Contractions

Hard contractions this morning, feeling a little annoyed and ready to give up being hopeful about them. But I wont of coarse! At least I know that if I don't have a baby by my next Dr apt on Tues, they promised to let me be induced next week. So maybe the 10th or 11th of November. Either way, I'm happy to know that by next weekend I'll have a little infant in my arms to hold.

Since Last Dr Visit...

I have been having very painful and sharp contractions that are nothing more than sporadic. They can't be timed properly because they can't seem to make up their mind on what they want to do! Well, last night I was up a great deal of the night because of them. They were coming 10 then 20 then 15 then 8 then back to 15 minutes apart for about 4 hours. They would stop for two hours and then start up again with the same annoying patters. UGH! I wish my body would decide whether or not we are going to actually have a baby! I called into the Dr office to let them know what's been happening and they went ahead and made room for me to go in to get checked. I am now at 4cm, but because the contractions aren't 10 minutes apart consistently for and hour or more they wont submit me to the hospital (and put me out of my misery). It just might be another long night.

38 week visit

Went in, not really wanting to be at the Dr office because I felt like there wouldn't be any progress. Things have been happening, but rather slowly and miserably, not to mention painfully too. I am now dilated to 3cm and Dr still concerned about him coming fast. He also went ahead and stripped my membranes to get my cervix dilated quicker and to hopefully push for starting labor within 24 hours.

37 weeks

Today's Dr visit went well. The baby is looking great with size, weight, and heart rate! He is definitely dropped and sitting right on top of my thinning cervix. The Dr highly recommended that I get to the hospital at the absolute first sign of labor, even if the contractions are only 8 or more minutes apart. This baby is ready and he's going to come fast! This makes me a little bit nervous! I was actually to the point of decided to have an epidural but if he comes as fast, if not faster, than my last baby then I wont even have that option. Poor Phil! I don't want to put him through that! I'm also even more nervous about going into labor in the car or at home. We are about thirty minutes away from the hospital and that's if it's not rush hour. I hope this little guy corporates with us and waits until night time when Daddy is home and the roads are clear of cars!

Belly Compares

I have been feeling HUGE lately, and I swear I am bigger with this one than my other two! But then as I have looked back at pics I really am about the same size. It's just been a while! Here is a pic of the prego belly with Bryson
The prego belly with McKenna

And now the third child. The angles aren't all the same so they really aren't too accurate, but it made me feel better to see them! Oh these last few weeks are killer!!

Ultrasound Visit

Wed afternoon I went in for another ultrasound apt due to the Dr's being concerned for the size of my baby, or the size of my belly. It was great to get to see him again before getting to meet him in person! What a cutie! And best of all, the kids were able to come see him as well as my mother-in-law and Liz. The kids were so excited for this opportunity and I'm so glad I was able to share it with them.
Our little man is looking great! He looks absolutely perfect and he was measuring at 4lbs 3oz. For him to be that big at 34 weeks is an excellent sign in my book because already he is bigger than my last two kids by this time! Bryson came full term at 4lbs 13oz and Kenna was also full term at 5lbs 4oz. I just have small babies.
I just got the results from my Dr looking over the notes and everything from the ultra sound, and instead of summarizing it for you, I'm going to copy and paste.

Dear Alicia Hall,

A review of your follow up OB Ultrasound has been completed. The report(s) show that the test(s) were normal. Your baby looks fine! The fetal growth is in the 25th percentile which correlates to the size of your other babies.

Follow-up is needed, according to your regular prenatal visits.

Your Health Care Team,
Susan A Harwood, PA-C


I am so glad the the Dr's are beginning to realize that this size and the way I look is normal for ME! I am all baby in the belly and I have a tilted uterus. I think they are going to stop harassing me about it now. =)

Contractions

Monday morning I was woken up around 4am with sharp contractions. These definitely weren't the typical braxton hicks from before, this was the real deal and I knew I needed to time them. They were coming every five minutes, then two minutes and back to five; as well as lasting more than a minute long. We went into the hospital and went through all the paper work and I was hooked up to the machine. Of coarse by the time you get to the hospital everything settles down, no matter how bad it was before you got there. I even timed them for more than an hour before I told Phil that perhaps we should go in, especially since I was already dilated from the fall I had two weeks ago and my last child came rather fast. Long story short, I ended up with a urinary tract infection, which actually causes pre-term labor. So they gave me a shot to put a stop to the contractions and gave me a prescription for the infection. I was told to eat more, drink more, and stay down more.

