadn't increased at all since my last appointment two weeks ago (30cm), but said it could be because baby girl is starting to engage. According to the midwife, "we're not going to worry about it until your next appointment". If it hasn't "caught up" by then, she wants to do an ultrasound to make sure Aimee's growth is on track. I actually am not all that concerned at this point, because I weighed a hair over 7lb at birth, and her daddy (as big and solid as he is now!) only weighed 6lb 5oz when he was born - so I'm kind of expecting her to be on the smaller side. We'll see what happens though - a lot can change in two weeks, especially with pregnancy.

On that note, I'm going to leave you with a couple belly pictures J took 3 weeks ago, and try to take a short nap before I have to leave for work. :)