Nervous

I am now 3 days away from meeting Baby Boy #3. Which by the way, I cannot wait to tell everyone his name! It will be nice to refer to him as his real name and not Baby. But anyways...I am getting very anxious and nervous. In a way it has been nice to have been surprised when my water broke and we just went to the hospital to deliver. This is so different now that I'm so close to my scheduled date. I have started to feel like I'm not prepared which I know that I am. All the baby needs is a place to sleep and a few clothes and blankets. All of which are ready. The anticipation of the c-section itself has me nervous. I have survived 2 c-sections and know this will be no different. I'm dreading the recovery process of it. I know I don't have a natural birth to compare it to but a c-section is definitely not a walk in the park. Seeing that it was just 13 months ago that I went through it, the pain is still fresh in my mind. The intense burn you feel when you stand up for the first time, the pain in the incision from moving into a different position in bed, and the pain after they take the epidural out - 24 hours later.

It is all worth it in the end as there truly is nothing like holding your newborn for the first time and looking into each other's eyes. It is amazing how there is that instant connection between a mom and her new baby. I'm excited to see Carter and Preston meet Baby for the first time. I'm excited to see every one's expression when we announce the name. I'm excited to find out how big Baby is. And I'm most excited to have our family of five complete.

I can't believe how I can have all of these emotions all at the same time - nervous, scared, excited, anxious, happy, sad... It will all come together though in just three short days!

38 Week Dr. Appointment - The Final One

I had my 38 week doctor appointment today. This was my final appointment which is a little hard to believe. I have never made it to my final appointment! I'm shocked that this kid is so content in there and doesn't want to come out. My blood pressure was back down to normal 110/80 and my weight, well, lets just say I'm going to be thankful to start losing the weight instead of gaining. I am measuring at 39 weeks and Dr. Jacoby thinks that Baby will weigh approximately 7-8 pounds. Now, that is just from feeling him from the outside and the size of my uterus so there is really no telling. I feel like I have a 15 pound baby in there!! Dr. Jacoby said everything looks great and he will see me early Monday morning unless something happens before then.

Second Trip to L&D

I have now been pregnant longer than I have my previous two pregnancies. I do not know how people go past their due dates, sometimes two weeks, and don't go crazy. I am 38 weeks today and already starting to go crazy! Yesterday afternoon I started having severe pelvic pressure. It hurt to walk, sit, stand...just the slightest movement made it feel like Baby was going to come out. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even feel my contractions. I decided to go to sleep and see how the night went. I was up and down all night long. I think I only got a total of 3 or 4 hours of sleep. I thought about waking John up around 4 but decided we were so close to the daytime that I would wait until the morning and call my doctor. I spoke to the on-call doctor around 9 am this morning and we decided it would be best to go ahead and get checked out. We got to the hospital around 11:30...even though I thought I had been prepared and bags packed, it still took us a long time to get out of the house with two kids in tow. We went fully packed in case we ended up staying. So, that included getting both kids packed and ready to spend the week at Grandma's and staying a full day at the hospital. I got hooked up to the monitors and got settled in. Dr. Reisler (the on-call doctor) came by almost immediately and checked and I wasn't dialated at all. This actually surprised me considering all of the pressure I had been feeling. My contractions were still considered irritability. After a couple of hours later I was discharged to go home and continue on with my life for the next week. I will either be back next Monday morning or sooner if my water breaks or if I go into true labor. You would think would my third I would know a little bit more of what to expect but I don't. My body has never actually gone into labor and I'm not sure what it feels like. I have had my water break twice and labor induced once but not even on my own.

The nurse I had today was great. She joked that maybe Baby could hear the chaos going on with having Carter and Preston and has decided to just stay put. I honestly wouldn't doubt it. It's ironic...you would think that each pregnancy would get shorter instead of longer but I always tend to be in the small percentages and this is just another one of those times. At least Baby is doing great and healthy. I couldn't ask for anything more.

37 Week Belly Picture

I'm not really sure how much bigger I can get. Just when I didn't think I could get more stretch marks! I'm also sporting some awesome cankles (sp?). I hate swelling up but at least it waited until the last month.

