L&D

Yesterday morning I had my 39 week OB appointment.

They measured me, listened to the heart beat, and then checked to see if I was dilated - Nothing.

My doctor, in more or less words, told me "not even close."  So that was disappointing.  Some ladies are dilated MANY weeks in advance, so me being 5 days away from my due date and not at all dilated was aggravating.  But, it can all change in an instant.

After the appointment, I went and picked up some bagels and drinks for my family and I to munch on while we chit-chatted.  I started having some really uncomfortable round ligament pain while we were talking.  The round ligaments, for those of you not so pregnancy-savvy, are a ligament on either side of your stomach that can easily be pulled due to the incredible stretching they do during pregnancy.  It is common to have round ligament pain, but pulling them is another story.  I started to be in so much pain that I could barely walk, and even laying down hurt quite a bit.  

I called my doctor's office and they said I needed to go the Labor and Delivery ward at the hospital and get checked out.  I woke my husband up, called my mom to watch Haven, and off we went.

They checked me in and put me in the triage room to assess me.  At this point, they checked me again and I was dilated to 1.5 cm!!!  That's a significant change from not even being dilated at all that morning.  I started to think we might actually have this baby.  They told me I needed to get up and start walking for a half hour.  So off we went, walking in circles around the L&D floor.  We got to see a couple babies in the nursery and watch some families meeting their newest little ones.  It was sweet.  And L and I had fun just walking and chatting, especially since I didn't seem to have any bad pain by this point.

They hooked up again and I was having mild contractions, and they checked me again but there was no cervical change.  Since I wasn't in active labor at this point, they said we could just wait a little bit longer and see if anything changed.  After an hour of just laying there, we still didn't see any change.  So we opted to go home.  They did tell me I was in pre-labor and that they wouldn't be surprised to see us again within 12-24 hours.  And I was so happy to know that I made some progress after weeks of cervical checks at the doctor's office and no change.

The only good thing about going home was that I was so hungry!  L made my day by picking up the Indian food I was dying for, and we went home to our little princess who was wondering where we were.  She was very happy to see us and started being very clingy and acting out a little bit.  Scary to think what will happen when we bring a baby home for her to compete for attention with.

alternative methods.

I'm trying pretty much anything to start labor at this point.

38 weeks & 5 days and ready to be done!

So far I've tried quite a few things, including jumping jacks, bouncing on my exercise ball, spicy foods, the usual...  But I haven't spent a ton of time on my favorite, Reflexology.

Ever heard of it?  I learned about it for the first time when I was in cosmetology school a few years ago.  

Reflexology is a technique of applying pressure to certain points on the hands and feet that correlate to different parts of the body.  I kind of took a liking to reflexology in school.  I had a few clients that would come to me for 30-60 minute appointments on a regular basis.  Stimulating all of those areas is supposed to keep things working smoothly, and is basically the same thing as getting a hand and foot massage.  It's incredibly relaxing.

It is kind of difficult to see on this chart, but there is a point on the heal and on the Achilles tendons that correlates to the ovaries, uterus, and reproductive organs in general.  There is also a point on the base of the wrist that correlates to the same areas.  When pressure is applied to these areas it can stimulate the corresponding organs, and can therefore jump-start labor.  Pregnant woman are actually warned to not stimulate the heal or wrist area until they are full term, so they won't go into pre-term labor.  When getting pedicures, these areas should be avoided until about 37 weeks. 

I know this kind of sounds like a crock.  I mean, I was really skeptical myself, until a few years ago when my sister-in-law was pregnant.  She had me massage her ankles for about 10 minutes on each foot and later that night she went into labor and had her baby.  Ok, maybe that was a coincidence... Nope!  I had a friend a couple years later ask me to do the same thing to her and sure enough, about three hours later her water broke and she had her baby that night!  So crazy I know.  And I have no way of proving that they wouldn't have gone into labor anyway.  But 2 for 2 is pretty good, don'tcha think?

But now that I'm almost 39 weeks pregnant I am going to be rubbing my wrists and heals as often as I remember to!  Anything to get this party started.  Wish me luck and send me some good labor vibes!!!!

living social.

Any of you heard of this website Living Social?  It's really cool.

They have a daily deal which is usually pretty awesome, and then if you get 3 of your friends to buy the deal as well you get the deal for FREE!

Today's deal is a year's subscription to Cosmopolitan magazine for $8 dollars!

There's actually a countdown on the website telling how long until this deal ends, which right now is at just under 8 hours.  So if you are interested, here is the link:  

One-Year Cosmopolitan Magazine Subscription for $8.

the "I'm really pregnant" blues

I have felt guilty throughout this pregnancy that every time I blog I talk about being pregnant.  And then I thought, "Wait.  This is my blog.  Blogs are to write about what you are thinking.  And what I'm thinking is anything and everything pregnant.  If my readers are sick of my pregnancy babble then they can decide not to read, and sooner or later I won't be pregnant anymore."  Problem solved.  On with my babble...