33 week update

Yay, only seven weeks left to go! That still seems like a while. I've had to take it easy since the fall that I had two Saturdays ago. There is a lot more pressure now and my hips hurt as well as there being more cramping and braxton hicks. Yes, I report all of this to my dr and they all say... "oh that's normal". To me all they are saying is 'who cares'. Whatever.
I am dilated and I think I have dilated more, but who cares, right? I really don't mind having him early, as long as he is healthy. I am a pro at little babies and I'm terrified to push anything out that is larger than 6lbs. We'll see what happens. Phil and I both think that he might come early. I do have my 34 week dr visit next week, which I am glad for because it's with the dr that I really like! And they have me going in for another ultra sound to make sure that our little guy is growing accurately because I carry so small. I still think I'm bigger with him than my other two. At least I get to see him again on camera!

Pressure

There has been a lot of pressure lately.... Not sure if that's a good sign or not. Pressure on my cervix and pelvic bone. I have to take it easy most days, which can be frustrating as there are so many things I would like to just do and get done. But that's alright, this little guy is more important! I am now officially 30 weeks into my pregnancy and last night was the first I've experienced some contractions. Now based on how they were measuring out they were more like braxton hicks, just very painful. I had four within one hour. The first three were five minutes apart and then I had a few more that were getting further apart and more tolerable. It was a very long night for me and I'm just keeping an eye on things today. I have my Dr apt tomorrow morning where I'll get checked and we'll see from there.
In the meantime, I'm going to spoil myself with bubble baths and pray that I can just get through this week with Kenna's birthday party.

Dr Visit

Today was my last monthly visit and first two week visit. All went well. The Dr measured my belly and is concerned about my size, except for the fact that I carry a tradition in myself to carry my babies rather small. She wants to keep an eye on it and also wants me to schedule for another ultra sound upon reaching my 36-38 week mark. As long as my measurements and weight numbers are in balance with each other, then there wont be a concern. However, if they aren't in balance then they would consider pushing my due date back. YUCK! I'm not too worried about it though. I'll be happy if I can have him before Thanksgiving and I have made that an order!
I also had my glucose testing today. I never noticed this with my other children, but apparently the sugar in the drink really took an effect on this little guy! He was so hyper..you should have seen my belly while I waited to get my blood drawn! All kinds of moving around. If effected me a little too as I realized why he couldn't sit still for even a minute I found that rather funny and started laughing. Good times!

3 months to go

Our baby is due in just three months from today! It's really hard to believe that I am starting my third trimester now. If I remember correctly, this is the one that seems endless. So I've got to keep myself busy. Bryson and McKenna are starting school one week from today and I will be spending my time making skirts for Kenna, planning her birthday, and going through all of the baby items in preparation.
I have my last monthly Dr visit next Tuesday and it's going to be that wonderful one we all seem to dread. Yep! drinking that wonderful, highly carbonated drink, on an empty stomach. Then letting them draw endless blood after an hour of having that stuff in my system. But once that's over I start my bi-weekly visits. WOW!
I have been feel pretty good for the most part. I am finding myself with more energy than before and am hungry with to-do projects that I can't do myself. I am itching to attack my yard, but that means pulling out the shovel and chain saw with moving and removing bushes. I have had to be real careful because of all the extra pains I keep getting from over-doing things. You would think I would learn my limits on this one, but to be honest it seems to be different every day; which frustrates me more than anything. I need to learn to create more balance in my life when it comes to this kind of thing. At least I know when my limits have been reached and I take the precautions of taking it easy until I feel I'm safe enough to start doing things again. Only three more months of this and it will all be worth it.