37 Week Doctor Appointment

I went to Dr. Jacoby today for my 37 week check up. My blood pressure was slightly higher today and was 128/90. It is still in the "normal" range but it is just on the higher side of normal. I didn't even pay attention to the weight gain...at this point I don't really care. I am 37 weeks and 2 days and measuring right at 38 weeks. I figure I'm doing really good!

I talked to him about possible moving my c-section up a week to next week. However, he wouldn't agree to it. I think if I had begged he might have said yes but he said no. He participated in a study at the hospital that he used to practice at (where I delivered Carter) where they looked at the admissions into their NICU. He said that there was a significant increase in admissions at 38 weeks versus 39 weeks. Before this study he had no problems delivering at 38 weeks as this is considered full term but he just isn't comfortable doing it anymore, unless there are medical reasons. Preston was born at 37 weeks and 6 days and was healthy as could be but I certainly don't want to take any risks. I mean, seriously, I only have 12 more days until I get to meet my little guy. I think if I have waited this long I can wait another 12 days. How do women go to 42 weeks???

So, I plan on taking advantage these next 12 days of enjoying being a family of 4. John and I are about to be outnumbered which will be an adjustment. Everyone has some major adjustments in our household coming up! Hopefully, the transition is a smooth one.

Seriously, Think Before You Speak

We went to the grocery store tonight. I used to love going by myself and actually still do. It is just much easier to have John there with me right now. I can't bend all the way over to get things out of the cart...that is actually pretty embarrassing! :)

One of the workers came up to me and started asking me questions about my pregnancy. She was super nice and had a 3 month old. We talked about how young Preston is and etc. We then went our separate ways. She then ended up sacking our groceries and she started talking to me again about the pregnancy. As many of you know, I'm done with this pregnancy but I put on a happy face and talked to her. She then tells me, "You know, I got big with my daughter but I don't think I ever got that big and to think you still have 2 more weeks left." Oh my gosh!! I couldn't even believe my ears. How do you respond to that?? I know she didn't mean anything by it but wow!

I'm Ready

For the first time in this pregnancy I am actually ready for Baby Boy #3 to be born. I posted last week that I was sad for it to be coming to an end and part of me is still sad. However, I am ready for him to be here. My whole pregnancy I have thought about how it is much easier to take care of him inside of me than outside while taking care of Carter and Preston. While this is true, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to take care of Carter and Preston while being this pregnant. I mean, I'm huge!!! I didn't think it was possible for me to have more stretch marks but they have somehow managed to multiply this week. It is hard for me to even get off the couch because my tummy is so big. Carter is so sweet and "helps" me get up. It is hard for me to change Preston's diaper because the edge of the dresser cuts into my tummy and if I stand further away then I can't reach him. It is hard to pick Preston up off the floor. It is just plain hard to do anything right now. I'm exhausted beyond belief but have a hard time sleeping. Even while taking Ambien, I am still waking several times through out the night and not really getting rest. My hips are killing me. I am just plain, flat out miserable right now. I know I'm whining but I'm done. I am very thankful that I have made it now to almost 37 weeks and my goal has been to make it to September 1st and it looks like that will happen. This coming Monday will be 37 weeks and only 2 more short weeks until I deliver.

So, all of this to say, I am so ready to meet Baby #3!!! I am ready to hold him and see what he looks like. I am ready to see how his big brothers react to him. I more than excited to see everyone's reaction to the name we have chosen. It is taking a lot of effort to keep it a secret because we are both so excited about sharing his name with everyone. It is a very special name and I know there will be a few tears of happiness when we announce.

36 Weeks

I am officially 36 weeks and going off the Procardia. The Procardia was to help calm contractions and I was told to stop at 36 weeks and if I go into labor then I go into labor. As it is exciting to know that the baby will be healthy if born right now, I really want him to stay in there as long as possible. I'm not too thrilled, though, about feeling all of the contractions coming back. I still had contractions on the Procardia but at least they were a little calmer. I now have 21 days until delivery day!!

35 Week Dr. Appointment

Another uneventful appointment. Gained another 5 pounds!!!! I think this is mostly water though because I am starting to swell up like a balloon. Hello kankles!!! :) Blood pressure was still 120/70 and still measuring two weeks ahead. Dr. Jacoby couldn't tell if Baby was still breech or head down. He could feel a round something at the top and bottom. As of our sono last week he was breech and I haven't felt him flip. The tech said it is unlikely that he will flip at this point since there is so little room.