This morning I had my 38 week appointment.  I didn't even make it this far with Haven so I feel like this will never end.  They checked me and no progress again.  So disappointing.  I asked if there was anything he could do to move things along and he basically said, not until you're 39 weeks - which is next Saturday.

There's not a lot more I can do to entertain myself before Baby Yellow gets here.  My "Before Baby" To-Do list is complete.  I can always clean, but where's the fun in that?  I clean and I re-clean, and with a two-year-old it's a never-ending job anyway.  I even offered to take on a project for my Grammy but then thought better of it - Murphy's Law says I'd get about half way through it and my water would break!  ha.

We did get up the nerve to take Haven to The Incredible Pizza Co. on a Saturday night (of all nights!!).  There was a guy doing face-airbrushing and Haven wanted it.  Can you believe a two-year-old sat still long enough to get this?  Me either.  But she loved it so much, and it couldn't have been any cuter.  She growled at everybody the rest of the night. 

nesting.

Nesting.

The uncontrollable urge every pregnant woman goes through near the end of gestation.  Everything must be cleaned and tidied and dusted and Lysol-ed and washed and dried and folded and re-folded and stored and vacuumed and so on and so forth.

It hit me.  It hit me hard.

Ready, set, here I go.

And hey, maybe running around the house will induce labor.  That'd be a plus.

any day now.

I'm a self-admitted crazy pregnant lady.  


It's all I can think about.  Have you ever had one of those nights where you have a recurring thought or dream?  Even if you wake up, when you fall back asleep you just slide right back into your same dream.  Last night I had that.  I say thought or dream because I don't deep sleep anymore at this point in my pregnancy and I don't honestly know if what I am doing counts as dreaming so much as obsessive thinking.  


The whole night I kept think-dreaming about my water breaking.  I was pretty sure that at any moment I would awake in a giant puddle and have to rush off to the hospital.  Maybe that's why I couldn't fall asleep properly - I was mentally prepared to hop out of bed and make my way to the hospital.  


I've heard people call it pregnancy insomnia and I'm pretty sure I didn't have it with Haven.  It's a cruel trick.  I mean, I'm not going to be getting much sleep once the baby gets here so you'd think I'd try and "stock up" while I can.  Nope, it's not happening.  Ugh.

Full term predictions

Seeing as I am 37 weeks today and officially FULL TERM(!!) I thought I better blog out my predictions for what is to come.  

I am due April 2nd.

I predict Baby Yellow will be born:

on March 22nd in the wee morning hours.

Weighing in at 8 lbs. 6 oz.

20 inches long.

Some hair.

Looking very much like my Havey Baby.

Haven minutes after being born.

Must-read.

I honestly can't remember if I've talked about this before, but this book is a must-read*.

I read this book sometime last year and was extremely intrigued.  It is about a woman who is coerced into a small role of drug smuggling.  Ten years later, as an established business woman, she is sent to prison for 15 months for her decade old crime.  This story chronicles her life and struggles in prison.

*If you're looking for a good read, this is it.  But I have to warn you, there is some "questionable" material.  After all, what happens in prison isn't always for the faint of heart.

Photo Dump.

The many faces of Haven.

Such a stinker.

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Kids-fest.

First, we "met" Bob and Larry.

Second, we met Haven's idol.  She even wore her Dora backpack for the occasion.

Then, we colored.

Then, we ingested poisonous chemicals.

Kidding.

They had the coolest "getting started" area for kids with a play washer/dryer (complete with empty bottles of laundry detergent and towels to "wash"), an ironing board, kitchen, tea-set table, blocks, a "light table" that you could put see-through colored blocks on and create different colors by stacking the blocks on each other, a mini couch, and a coloring easel (pictured above).

It was a fun day!  Would have been more fun if I weren't 36 weeks pregnant.  

But hey, (as Dora would say) "We did it!"

NED!

My mom just texted me from Mayo and said, 

"No sign of cancer.  All looks good!"

Woohoo!  After about 7 weeks since her surgery, and a loooong recovery, it is so nice to hear those words.  NED means "No Evidence of Disease."  I don't get my hopes up too high as this is a tricky, aggressive cancer.  The doctors have to keep a close eye on her.  After all, this isn't the first time she has been told her cancer was gone - it came back after only 3 months last time.  

Please keep my mom in your prayers.  Please pray that her cancer is gone permanently.

Thank you all for your prayers - we could feel them!