Breaking The Scales

Just had another Dr apt today and everything is looking great! My apt last month I was weighing in at 125 but within the last four weeks I have bumped that number up to a whopping 130! That's great news because I am feeling really great and eating is becoming much easier! Still not a fan of any chunk-like meat, but can do shredded or chopped just fine now! YAY! I am feeling really good and energy is kicking in better, which means I can get more done in a period of time instead of start a project and five minutes later need to take a break. I try to do well to listen to the needs of my body the best I can. I don't want to over do it especially since I do still, on some occasion, gets menstral cramps and painful pulled muscles just below my belly. I am learning my limits and adjusting to them. I also feel I am on high perks this week because my kids will be back in just two days!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sleepless Nights

are here again! They say to make sure you get as much sleep each night before the baby gets here because you're not going to get any when the baby is here......HA! I've had plenty of restless nights already to confirm that pregnancy is nothing other than the preparation phase before the baby is here. They start early in keeping you awake. Whether it's because they are so active and playing so much that you can't possibly sleep, hitting the bladder again, the back and other body areas are hurting or uncomfortable, or your just plain hungry. Here I am, up early in the morning because of ALL the symptoms I just listed. I am really hoping to get a nap in later on today because I did a lot of work yesterday and was looking forward to a good nights sleep. Didn't happen. I better enjoy what time I have left of being able to take naps before my kids get back!

Least Favorite

Remember those times when your bladder felt like a punching bag, or a water bed, or anything other than your own source of storage? Yeah, I'm so there! The little kicks and movements all around are delightful and a great joy even, until that bladder gets played with and it's all I can do to not feel like I have to relieve it, when I completely don't. It's lovely. And since this little guys is more active whenever I"m sitting or laying then it's every time I stand that I feel the urge to relieve myself. And of coarse nothing is there. I"m only five months along, so I get to enjoy this great pleasure for another four months.

Half Way There!

I am half way done with my pregnancy!! Now don't get me wrong, I am enjoying it especially with it getting easier. So glad for that! This little squirt of ours is growing and moving like a maniac. He's got to toughen up those little limbs of his, and with the lack of meat thing I guess he's going to have to work extra hard! Do you ever have one of those "ah ha" moments? Well I sure do! I'M HAVING A BABY!! I'M HAVING A BABY!!=) That was my moment. I went through all of the baby boy clothes and organized them by age. I sure have a lot of sleepers, not many outfits. I guess he'll hang out in his jammies for the first few months of life. I'm getting super excited for this and after holding little miss Lonna I am even more excited!
I've been asked quite a bit if we have a name for him yet. Well, we have a list of a few names we really like, but it's pretty definite that we aren't going to pick one until he's here. It's one of those "I'd like to see your sweet little face before I tag you for life". Didn't do this with Bryson, but did it with McKenna. OH! November can't get here soon enough!

Starving!!

I wish this would just go away! I hate feeling so hungry yet nothing, I repeat NOTHING sounds even the slightest bit appealing. From my experience in the past I've learned that eating something is always better than eating nothing. So I find something to eat and I still feel so hungry!!! I blame it on my over-eating that lamb the other night. Perhaps my stomach thinks it needs to eat that much food every meal. If that's the case then I'm going to be the good year blimp by the end of this pregnancy. If only I could find something that actually sounds good.

Mary had a little lamb

Who knows if Mary ever ate her little lamb...but I did! That's right I ate meat and it was GOOD! Of coarse the thought of it now makes me want to GAG, but non the less I ate it and kept if down; BONUS!
Phil and I went out on a date the day the kids left and oddly enough Indian food sounded really good! We went to a pretty good one that we both really like and I ordered their lamb curry. Oh I ate and ate and ate! Phil was taken by surprised with how much I had eaten, but I was hungry and it was so yummy! I swear my belly tripled in size by the time we walked out of there. And I definitely felt crapy all day Sunday and even into Monday a little. The spice I'm sure wasn't a good thing for me to have.