We talked to him more about having my tubes tied. We know we want to do something permanently but just can't decide which one of us should do it. There is more that can go wrong further down the road with me, unlikely but it could still happen. But if we decide for John to go through it then it is a separate surgery and cost. Since, I am a c-section it just makes sense for me to get my tubes tied right then and there. Dr. Jacoby said in all of his years he hasn't seen any of the complications of a tubal - premenapause or excessive bleeding but the risk is there but very rare. He said the most common thing to happen is to get pregnant!! What??? That is what we are trying to prevent. He did say, however, that it would most likely be a tubal pregnancy and wouldn't be viable. So, I think we are leaning towards me getting my tubes tied but aren't 100% just yet.

I go off of my medication next Monday when I'm 36 weeks. He said that if I go into labor then everything will be fine by that point. I am hoping to make it to at least 37 weeks. That is my ultimate goal.

I don't go back for another 2 weeks and then it will be weekly appointments until I deliver. Still can't believe this is the end of it. It feels like a few weeks ago that we found out I was pregnant.

Nesting

Today has been a crazy day of nesting!! I took the boys to McDonalds for a playdate this morning. We were there for two hours and everyone was worn out. I had thought about taking a nap while the boys were napping but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to work on our house. I have literally done tons of laundry and put everything away. I have been working on organizing our master bedroom - we have had boxes of "stuff" that we just threw in when we got new furniture months ago. This has needed to be done for a long time!! I have washed and put away baby clothes. I have just been going non-stop. I feel like the baby could come any day now and I want our house to be ready. I want to make sure the boys have plenty of clothes to pack to send to my in-laws when it's time and I want to make sure John's clothes are all clean when we come home from the hospital. I really don't want our house to be messy when people will be coming by. I just want everything done and ready!

Last year, on August 1st, I freaked out that I didn't have everything together for Preston's arrival. And guess what happened?? My water broke that night! I hope my water doesn't break tonight but at least I am one step closer to having a clean house! :)

A Day of Reflecting

I am now officially past the point in pregnancy where I had Carter. I had Carter at 34 1/2 weeks and I am now 35 weeks. Carter is now a very healthy 3 1/2 year old so I know if Baby was born now he would ultimately be okay but I don't ever wish to visit another NICU. It was a very scary day, the day Carter was born. He was our first child and the not knowing was hard to deal with. It was hard to see him hooked up to a breathing machine and feeding tube and the next year that followed was hard. We saw a pediatric cardiologist and pulmnologist along with his regular pediatrician for that first year. We are very fortunate that he has outgrown all of his complications from being a preemie and forever thankful!

A hard picture to look at but this reminds me of how lucky we are now.
Date: 2/4/06
Weight: 5 lbs 6 oz

Now an extremely active, happy, healthy 3 year old!
Date: 8/2/09
Weight: 29 lbs

A Trip to L&D

A pregnancy just wouldn't be a pregnancy without an early trip to labor and delivery. My contractions have picked back up lately and I felt like I might be leaking amniotic fluid. I went to see Dr. Jacoby this morning and everything checked out fine. He even did a sono and my cervix is still measuring in the normal range, it is on the lower end of normal but still normal. My fluid levels were on the high side of normal, which is exactly what happened with Preston. At the end of my pregnancy with Preston, I had to completely try to cut out all sugar including fruit. He still was born at 38 weeks weighing 9 pounds. So, looks like I'm making another big baby. I am going to try even harder this time to keep my sugar intake lower. The outcome of what can happen with too much fluid is so much more of a reality to me now than it was last year. As I don't have diabetes or gestational diabetes, I still need to take care of myself to the best of my ability right now. I can sacrifice those yummy sugary foods and drinks for just a few weeks to help try to lower my fluid levels.

Anyways, so even though everything checked out okay, Dr. Jacoby still wanted to send me over to the hospital for monitoring and for them to do the ffn test. They can get the results back in an hour where as if I didn't go I would have had to wait until tomorrow. John was with me so he was in charge of the boys. The boys did GREAT! We were only there for 2 hours but that is a long time for a 3 and 1 year old. Heck, I was bored! The ffn test came back negative, the contractions were still rated as irritability and I was sent home. I was instructed to start taking the Procardia again religiously 3 times a day for the next two weeks. After 36 weeks, he wants me to stop and if I go into labor then I go into labor.