New Info

Apparently I can't seem to get enough of these dr visits! Last week I went in to have a quad screen done, which is where they test your blood for any signs that your baby might be at risk for down syndrome. I have never taken this test before because I wasn't concerned about it making a difference, I mean it's not like I'm going to not have the baby and there isn't anything they can really do before the baby gets here to help us prepare for a down syndrome child. I remember it was an option to have the test done at all with my other two, but I was only given the option to either take the test early, or at 16 weeks so that I could opt for abortion. Whatever. I went in and my results came out 1 of 77 to have a baby with down syndrome. Needless to say my numbers were high. I didn't feel like I should be too concerned and I wasn't worried about it. They scheduled me for an asap visit with a genetic counselor and then a level 2 ultra sound to follow.
The counseling was interesting, we felt like they were more concerned than we were and that made us feel more concerned. They said that results of the ultra sound would give us a better idea of where we stand with all of this. And that was the most exciting part anyway! We went in and Phil and I got to watch from a tv on the wall, which gave us a great view of what the nurse was looking at. SO MUCH FUN! We have a very active and restless little boy! That's right I said BOY! He is such a cutie and to make things short, the dr wasn't concerned after looking at the ultra sound. There wasn't any sign that our baby has down syndrome so we are hoping for the best. In the meantime, scroll below and look at the fun pics we got of our little guy!

Flutters

This sweet baby of ours is making his/her activeness known! Certain positions (laying flat on my back) I can feel little nudges every so often. I LOVE this! It's my absolute favorite thing about pregnancy and the thing I always miss the most after having the baby. It's the every day reminder and reality of life, forming and developing right inside my tummy. And it's a great comfort in knowing that activity is a very good sign! I love you sweet baby!

Ultrasounds

Wednesday I went in for three different ultrasounds so that my doctor could hopefully get a better idea of what is causing me the pain in my lower abdomen. I have to admit, as annoying as these procedures are I find great joy in being able to see our little squirmier as often as I do! Still looking super cute and developing great! Our baby is even measuring at 15 weeks instead of 14, which would move my due date up to November 9th. Sounds great to me (even though it's not entirely official). I was even asked if I wanted to find out the sex of the baby....how lucky is that! Of coarse I told them I would prefer to wait for my husband to be here for that one. We are scheduled to find out on June 28th.
Results: everything is looking normal and healthy. Therefor the only cause left is stress. I have been told to take bubble baths, meditate, prenatal yoga, anything to relax and get my mind off the stressful things.

Deserved

This whole past week I've been down and taking it easy, due to the unbearable pain that shoots from my right lower side. I went in on Friday to see the doctor again with this new pain and she has set me up for more tests to see if we can get to the bottom of what's going on. It's one thing after another these days....
On Wednesday I will go in for two ultrasounds that will hopefully give the doctor an idea on how everything is looking. My kidneys, appendix, bladder, the whole enchilada! Should be a blast. In the meantime my instructions were to take it easy with bubble baths, relaxation, and just not over doing it.
Well, I've been dealing with this for a while and my house has been the evidence of my taking it easy. It was driving me nuts and I wasn't going to stand for it any longer! Yesterday, I did some cleaning. But some cleaning turned into more cleaning and then of coarse more cleaning. (Now don't get me wrong, my husband and children did their share of cleaning as well. I was just suppose to be taking it easy) During this process I was getting hungry, but every time I would stop and look for something that would appeal, everything made me want to gag! So I went back to cleaning. Very bad idea! Yep I over did it and well my body made sure I paid for it.
After I finally decided that perhaps I should rest; I found some watermelon that my husband lovingly brought home for me and was eating that. It of coarse wasn't solid enough to ease my hunger pains so I got up to look for something else that just might appeal. By that time I was feeling really sick and sure enough I found myself lightheaded and heaving over the toilet bowl. At least the bowl was clean! So I have decided that even if it doesn't appeal, just eat it anyway because eating something is always better than not! This pregnancy thing is rough!

Tests

Friday morning I woke up with some sharp pains in my rectal area and tightness in my abdominal area. When I felt they had calmed down, I got up and did my regular routine. When I was sitting down to breakfast though, that's when it really hit! A HUGE sharp pain was bursting inside of me and I had to drop to the floor. I've never experienced this before and didn't really know what to do. I called the nurse at my doctors office for some advice and after being on the phone with her for 45 minutes she finally decided that perhaps I should come in and get looked at by my doctor. I was scheduled an hour later. They did all kinds of tests to rule anything out to try to get to the bottom of what was causing me such pain. But every test they took came out normal. The best news in all of this is that our baby is doing well, everything is looking normal and healthy with it! And we got a little peek of our little squirt! Super cute! I can't believe that little thing is growing inside of me right now! Anyway, I was given some horrible(embarrassing) medicine to try at home and to report by today(Monday). I gave it a try and I haven't had the sharp pain since, but everything inside still hurts, like my body became a pinball machine and my insides are bruised. And now yesterday and this morning I have been having a little bit of cramping and mostly tightness in my abdominal again. I feel that if it's nothing that is physically related, then it must be emotionally. Like they say, "Stress is a killer!"

Seeing A Light

Being 12 weeks now things are finally progressing in the nausea stage. I don't feel as sick every day anymore, it's mostly off and on. The constipation issues are settling down (I hope) and I am starting to get some energy back. It's a slow process, but it's coming along! Keeping myself going and busy sure does help me forget about all these pregnancy discomforts. I am anxious to get my full boost of energy back so that I can actually complete the projects that I have only started and put off.

Crying Over Crap

Changes on the body can sure be a pain in the butt, literally! I don't usually experience this problem until right after giving birth, but for some reason I get to experience it early and WOW it sure has been painfully unpleasant! It's funny sometimes the things we take for granted. I found myself in tears the other day because everyone else seemed to have no problem doing the very thing I couldn't do.....poop! I've tried laxatives, stool softeners, fruits & veggies, extra fiber foods, etc..... NOTHING seems to work. I am a walking preggo lady who is officially physically and emotionally constipated. Any new ideas that I haven't listed yet would be great! What worked for you?

In Comparison

to my other two pregnancies this one seems to be right in the middle. I was very sick with Bryson, barely keeping things down and living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Of coarse after the 'yucky' stage was over I was then craving everything Mexican, especially chips with salsa; and big bowls of popcorn!

With McKenna on the other hand, I wasn't sick at all, but definitely felt the effects of major hormones and mood swings! My cravings with her were anything and EVERYTHING lemon. I made lemon bars every week, lemonade, lemon meringue(without the pie), and sour patch candies.

This one is completely different from both of them. NOTHING sounds good (food wise), smells good, or even tastes right anymore. AND this baby wont let me eat much meat....yep it's a vegetarian baby for now. I'm hoping I can change that later down the road. Being that I am only at the start of my second trimester I haven't had any cravings yet. I am excited to see what it is I crave most with this one!

How We Told....

I love unique ideas on how to share great news with the family. With a cute baby type frame, I printed this out and stuck it in. We gave it to our families for Easter!

To: Grandpa and Grandma
I do not have a face to see, or put inside a frame.
I do not have soft cheeks to kiss, I don’t yet have a name.
You can’t yet hold my tiny hands, ‘nor whisper in my ear.
It’s still too soon to sing a song, or cuddle me so near.
But all that will change come November 16th 2010;
that’s when they say I am due. I’ll be your fourth grandchild;
I can’t wait till I meet you. All I ask between now and then
is your patience while I grow. I promise I’ll be worth the wait,
because of all the love we’ll know. So have a Happy Easter.
A wish to you from me. I cannot wait to be a part of this great family!
Love, Baby Hall

How I told my husband:

He was heading out for two weeks to Tennessee and I had just taken a pregnancy test. Before going to bed the night before he left I gave him a little gift. I handed it to him and said it was just something that would allow us to be with him even when we aren't. He opened it up, found a rolled up paper printout of a picture of our family and it was wrapped around the pregnancy test. He looked at it a little confused as he had never read one before. It took it a moment to sink in what I was really trying to tell him, then he got excited! He stood up jumping and gave me a big hug while trying to spin me. It was cute!

How we told the kids.... the video says it all!