On our way out we went to the Newborn Admitting Nursery. I had heard they had gotten rid of it and sure enough they had. They now do everything - first bath, weigh and etc. - all in the room with the mom or in my case in the OR or recovery room. I don't think I really think that plan is all that great. I like the fact that the family gets to see the baby through the glass while they do all of that and they won't get that this time. They are able to come into the recovery room but I get the shakes so bad that I wasn't even able to hold Preston until I was in my post partum room. And I want to be the first one to hold him. I guess maybe they can come and look at him but not hold him? I just don't know.

We also stopped by the little gift shop, A Mother's Gift. I had never been in there and have always wanted to go in. I had one of the lactation consultants size and fit me for a nursing bra. I thought I knew the size but just wanted to make sure. I explained to her the problems I had with bras, I'm short and after two back to back babies, large chested. It is so extremely hard to find a bra that truly fits. She showed me one that I cannot wait to buy. It is on the pricey side but oh my gosh, it looks so comfy. I hope it is. She also explained to me that if you give birth at Plano Presby then you forever get 20% off their nursing bras. How awesome is that? The only downside is that they are inconveniently located in the hospital and the space is so tiny that I won't be able to go when I have the kids with me. I looked online after I got home and surprisingly, the hospital had the best prices. So, maybe I will make a trip up there in two weeks when both boys are in MDO.

A Lil' Sad It's Coming to an End

I am now 34 weeks and counting. The baby has been a lot more active lately and I am trying to love every second of it and take it all in. It totally amazes me that our bodies are designed to grow another person and it makes me so incredibly thankful that I have now experienced it three times.

As I am getting bigger and more uncomfortable I am finding myself complaining. However, part of me doesn't want this to come to an end so quickly. I love being pregnant! I love feeling him move inside of me! I love knowing that he is constantly with me and hears my voice!

I am very blessed to already have two wonderful healthy boys and even more blessed to have had a healthy pregnancy for the third time. I often take these things for granted but I do know how fortunate me and John are. I hope and pray that this pregnancy continues on the same path and I give birth to a healthy baby boy.

So, I am getting sad and emotional that it is coming to an end. I don't like to think about the fact that I will never feel life inside of me in just a few weeks. However, I am excited to meet this little man and raise another boy. I'm excited for my family to grow up and get out of that neverending baby stage. I'm excited to see my three boys grow into men.

When Will Baby #3 Meet the World??

My sister-in-law found a website while she was pregnant with my niece and it is a fun game. It is a poll to guess the delivery date, how much he will weigh, how long he will be and what time he will be born. Anyone that reads my blog, please log onto the website and vote on when you think Baby #3 is going to make his grand entrance.



I had to edit this to add, that even though I am a scheduled c-section, both of my boys came early. Carter was 5 1/2 weeks early (due date 3/10/06 and born 2/4/06) and Preston was 2 weeks early (due date 8/17/08 and born 8/2/08). I, of course, am hoping that I make it to my scheduled date but just looking at the trend, my only assumption is that Baby #3 will be early as well. :)

33 Week Check Up

I had a very uneventful doctor's appointment with Dr. Jacoby today. I gained 3 lbs in the past 2 weeks but only 25 overall so I'm actually doing pretty good. My blood pressure was 120/74. The heartbeat was strong and he is still breech. I got all of the paperwork for the hospital. I have to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM on the 14th and then the c-section is scheduled for 7:30 AM. Man, that is super early!! I don't forsee me getting any sleep that night if I make it to my c-section date.

Less than 6 weeks away from September 14th!! So Baby #3 will for sure be here in less that 6 weeks! Crazy!!!

Am I Really 32 Weeks??

I have known my entire pregnancy how many weeks I am. But I think these past couple of days it has really hit me that I am this close to delivering. I think reality is finally setting in. I am starting to get into panic mode. How can I possibly get everything done that needs to get done? Oh my gosh, we are really adding another person to our family!!!!!

We still haven't transitioned the boys into one room. Carter now has a twin bed and John put the other crib together in Carter's room this weekend. Now, I just need to take the dreaded step of letting them sleep in there together. Well, I guess first we need to rearrange furniture. Right now the crib is in the middle of the room. I need to move all of Preston's clothes into Carter's room but before I do that I need to clean out Carter's drawers and closet to make room for Preston's clothes. Can you see how discouraging it can get?

I wake up with so much energy and a ton of things on my "to do" list but by lunch time I am so dang exhausted I barely have enough energy to make myself lunch. I feel like I am wasting precious days. Precious days to enjoy just being a family of four and precious days to feel like I am actually prepared to welcome a new baby.

Only 7 more weekends until my scheduled c-section... WOW!!

31 Week Doctor Appointment

I went today to see Dr. Jacoby for my 31 weeks appointment. From here on out I am going to start going every 2 weeks. How did that happen so quickly?? My blood pressure was 120/70 and I gained 4 pounds. I am now starting to measure big though. I measured at 33 weeks, so just two weeks over than what I am. I think this is when Preston started putting on the the pounds so it is probably in my best interest to start watching my sugar intake.

We also had an elective 3d/4d sono and it was pretty cool. Baby actually looks like Preston as far as we could tell. I asked the tech if these were pretty accurate as far as what they look like and she told me that she thinks all of the babies look alike. I laughed and said, "Well, why are we paying for this then? We should have just pulled up pictures on the internet and saved some money!" It was worth it though. He has some pretty chubby cheeks and a little cute nose! She tried to get a picture of one of his feet but as soon as she found one, he moved.

I also picked up the CBR cord blood kit. Now I just have to remember to take it to the hospital on delivery day! I think I'm going to start packing my bag and just go ahead and throw it in. I can't believe it's time for me to start thinking about packing my bag!!!!

We scheduled the c-section date. It is scheduled for September 17th which is a Thursday. Dr. Jacoby isn't on call during any of the weekends in September so this way he will still be able to see me the day after Baby is born. If I stay in the hospital for the recommended 4 nights, that will put me going home on John's 30th birthday. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It is such a big birthday and I don't want to take that away from him. We didn't even think about that this afternoon so maybe we will change the date. I'm not really counting on making it that far anyways but we shall see.

Dr. Jacoby performed another fFn test and should hopefully know the results tomorrow. If it comes back negative, it will at least give me peace of mind for another two weeks. I want to keep him in there as long as possible, even though I'm starting to get super miserable. I know it is so much easier to take care of him in there then out here and I definitely don't want to go the NICU route again!

Thank Heaven for Chiropractors!

I have been having some major hip pains in my right hip for the past couple of months and have just been dealing with it. It has gotten so bad though that I wake up everytime I turn over or move in my sleep. It hurts to bend over, sit down, stand up...it just hurts! It came during my first trimester but went away after a couple of weeks. It now hasn't let up and is making me miserable. I spoke to Dr. Jacoby about it and he said my hormones are causing my pelvic bones to relax in order to prepare for birth and that's what's causing. Well, great, because I don't push a baby out and I don't need my pelvic bones to relax!! He told me I had three options - 1.) see a chiropractor, 2.) go to physical therapy, or 3.) deal with it. I chose option 1. I went with the recommendation of some of my Wylie Mom friends and went to Dr. Shad Reif yesterday. I was a little nervous as I have never seen a chiropractor and I had Preston with me but the appointment went great!

I do have a birth defect in my spine that was diagnosed when I was 18 which he agreed is playing a role. My bottom vertebrae is half vertebrae and half pelvic bone and causes me to have muscle spasms in my right hip. Dr. Reif explained that my right side is being pulled up higher than my left side and is pulling the muscle that is attached to my hip and back. In turn, it is putting pressure on my sciatica and causing my hip to hurt. He showed me some stretches that I have to do on my own to help stretch that muscle and did a few adjustments. I have noticed a small difference already and that was just yesterday! I am so impressed with Dr. Reif. He called me at 7:30 last night just to see how I was doing and said that they number he was calling from was his cell and not to hesitate to call if I had any questions. I go back tomorrow for another adjustment. I am going to ask how long he thinks it will take to get it to where I can live pain free. Hopefully he says just a couple of weeks!!

Pregnancy Update

So this pregnancy is proving to be a lot more for my body to handle than my previous pregnancies. I think the main reason is my body didn't have time to completely heal before getting pregnant again. I believe doctors recommend you wait at least one year after a c-section to get pregnant again. Well, my body only had a whopping four months to heal before going through it again. I have been on medication to help calm contractions/cramping for a couple of months now and it was helping. I had stopped taking it as everything was calm and the medicine caused me to have terrible headaches.

This past weekend I started having even worse contractions that were completely different than what I had been experiencing. It's strange, they induced contractions after my water broke with Carter and I know they hurt. They hurt bad enough that I had an epidural but I can't for the life of me remember exactly what they felt like. I think that is God's way of making sure you have more children. So, this past weekend I didn't know what to think. I knew that if I called my doctor he would tell me to go to the hospital and get checked out. That isn't so easy to do when you have a 3 year old and an 11 month old asleep at 10:30 at night. It probably wasn't the smartest decision but nonetheless I decided to just take my medicine and go to bed. They never got better but they never got worse. I think part of me wasn't that concerned just because after twenty something hours of labor with Carter I never dilated past 3 cm and my body just wouldn't go into active labor.

I called my doctor's nurse yesterday morning and she scheduled me to go in at 2:30 that afternoon. One of my friends let me drop Carter off at her house and he played with her three kids while I went to the doctor. So much easier to take one kiddo to the doctor than two! My mom met me at the doctor's office since John had meetings he couldn't get out of. He did an internal exam and everything seemed to be fine. I wasn't dilating and my cervix was still very high. He also did a Fetal fibronectin test which indicates if you are likely to go into labor within the next two weeks.

Dr. Jacoby called me this afternoon with the results. Normally his nurse calls me when it is good news so imagine my surprise when he called me himself. My heart sank when I heard him on the other end of the phone. But, luckily it was good news. The fFN test came back negative which means I am good for at least another two weeks. He had me keep my scheduled appointment for July 21st when I will be 31 weeks. Hopefully everything remains uneventful until then!

27 Week Doctor Appointment

I had my 27 week doctor appointment today and it went great! We had a sono done to check on the cyst that had developed on Baby's brain. It had completely resolved on it's own like Dr. Jacoby said it would. We couldn't be more happy and grateful. We had a lot of people praying for us and are very grateful for all of the thoughts and prayers. She went ahead and took measurements of the baby and he is measuring right on track. I am currently 27 weeks and 2 days and he measured 27 weeks 3 days. He is approximately 2 pounds and 6 ounces and in the 49th percentile. He is now transverse and laying on his back with his head and arms and legs up in my ribs. It is definitely making it uncomfortable for me! I had gained 7 more pounds. I couldn't believe I had gained that much in a matter of 4 weeks but the nurse said it should all even out as I have only gained 20 pounds all together and it's about average for being 27 weeks. I think we need to lay off the daily snow cones though! :) My blood pressure was 110/70 . I also had blood drawn for the glucose test. I should find out early next week what the results are. I hope I passed and don't have to go on a diabetic diet. I haven't had gestational diabetes with either Carter nor Preston so I will be a little shocked if it shows I do have it. I have been more tired lately so I am assuming my iron levels are low and need to start supplementing but should hear about that next week too. We talked about getting my tubes tied and we still haven't fully decided on if we want to do that. It will only take an extra five minutes in the operating room while I'm having my c-section but it is just so final. I know I don't want to have any more kids but totally eliminating the option makes me a little sad. There are days that I am 100% sure I want my tubes tied and then days that I'm only 75% sure. I know I shouldn't do it unless I am absolutely 100% sure so we have a couple of more months to talk about it. We also talked about when to schedule my c-section. He said I could pick any day the week of September 14th. I don't really care which day and I don't think I will make it that far anyways. Preston didn't make it to his scheduled date so I'm not too worried. My goal is to make it to September. If I make it to September then I will be happy. It is going to be one long hot summer though. It was supposed to get up to 100 degrees today. I'm not sure if it did but it is miserably hot!!

Here is a picture of his profile.

I asked her to confirm that he is still a boy and he is definitely all boy!! :)